Smiles for miles

This past weekend, my friend Leandra and I drove to Indianapolis, IN to run our first ever trail race. At night. 13.1 miles in the dark wilderness of Eagle Creek Park. 
It was the most fun I maybe have ever had. Ever in my life. It was scary, messy, cold, challenging to our legs that are used to running a paved, flat trail, and it was exhilarating to be a part of it.
For 3 hours and 20 minutes we navigated the course, shouting words like "ROOTS!", "MUD!", "SLICK!" and  had conversations about how beautiful the place was, even though we were only getting a glimpse from  the tiny bit that the headlamp lights provided us.
At mile 5 things got messy. Really, really messy. Imagine a wide path that is nothing but deep footprints of mud filled with water. Nowhere to go except through it. We tried to stick to the outer edge of the path where there were leaves, but it was no good, and there were thorn bushes that snagged and snarled us several times. At one point we both almost lost our shoes and at another point, Leandra had to stop to pull a thorn out of her finger.  It was a half  mile of nothing but gunk.
At about mile 6 we realized we'd be running through the finishing chute, under the time clock, but wouldn't be stopping, as that was the half way point for us; we still had another lap. We began mentally and verbally preparing ourselves to make it through without letting it get to us. It worked, even though we were already tired by this point.  The power of positive thinking was in full effect.
Around mile 8 or 9 we had an animated conversation about how delicious Steak N Shake sounded. It went something like this:
Me'"Oh my goodness how great does a steak burger sound!?"
Leandra- "And a chocolate shake! Salty fries and a chocolate shake!"
Me- "...and those salty fries dipped in ketchup"
Leandra- "Yes! Tangy ketchup! Ahhh! "
There were other conversations, too. About how blessed we are, how much harder these miles seemed compared to regular road miles.
At mile 10 when her Garmin beeped I was convinced that we had not hit the double digits yet. I was certain she would say mile 9 had finally arrived!
I looked at her and she said "That's 10!" I was so overjoyed that we had to give praise for not only making it to this point without being seriously injured, but also for the incredible experience we were being given.
Then, it was back into the mud, which let me tell you, wasn't nearly as bad the second pass through because by this point you just had to go for it and get past it.
We had many of those second laps miles to ourselves out there, which was at times a little spooky but at the same time so peaceful.
We could hear the announcers voice through the woods as we closed in to the finish, and by this point we were sore, hungry, and completely exhausted, yet thrilled to have been able to complete such a challenging event.
We held hands as we ran the last stretch toward the finish line, and told one another how proud we were of each other for finishing.

We got our medals; slices of a wood round with a logo glued to the middle. (Totally awesome)
We took pics of our nasty shoes.

We had a pb & j.
We made our way back to the car and stripped off our shoes/socks that were covered in mud.
Then, we showered at the hotel and wore our pj's to Steak N Shake where we had steak burgers, a chocolate shake, salty fries, and some tangy ketchup.
I am still smiling when I look back at this past weekend, and I can't wait to see what our next adventure is.