I'm a Tough Mudder

Tough Mudder was definitely one of the most amazing experiences and although I had some moments of doubt I loved all of it. My first moment of doubt came on Friday when I was told my team consisted of Nathan (who barely trained), Tyler (team captain who ran 3 miles a few days prior and puked), Tyler's Uncle Cory (an asthmatic), and myself (the wimp). Seriously? That didn't sound too promising. I was never told about Justin (added bonus) who ultimately stuck beside me and landed himself in quite a few photos. Then we were joined by Brian (Mr. Athletic) and Jamie (kick ass chick) from a broken up team, who apparently work with Tyler and Nathan. So there you have it- our "mutt" of a team.

As heads appear from left to right: Brian, Jamie, Nathan, Tyler, Cory, Justin, Me

According to the Tough Mudder website the course was suppose to be 12 miles with 29 obstacles, however the map on event day was 11.5 miles with only 22 obstacles. What? It looked like a lot more running than we'd expected and 7 less obstacles would make a big difference. We looked over the map a few times before the start but it in no way prepared us for what was to come. Before the race even started we had to hoist ourselves up over a wall into the starting corral where 10-15 teams were given a motivational speech. I struggled getting myself over that small wall so right away I felt like a giant wimp. Not a good way to start out.

I know it's a small wall but I didn't practice my Spidey wall climbing skills.

The adrenaline that was felt at the starting line was truly unbelievable. I've been trying to upload the video of our pep talk but I think the file might be too large. I'll keep trying!

The MC who gave the same speech every 20 minutes for about 5 hours

When we finally set out on the course the sun was hot and the wind was blowing dirt everywhere. It was all trails through fields and trees with nothing but hills. I was not prepared for that at all; we are flatlanders. I was immediately thirsty, even after hydrating for two days, and breathing in all the dust made it so much worse. There were 5 water stations throughout the course but I knew it would be awhile before we hit the first one. I was also worried about getting dirt or mud in my eyes since I wear contacts. How the heck would I clean them off? There were all kinds of stupid thoughts running through my head the first mile.

 Our very first obstacle was Arctic Enema- holy crap. We had to jump into a tank of green ice water and make our way under a barricade, which meant submerging our heads under the freezing cold water. How can this be first? Why not further in when we're hot or more prepared? So I guess I was privileged enough to jump in first. I told myself to just do it and get it over with. So in I went and holy frozen water Batman- it was ridiculously cold. Thinking about my head going under was awful but I knew I had to just get it over with and get the heck out as fast as possible. So I grabbed the barricade and pushed myself under as everything went numb. As I came back up I instantly lost my breath. It was so horribly cold I'm surprised I could even move to get out. Well that set the tone for the rest of the day cause this was gonna suck ass! Pictures of this obstacle would have been very entertaining but Mike couldn't get to every one. He walked about 5-6 miles that day and had a hard enough time finding us.

 I don't remember the exact order of the obstacles but I can look over the online map and tell you which ones we completed.

Bale Bonds- Enormous hay bales that we had to climb up (with Brian's helping hand) then carefully slide back down the other side. That was actually fun!

Kiss of Mud- Belly crawl under barbed wire through the mud. This was the first obstacle that involved mud and it covered everything but our upper backs. The only way to see my number was on my forehead. Oh did I forget to tell you? They write your number on your forehead and arm with permanent marker to identify your body.

Tunnels (?)- Plywood laid over dirt tunnels. I thought I might get claustrophobic on this one but there was actually quite a bit of room to maneuver and I could see light coming in from the other side so it was all good. My knees got pretty scraped up on this one.

Berlin Wall #1- Two 12' high walls that took teamwork and camaraderie to get over. This one wasn't too bad as there were a lot of people ready to hoist us over. I tried doing it by myself of course but my hands slipped so I needed help.

Spider Web- A cargo net hanging in a wooded area that we had to climb up and over to the other side. Pretty easy to get up and over. On the other side participants were securing the bottom of the net with their hands and feet so we traded spots and hung out for a bit to help.

Mud Mile- rolling hills of slippery mud to climb over and then slide back down into thick mud. This was a lot of fun but Nathan had some issues on this obstacle. Standing on the first hill Nathan jumped off into the thick mud thinking it was deeper than it was. Well when you think your jumping into a lake but you jump into a puddle instead you're just not prepared for the impact. So when Nathan landed his ankle took all the impact and he thought he might have broken it. Then he ended up sliding down one of the hills on his stomach and landed face first in the mud. There is nothing to wipe your face on nor is there is any clean water to rinse off with. I couldn't help but laugh even though I felt bad because he couldn't see. I just felt helpless as I had not one spec of dry shirt to let him use.

