SwampRomp

1 The pre-Romp meeting. Man I could go for some more pizza and Pellegrino right now. (It's 6 hours post Romp and I'm still hungry!).	2 Michelle (in green) pointing out some info on her official map that she may have just wrangled out of someone she might be married to...somebody very important. Michelle does well at covert ops. And speaks Russian. Hmmm...previous life? I'm in orange, then to my right is Sue, and to my left Amy. Kathy is to the far right of the frame.	3 Long long line of cars waiting to get onto base.	4 Kathy is powered by coffee!
5 Sue applying the last bit of eyeliner - ha! What a trooper - she only knew Kathy and somehow got roped into doing this with 4 other women she'd never met! Sue - you are a lovely lady - so nice to meet you!!!	6 Applying duct tape to theoretically keep mud out from your boots. Using garbage bags to break the wind and cold. It's like low 70's but we locals are CHILLY.	7	8
9 I have no idea why I thought this might look ok but it really did help keep me warm - gauze from the lab where I've been doing all my blood tests served as ear muffs! Thanks to Sue for a team shirt :)	10 I'm jumping in the middle of the aisle so Michelle can find us. She's been walking all over base to avoid a parking hassle. Poor thing got an extra workout in!	11 There she is!	12 Nice goggles!!!! LOVE THEM! She's so petite that I said she may want goggles for one portion that might be over her head, while the rest of us have it up to our waists. As a veteran romper it was a wee bit fun to torment the ladies with misinformation.
13 Taking shelter as a massive downpour came through just to get us ready for the mud and wet awaiting us.	14 Do you see this sea of people? It was not horribly well organized this time. We spent a good deal of time just trying to figure out which line we were supposed to get in, only to find out we needed to work both lines - to get our number THEN our timing chip. Cathi managed to pull off a major covert op and sneaked into line to get our number then sneaked back into the other line to get our chip.	15 We were literally pinning our number on as they called us for the start. I carried the chip in my pants pocket which meant I had to almost do a pushup at the start to get it to read. Kathy is wolfing down banana here I think...	16 But the promise of a great time together and new friendships made was made evident with the rainbow arching over our start.
17 Mom took this picture while waiting for us to show up...it was a long race!	18 The finish line!	19 Beer tent, food, etc. Nice touch.	20 Some people wore crazy crazy outfits, like prom dresses.
21 Here we are, linked up to cross together! It's been 5.2 miles of mud, slog, water up to our waists, enormous sink holes (Michelle is so light that she could just skirt across the tall grass without sinking in like the rest of us!). So here's me, Michelle, Sue, Amy, Cathi and Kathy. You will see what a trooper Kathy was later...	22 Having a great time - and very happy to see the finish! At the end of the race you have about a mile of sand to run through, then an ocean swim, followed by more sand looping back, then a tunnel you crawl through about 50m, then more mud...and sink holes.	23	24 Our pants are very very heavy at this point. No range of motion - the mud and muck makes them stick to you. They recommend boots. If you wear sneakers you have to duct tape them to your pants. If one shoe falls off, you get disqualified and removed from the course. They said no shorts. No spandex pants. We are thinking maybe wetsuits and reef shoes next year? (Yes, I did say next year. These ladies are already wanting more!)
25 We stayed hydrated throughout the course, and Kathy even brought jelly beans and duct tape rolled up on straws in case we needed a repair. Great thinking by hubby Jon.	26	27	28
29 Posing for a team photo :)	30	31	32
33	34	35 Michelle saying "Where's my beer!!!?"	36 "The mud was up to HERE!" Sue tells her friends!
37 Eating the last of Kathy's jelly beans. I was soooo hungry. We were on the course for an hour and 45 minutes I think, and the start was delayed for a long time. We had been up since before 5am. It's now around 10am.	38 Kathy saying, "You know, I can't WAIT to do this again!"	39 Being interviewed by a reporter. I wish I was quicker on my feet - he was asking why all pink - breast cancer? I was like - um - really just because we needed a color on our heads so we could see each other despite the mud covering our bodies! Cathi and I are wearing our original Swamp Romp bandanas from 2007.	40 Ahhhh...I see!
41	42 Dennis is Michelle's husband - he and Jon brought the kids over to see the moms in their glory :)	43 Yes! Beer at last! Thanks for the beer money, mom!	44 Cheers!
45 There's the team mom in the picture :)	46 Kathy anc cutie girls!!! Jon - thanks for the cheering section!	47	48 Thanks for cheering us on, Dennis and kids!
49	50 This guy was toooooo much. This is Johnny. I have no idea what his backstory is but he's apparently team "mascot" for one of the other teams - the Kalua Porkers or something. One group had pig snouts and everything.	51	52 I saved my beer cup so I could check to see if there was any evidence of hematuria...
53 Nope - kidneys working ok!! Whew! (I had run against doctor's orders...but took it pretty easy.)	54	55	56 OH MAN...no wonder that hurt!!!!
57 Dave made pancakes at home for the boys. He held down the fort really well. I had to laugh, though - just about every single toy the boys own was out, all over the house, and the pancake fixin's were particularly splattery - batter everywhere! Looks like Davey was busy busy busy!