My Tough Mudder Experience

Yesterday i completed my very first Tough Mudder. For those of you who don't know, Tough Mudder is a 12 mile military style obstacle course designed by British special forces to test your physical ability, camaraderie, and mental grit. Over the course of the 12 miles there are 20-25 obstacles to complete. Most of the obstacles are designed for you to complete as a team. People you have never met before will be in your personal space helping you to do things you never even thought you would do. Some of the obstacles are more difficult than they would seem and some are fairly easy. Here are some of the obstacles that stood out to me:

Arctic Enema:

 designed to induce hypothermia and HOLY CRAP does it work! That was absolutely the coldest, most shocking thing i have ever felt. You plunge in and it immediately shocks  your body. Your muscles seize up, you cant even think about trying to breathe. you have to machine through it, go all the way under the water and come out the other side. Then you have to climb out of the thing in a complete haze and your whole body hurts. you cant do anything but make noise and say holy hell!! I cant even describe it well. ice bucket challenge is like hot tea compared to this. 

when you come up your face WILL look like this. its involuntary. 

The Mud Mile:

i had a hard time finding pictures for this one because they really stepped up the game this year. The water was chest deep and there was no way of getting over the hills of mud alone. They were probably 8 feet tall. At some points the water was so deep that i was literally floating in the thick mud. This one will test your personal boundaries for sure. I had my face shoved into a random man's crotch that was helping. He was dressed in catholic friar's robes. A girl who Jesse was helping landed sprawled out right on top of him. Everyone who had done tough mudder before said that this mud mile was the hardest they had ever done. I didnt expect this one to be hard, but it was very physically draining. 

Balls To The Wall: 

I didnt think this obstacle would be hard. it doesnt look hard. Walking up to it i thought hey, no big deal and i even told Jesse he should go up the one beside me. WRONG! The rope is completely covered in mud of the people who have gone before you and it is SLICK. You cant grip it.... The knots help but my rope only had three knots for a 12 foot wall. Even going down wasnt easy. i ended up sliding down the rope and letting it burn my hands. 

Funky Monkey:

Good ole monkey bars.... except these monkey bars are at an angle, and the rungs are spaced 18 inches apart. The water below has ice floating in it and its 5 foot deep but guess what?! I made it all the way across!!! I just knew i didnt have a chance of getting across. Jesse went before me and made it look easy. He says he looked back and expected to see me in the water but NOPE i hung on and i made it! That was my proudest moment of the day. Up at the top there is a big gap where the two apparatuses meet and man that was tough for me. i tore my callouses open on my right hand which SUCKED the rest of the day. 

Walk the Plank:

If you fear water or heights this one will be a real mental test. The platform is 12 foot high and the water below is 13 feet deep. Our water was dyed blue so you couldnt see anything. I was VERY proud of Jesse on this one. We had talked about whether he would try it or not. He isnt a strong swimmer, had no experience jumping off diving boards, and doesnt love the height either. HE DID IT! It was a struggle but everyone came together and cheered for him and he found the confidence do take the plunge! I was way proud. 

Electroshock Therapy: 

I mean.... come one people. You have this thing with tons of LIVE ELECTRICAL WIRES hanging from it and swaying in the wind. Ours had two rows of hay bales and water. Some people make it out easy. Most do not. I was shocked repeatedly the entire time and so was Jesse. They warn you that getting hit in the face can make  you black out. Guess what? They're right! I made it over one set of hay bales then got shocked in the eyebrow and don't even remember the second hay bales. i fell over it and apparently slammed my knee pretty well because it hurt like hell after. i ended up crawling and sliding out of the thing getting shocked all the while. Most people dont make it out standing. it's insane. If you are a legionnaire meaning you have completed a mudder before, you get to skip this one. Anyone CAN skip this obstacle but you don't actually complete the course if you dont man up and do it.  

Tough Mudder was one of the most amazing experiences i've had to date. I'm so glad we went and i cant wait to start training for next year! Tough Mudder donates to the Wounder Warrior Project and if you participate on Saturday you can run the course with the wounded veterans. It is amazing to see so many people coming together for a common cause, working together, being one team, encouraging and helping everyone along to meet their own personal goals. it was awesome. My body is very sore today especially my calves. i'm sunburned and walking like a cripple but i cannot wait to do it again! 

none of these pictures are from my actual event. Because of the nature of the beast i didnt get many pictures myself but tough mudder has official photographers and i'll get to post some of those in a week or so. in a separate post i'll share the few pictures i did take.