This past Saturday, my running buddy Stacey (she did Ragnar Relay with me) and I competed in the Gladiator Rock ‘n’ Run. It was really fun! I’ve done the Dirty 6 Mud Run before, but this race had more obstacles and there was a lot of trail running. I know it can be a little scary/dangerous, but I love running down mountains.

Only bad part of the day was the line to get in! It took us an hour to park and we were less than a mile away! Inching by here.

Here are a few pre-race “macho” pictures. Stacey does a way better impression than I. The race was really fun. I think I had a goofy smile on my face the whole entire time, especially when we had to carry a bag of rice from one point to another. I imagined I was on Survivor!

(I’m not very good at acting tough)

Here is our post-race picture.

We got some scrapes and we were definitely sore the next day, but I’d definitely do it again.

Next race on the list: Pat’s Run. And I’ve been playing around with the idea of doing the Whiskey Row Half Marathon on May 5 in Prescott. Everyone says it’s very hard, but it’s one of the last ones in Arizona before the heat hits. I’m going for a long run this weekend, so we’ll see how my knee holds up.

Also: Speaking of obstacle and mud runs, here was my A1 story on the trend of extreme races. I forgot to share this recently. I’ll post some more health and fitness stories soon.

• Trend of extreme racing luring runner, triathletes

• Extreme races: Tips and list of races

I’m off to try and make Bikram again. Wish me luck!