Mud on the Mudder, bdays

Last night I took Cindy out for dinner for her birthday to Seasons 52, one of my new favorite restaurants.  Not only is it a beautiful place, they serve healthy, seasonal meals.  Supposedly nothing on the menu is over 500 calories.   We actually ordered the same meal, some grilled shrimp thing that was quite good.  I washed it down with two Miller Lites. 

When Cindy was in the bathroom I mentioned to the waitress that it was her birthday and asked if Seasons 52 does anything for birthdays.  The waitress said YES, but she couldn’t tell me what it was.  Haha, ok, fine.

So the waitress comes back with the mini-desert tray along with a cup with what looked like brown sugar and a candle in it. She told Cindy to make a wish and blow it out.  Cindy then was allowed to pick out her own desert which was free and I grabbed one as well.  Then the waitress comes back over and takes a picture of us with a camera and a few minutes later comes back with a 4″ x 6″ print already mounted in a Seasons 52 fold out frame.  Wow, I’m glad I asked.

Cindy had a great time which was my goal.

So I have done the Tough Mudder for the last 2 years and am once again signed up to do it in less than a month. However I have to tell you, this might be my last time, for several reasons.

When I did my first Tough Mudder, mud racing was still sort of a new thing and the Tough Mudder was seen as the king of them all, being the longest and most grueling of them.  It did not take long for others to try to cash in on the mud racing craze.  The event popularity sky rocketed with thousands of people showing up, all shelling out huge entry fees to get muddy, frozen and shocked.  Today, doing the Tough Mudder doesn’t have quite the badge of honor as it once did.  It’s become a “me too” event with a bandwagon that is quite large.  I never feel great about being part of that crowd.

I also have an issue with the way the race misrepresents it’s commitment to the Wounded Warrior Project, a great charity that benefits wounded members of the military.  To the casual web site visitor, you would assume a portion, a large portion, of the race proceeds goes directly to this noble charity.  The reality is not one dollar of the HUGE $100 plus registration fee goes to the charity.  The only money that goes to the charity is that which is raised by the participants outside of their race fee.  The race itself is totally a for profit enterprise and that profit is MASSIVE.   I think it is pretty shitty to prey upon the sympathy of participants that assume part of the reason they should pay the sky high race fees is because it is going to a good cause.

Finally there is the email I received yesterday from the race.  The email said you had three options for parking this year, all of which will cost you money.   They have always had a flat 10 dollar fee for parking which I found to be annoying considering what they charge you to do the race.  On top of that, the money you spent on parking certainly wasn’t used to plan for an efficient traffic control/parking system.  Last year there were participants that sat in 5 hours of gridlock, trying to get into the event.  It was utter chaos.

So this year to make amends for the horrible parking situation in the past they are now offering you, more EXPENSIVE parking options!  If you pay $25 you get PREMIUM parking which supposedly is less than 1/4 mile from the main area.  If you drop a 20 dollar bill you get select parking which is about a third of a mile away.  If you are a tightwad and only pay the $10 they have charged in the past you are rewarded with at least a 1 mile walk to the event after you park your vehicle.

To me it is utter bullshit to charge NFL stadium parking rates to attend a mud race you already spent triple digits on the entry fee.  Despite the huge steaming pile of annoyance I opted to get the premium parking because I don’t want to have to do a 5K if I need to run back out to the vehicle before the race starts.  Greedy bastards.

Plus there is the injury factor.  Who can forgot the horrible swelling in my right knee after running last year’s extremely treacherous course?

Anyway the combo of things listed above might be enough to make this year the last that I participate in the Tough Mudder.  Let them make their tens of millions on the backs of others in the future.  I proved my point already.

This weekend I am timing the same cross country meet I have done the last 3 years.  Timing a CC meet is a lot different than a 5K.  It also takes a lot longer since it is actually 4 different events.  I probably won’t get off site until lunch time.

So I have to wedge in other weekend work into that condensed time frame which is going to include mowing the front yard and other fun stuff.  I also am planning to make my chocolate cake as a belated birthday treat for Cindy on Saturday afternoon.  I am hoping to avoid a repeat of this situation.