Mike didn't meet us for this one but still got a picture

There were large puddles of muddy water we had to walk through all along the course and I'm not sure if they were considered obstacles or not. I remember trying to rinse my hands in one and the guy next to me said, "That doesn't help." He was right because my hands were thick with mud all over again. There was just no way of getting clean and every time I walked through mud small pebbles got into my socks and rubbed against my ankles which made it very painful to run. I tried digging them out but there was just too much mud. At one water station I dumped clean water inside my sock and that seemed to help a little. I did take my shoe off once when I had a mound of mud under my toes that made it almost impossible to run. Taking a shoe off was way too time consuming so I didn't do that again. My shorts were so weighed down by the mud that they were falling off and my shirt kept stretching down sticking to my legs. I tried holding my shorts up while fixing my shirt but it just wasn't working. I finally tucked my shirt in and folded my shorts over which seemed to help. Next time I will wear tight fitting clothing, and for those of you women with a decent stomach- just wear a sports bra.

Notice all the mud in my shirt? Yeah bad choice of apparel.

The hills were brutal and very unexpected. I powered my way up and walked a bit to wait for the others. Running 1 mile seemed like 2 and when we were halfway through at mile 6 it felt like we'd been out on the course for hours. At one point I just couldn't wait for it to be over and I even told Nathan that I wished I was in Fargo instead. I think at that point I hit the wall. Definitely didn't expect that feeling during this kind of event. Somehow Brian and Jamie ended up running ahead, Justin and I were together, Tyler and Cory were behind us, and I think Nathan was both ahead and behind. At Berlin Wall #2 we all met back up and then separated again due to the guy with the broken leg.

"Are you serious?"

Berlin Wall #2- Two 18' walls that took teamwork, guts, and camaraderie to get over. As Justin and I walked up on this obstacle we immediately saw the first aid sign and heard people yelling. Apparently some guy tried climbing the wall by himself but fell and snapped his leg. I guess quite a few people heard the snap so Nathan, Jamie, and Brian (all being in the medical field) were with him waiting for first aid to come. If you look in the left corner of the above picture you can Jamie kneeling down beside the man with the broken leg. Needless to say this made me a bit nervous, but then there was another first aid sign and more yelling. So as I stood there two people got injured. The other one was a dislocated shoulder. Now do you understand the look on my face? I honestly thought about walking around this obstacle (since that is an option) but I had to try it. I was very nervous and the men hoisting people up didn't seem very strong. But it wasn't a matter of getting up the wall it was the fact that I had to hoist myself over, balance at the top, and slowly lower myself down. There was no one on the other side helping. I got over the first wall and my hands slipped on the other side and I fell a bit harder than I would have liked to but I was ok. Again I thought about going around the next wall but knew if I made the first one I could do the second. Done! We ended up going ahead without Brain, Jamie, and Nathan since the first aid crew was taking forever and we knew they could catch up with us. So then Justin, Tyler, Cory, and I stuck together.

Devils Beard- A cargo net set on the ground that we had to go underneath. A bunch of people were bent over walking backwards under it so we followed along. Worked great!

Hold your Wood- Grab a log and carry it down a hill and then loop around and up back up the hill to set it back in the pile. Easy! There was another obstacle that basically was just running through sticks, stumps, wires, logs, and brush. Someone said it was the Hold your Wood obstacle so people started grabbing larger sticks but we figured out that it wasn't right and threw them back down. Silly people!

Boa Constrictor- Crawl through two pipes that lead you through cold muddy water. Again I was worried about claustrophobia but I could see light on the other side and there was no need to completely submerge under the water. The first pipe sloped down into the water where Cory came out wide eyed and looked really creepy. The next pipe sloped uphill and got narrow at the top. My knees were already scraped up so this obstacle made them hurt even more. It was hard to see cuts under all the mud but I knew they were there.

Cory made me laugh floating out of this pipe

Twinkle Toes- Make your way across a beam without falling in the water. There was quite a long line waiting to go across the beams. This is when Nathan caught back up to us after falling behind with the broken leg guy. I thought for sure I had this one. Not easy but I had a shot at making it across. I waited for my turn to come and planned my strategy. The sign said "No Scooting" so I thought I would either do a sideways step or just the basic one foot over the other walk. It seemed easier when there was only one person at a time going but one of the volunteers told me to go while Justin was still making his way across. I tried delaying it but I had to just go. I thought I was doing really good as I had made it halfway across but the beam started to wobble. I'm not sure if it was because Justin got off or because Tyler got on but there was no recovering. The wobbling made the beam impossible to balance on so in the water I went. Crap!

