Tough Rhino Mud Run Item 29 - Run an endurance/obstacle raceItem 20 - Run 6 1 5K Item 14 - Run a race in costume or in theme

As anyone that grew up with a steady diet of Nickelodeon will tell you, doing Double Dare would have been a dream come true as a child. Of course, you put those sorts of dreams away around the time you hit puberty and suddenly being the center of attention sounds like a punishment. In my case, I had completely forgotten about wanting to ever do the obstacle course style race until I found out that they do them for grown-ups too.

You've got to admit, that looks pretty awesome

I figured I'd knock a couple items off the list at once after a discussion with a friend about how much fun it would be to run a mud run in a white shirt and pants. I decided to go a little further and went with a whole suit. The only item I had to pay for was the jacket, which I got for $3 at Goodwill, everything else I had in my closet and was damaged.

That thing about not liking to be the center of attention doesn't just apply to surly teenagers: it also applies to a moderately well-adjusted twenty-nine year old. I figured there'd be a lot of people running in costumes or themes. Not so much. I spotted two girls in tutus, and a couple groups in matching t-shirts and that was about it. I got a lot of stares and a lot of questions. Actually, just two questions: "Are you really running in that suit?" and "Why are you running in that suit?" And a few times on the run I heard my favorite thing "Oh man, the guy in the suit is beating us!"

I took all that attention in stride, especially that last one. What I will say is that if I ever run in a costume or theme again, I'm going to make sure it's lighter. I must have carried an extra 15 pounds of water over the finish line, not to mention how hot that jacket got. I'm a guy that sweats a fair amount and it was about 80 degrees by the time I finished. So, less is definitely better, at least when running in the summer.

I wonder if I can find one of those tutus in my size.