Tough Mudder 2012

Way back in February of this year Nellie asked me to join her in a race that would be happening in September. Somehow I let her peer pressure me into saying yes. AFTER saying yes, she told me what the race was...The Tough Mudder...holy shit!

10 miles of mud and god knows what terrain

20 boot camp style obstacles

CRAZY!!!

Throughout the next few months we were able to talk a few more people into joining us, including my friend Erin. We got Katie to agree to fly up from Florida to cheer us on, watch Nellie's kids, hold our clean clothes and most importantly drive us home after we die.

On Friday, as Nellie was driving up to meet us, Turner (her oldest) fell and got a concussion. She had to take the poor little dude to Urgent Care and then turn around to take him home. Nellie was bummed to miss the race.

Saturday morning, Erin, Katie and I loaded up the car with water, snacks, towels and peroxide and started the ONE hour drive to Fredrick. As we drove, yes, it took us ONE hour to get to Frederick... then it took us FOUR hours to get off the interstate and to the parking lot (a 3 mile drive.) TRAFFIC WAS STUPID!!  [So stupid in fact that my friends Jackie and Phil were stuck in traffic for so long they didn't even get to run, by the time they got there, they had closed the race and shut down the course... I sure am glad that didn't happen to us. We would have been highly pissed off.]

While sitting in traffic, we ran out of music to listen to and even ran into 7-11 for more Gatorades. We deemed the TRAFFIC the first obstacle of the course... a true test in patience and pee holding. After about 2 hours we lost the battle with our bladders and began the "Toughness" of the day with some cornfield pit stops.

We FINALLY parked 2 hours after our start time. We checked in and got ready to start, just as the storm began with pelting rain and loud rumbling thunder.

before: look how clean we are

The main emphasize of the Mudder is that "It is Not a Race, it is a Challenge." So it is not timed and no one is going to WIN... the point is to finish and to help your fellow Mudders (no one gets left behind.) This was GREAT because everyone was so helpful and friendly. The camaraderie was AWESOME. If people fell, there were at least 5 people stopping to pick them up. If you got to an obstacle and needed help, there were hands ready to pull you up the wall. It was an awesome tribute to teamwork.
Erin and I were good at motivating each other, too. She talked me through the underground trenches and I convinced her to wiggle through the electroshock army crawl. As we got to the top of the 15 foot jump, she counted to 3 and we jumped. We made a good team and felt pretty bad-ass doing it.

after: not clean anymore!

One of the hardest parts of the entire race was the running in the mud. Your feet went every which way and the majority of the time you truly felt like you were rollerblading rather than running. I am not sure how much of the mud was planned and how much of it was just a result of the storm. The balance beam and monkey bars were additionally difficult due to the slick mud and layer of goo on your shoes.













Four hours after starting, we skipped the Everest challenge and crossed the finish line. We earned our orange head-bands and beer!






Having trained for this for the past 6 months or so it feels pretty good to have SURVIVED it! I'm not sure yet what is next but I will keep you posted.





The aftermath: with all of the rain, the parking lot turned into a bigger mud pit than any we saw on the course. I will say, of anywhere to get stuck.. being at the Tough Mudder with thousands of strong helpful men to push your car out.. was not too shabby. Today's mission: buy new sneakers (as I donated mine and did not even try to bring them home) and get my car washed.

The after effect on my legs and elbows.
So far the muscles don't hurt too much...
its the scrapes and cuts that hurt the most.