Last week Rachael asked me if Malia was interested in doing a mud run with Kate. Rachael’s men folk were going to do a terrain run which is basically a 5k mashed up with an obstacle course and liberally coated in mud. There was a shorter kids’ version for kids up to age 10 and Kate really wanted to do it but wanted someone to do it with her. I asked Malia if she was interested expecting her to say no due to the running and mud and general outdoors in the blazing heat elements, but she surprised me by saying yes. I suspect the lure of time spent with Kate outweighed any reservations. So we got her all registered, figured out what she could wear that could be thrown out if it never came clean and she was psyched to go.
The run was this morning and unfortunately, it was a huge let down. The scaled down version was more appropriate for 3–4-year-olds…and there was no mud. At all. Malia described it as a lot of standing around with a little running. She was actually really disappointed. I made sure to tell her that I was really proud of her for trying something new and I hope that she will continue to be willing to try new things.
The full terrain run had mud, and more mud, and then a little mud. Rachael and her older crew got completely filthy and had a fantastic time. I don’t think Malia would be able to actually do the full 5k at this point, but perhaps in the future we can find another opportunity for her to expand her experiences and get really, really dirty.
