Marine Corps Mud Run 2011

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The "Before" ShotIs there anything more fun than a mud run? I don't think so.

My friend Christie and I signed up for the 2nd Annual NC Marine Corps Mud Run months ago. The "After" ShotWe participated as a team with our spouses: Sole Sisters & Their Heels. Sadly, Christie's husband Mike was sidelined at the last minute by a stress fracture, but he gamely showed up at the race in his air cast and took the great pictures you see here. Our running friend (and Ironman!) Don took Mike's place. 

The big muddy smelly pit at the endThe course was a 5K run filled with obstacles - mud pits, climbing over logs, pulling yourself up a hill on a rope, crawling through tunnels, jumping walls and--of course--lots and lots of mud pits! The one at the end was huge, warm, and smelled. If by some chance you'd made it through the course clean, the marines in the final mud pit splashed and dunked you to make sure you emerged as a mud beast. 

Would I run it again? You bet! We're already planning our strategy for next year.Charlie's Angels Mud Queens

My favorite pic of the day

The Thing About Squash...

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Potato, Squash & Goat Cheese Gratin. Photo from THE KITCHEN website.I spent two hours last night cooking squash. Even for me, that seems a bit excessive. 

The problem--or happy circumstance depending on if you're a half full/half empty glass kind of person--was squash overload. I'd bought some at a Farmer's Market this past weekend and then my exterminator dropped by on Tuesday with what was probably a 2-lb bag of yellow squash. 

That's a lot of squash. 

So I got cracking. Fired up Google and searched for summer vegetarian squash recipes. I pretty much made the first 3 recipes that pulled up. My criteria for trying a recipe looks like this:

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