"Muddy-Buddies-in-Training" or "How I Knew I Would Marry Luke"

Some time after my junior year in college, I was browsing through an issue of Chicago Athlete, and came across a picture of a woman who I deemed my hero. 

She was wearing a bike helmet and was dressed in running clothes.  She had an athletic build, was smiling broadly, and, best of all, was just emerging from a huge puddle of mud.  

I promptly cut out the picture, and posted it on my wall.  I had just been through my first (and thank goodness, only) break-up, and loved the image of this woman who I imagined to be strong, independent, and fun-loving.

As it turned out, she had just completed the Muddy Buddy race, a half biking/half running course, complete with obstacles and ending in the very same huge puddle of mud. It's a race that you complete with a partner, and it's not cheap, and somehow a willing partner and the funds to sign up never seemed to coincide.

Flash forward two or three years.  I happened to have an issue of Chicago Athlete sitting on my bed, and Luke (by some apparent miracle, given the fact that he has never expressed any interest in running or any other individual sport as long as I've known him), happened to pick it up.  

If there were ever a sign that Luke and I were meant to be together, it is what happened next: 

He approached me with an article about (you guessed it) the Muddy Buddy race, and declared, "We should do this race!  Have you heard of it?  It looks awesome!"*

And that is how it started. 

We've been trying to sign up for two years now, but something always seems to put it off, whether we don't have the money, or the race is already full. 

But this year, we are registered.  And we are ready.  Kind of.  With the race 3 1/2 weeks away, Luke has yet to run so much as a mile.  But we're working on it.  And I cannot wait.  With the definite exception of the athletic build, it'll be like becoming my own hero!

*Possibly not his exact words