Thanks for this shot Mike

Electric Eel (mystery obstacle)- Belly crawl through mud and ice cold water under barbed wire with electrically charged wires hanging down ready to shock any part of your body sticking up. This made me a bit nervous but the worst part was the freezing cold water. There was a hose constantly running cold water under the wires and I was more worried about being cold then shocked. Justin was right in front of me so I was watching him closely so I knew where the shocks would be. The first time he got shocked he almost kicked me in the head so I prepared to get a jolt too- nothing. He was shocked two more times and I thought for sure I would get at least one of them but again I felt nothing. I was so happy to be out from under the wires that I stood up, tried to get away, slipped, and fell right back down in the think mud.

I'm having way too much fun

I just want to highlight a few more obstacles because I didn't realize how many there were and anyone out there wanting to do a TM event in the future doesn't want a play by play (oops kinda too late).

There was Funky Monkey and some rings to get across (not sure on that name) but both of these were way too slippery and my gloves proved to be ineffective. The gloves actually made me slip off the rings. There wasn't any kind of rope climb which is why I purchased them in the first place. The monkey bars were much different from the ones I'm used to at the school playground. You might laugh but where else can you find monkey bars? They were spaced out more and they went up to the peak and then back down to the other side. I didn't make it far and ended up in the water again.

Mt Everest - A quarter pipe ramp you have to run up to make it to the top. In videos and pictures I had seen previously there were people lined along the bottom of the ramp and at the top- not here. When I walked up to this obstacle there were lines of people waiting to run up. About four people ran at the same time and someone at the top grabbed their hand(s) and pulled them to the top. I didn't think it was possible but after watching others easily run up to where they could reach a hand I knew I could do it. Mike laughed at me because I rubbed my hands together and pointed at the guy I was going to run to. What? That's what everyone else was doing and I didn't want no one to grab me and slide back down the ramp. The poor guy I grabbed had all my weight on just one arm and I didn't realize it until he started grunting so I grabbed someone elses hand to give the poor guy a break. Oops! Once I made it to the top I tried to help other people but no guys wanted to grab a women's hand so I just got down and waited for my team.

I'm pointing at the poor guy who has to hoist me up single handed

Cliffhanger (?)- Jumping off a 20' platform into 10' of water. I am scared of heights so this one was horrible for me. I climbed to the top where a military volunteer stood watching people step off the platform as if it was no big deal. I told him I was afraid someone might fall on me but he assures me he waits until the jumper pops up and swims away before he let's the next person go. I felt a little better. So then I mentioned that I can't get the whole timing for holding my breath thing down. Then someone says, "Well that's a problem." Oh great. So there was a guy beside me about to go and he tells me to go instead. I shook my head. Then the guy says, "Now that you don't want to go you have to." I just kept wiping my hands together and shaking my head. It was a long way down and my stomach was in my throat. I knew I couldn't stand there forever so I just walked off. I was scared the whole way down and of course I held my breath at the wrong time and sucked in about a gallon of water.

I looked this terrified the whole way down

As I was trying to swim, with shoes on, back to the top I realize that I forgot to take my Buff off. I touched my head to see if it was still there but I felt nothing but hair. Oh crap I lost my Buff. When I surfaced I looked around to see if it was floating but I saw nothing but garbage. Gross I swallowed that nasty water. I am so bummed that I lost it but I have a new Tough Mudder headband now. Plus I got to go to the Lululemon store and buy an awesome shirt for myself.

Electric Shock Therapy- Sprint through a field of live wires, some carrying a 10,000 volt shock. I had originally told Mike to video tape this part of the course but I kind of forgot about that. I just wanted to get through it and be done. I couldn't wait to get the mud off and put my sandals on. I apparently went through so quick that Mike didn't even get a photo of me. I was only shocked once but it wasn't too bad as I was able to stay on my feet. I saw a girl get shocked, fall to the ground, get shocked again and then she smashed her face into the ground. She laid on the ground until her friend came back and dragged her out. Luckily that was not me.

On my way to the electric shock therapy a lady running beside me asked if I was going to go through the wires and I said yes. She asked me how and I replied," I just have to do it. I've done everything else!" So she said, "Yep, you're right. I just have to do it." Awesome! I ran to the finish line and high-fived the MC waiting for everyone to come through. I was so happy to be finished and so pumped that we were officially Tough Mudders.

We look a bit rough (Nathan has a banana in his mouth btw)

I feel so blessed to have been just a small part of this event and I can't wait to go back and do it again. We have a team already scoped out for next year and hubby is now eager to take on the challenge. He followed our team throughout the course and took lots of cool photos that have been uploaded to Facebook- thank you Mike! Thank you to Tyler for letting me be on the team, Nathan for inviting me, Justin for sticking by me, Cory for making me laugh, Jamie for making me keep up, and Brian for helping me up and over obstacles. We are Tough Mudders- Oorah!

Here's an official video from the Somerset weekend found on You Tube.