With the recent craze in obstacle courses and getting dirty, Tough Mudder has made a name for themselves, and a little money too.
With over 500,000 participants in 2012, at just under $200 a head, Tough Mudder beat up, broke down, and motivated many individuals to overcome their limitations.
For what reward you ask? Tough Mudders who complete the course receive a well deserved beer, head-band, and t-shirt to flaunt to the world.
How is a beer, head-band, and t-shirt worth 10-12 miles of extreme physical punishment?
These rewards mean nothing in their material aspects, it is true. A beer can be gone in seconds, the head-band may have cost a dollar to make, and the t-shirt could not have cost much to make as well.
To Tough Mudder finishers, these rewards are symbols of what they have overcome, both physically and mentally.
What makes this head-band, t-shirt, and brew mean so much to a Tough Mudder Finisher? Let me describe to you the Tough Mudder that I participated in this past Saturday, April 6th, in Aonia, Georgia, to give you a little taste of the Mud.
When I first heard about the Tough Mudder event in an Outside Magazine article, it looked like something I wanted to do. I love a good challenge and especially obstacle courses.
I did not want to go alone so I searched my mind, and Facebook, for friends and acquaintances that might be up to the challenge as well as take it as seriously as I planned to.
Only one friend came to mind, Parker, who has been a lifelong friend and my right-hand-man throughout our adolescent years. He was a runner for our high school, shares similar physical characteristics to myself, and I believed he would feel the same way about TM as I did.
I was correct.
We signed up in February and "trained", to an extent, in preparation for the event.
I ran almost every other day, did many push-ups and pull-ups (which is basically all the training you need), as well as ran in a few 5K races to get back into the competitiveness of running.
When Saturday morning rolled around, we left the Upstate of South Carolina before the morning darkness did, and arrived at Aonia Pass Motorcross Park at 8:30. Our heat was set to start at 10:20.
We first had to sign a waiver, pretty much signing our life away. Then we got our race tags, wrist-bands, and some complementary Clif Shot Blocks (a.k.a my crack).
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| This is what we walked past when entering the event |
When 10:20 came around, we went to the starting area, where we had to climb a wall to enter. Go figure.
Prior to raceday I had watched countless videos of the pep-talks given right before the race. This pep-talk was like no other.
The marine, I assume, was a stocky guy that I had seen in the pep-talk videos from other Mudders.
(get pumped by him in this Tough Mudder 2012 Georgia Official Video)
With Eminem's "Lose Yourself" blasting around us all, the marine's words awoke our inner Mudders, awaiting to be set loose. My heart racing.
Then we counted down: 10...9...8...
...3...2...1
The gun sounded and this was the most excited I have been in years. Like a kid on Christmas morning, but more.
After close to a quarter mile, we came to obstacle #1, "kiss of mud." Not the toughest of obstacles, but required crawling under barbed wire in dark mud for about twenty yards.
Obstacle #2, "king of the mountain" a form of "bale bonds", was a pyramid of round hay bales.
Being as agile as a cat, I scaled over the top and hopped down with little trouble.
Obstacle #3, close to mile 3, was the one I was dreading the most, "arctic enema." The name says it all.
I hopped in, went under the wall, and came up, halfway in shock, to one of the soldier volunteers dumping a twenty pound bag of ice on my head. Thanks a lot Mr. Soldier.
Thankfully I had already warmed up internally from the 3 mile jog before receiving my "enema" and quickly regained my composure.
Obstacle #4 was "hold your wood." No perverts, it was not that easy. We each, or in pairs or threes, had to carry a log 1/4 of a mile. Everyone's priority was in finding the smallest long, of course. Thankfully I found a not-to-big log and carried it at a good pace around the required 1/4 mile lap.
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| Courtesy of Tough Mudder AZ |
You crawled down an angled pipe into water and then up a mirrored pipe. At the bottom of each pipe, there was about 6 inches of space between the water and the top of the pipe. This obstacle was directed more towards the fear of drowning than anything else. Plus it did a number on my knees.
Obstacle #6 was the classic "mud mile", where we ran through muddy trenches and up slippery, muddy hills. This section of the course reminded me of cartoons where the characters ran in place on a slippery surface before they started moving, without the silly sounds like those of Scooby Doo and Shaggy running from ghosts and goblins. Mudders were sliding into each other, taking others out, and falling into hidden (deep) holes under the surface of mud puddles. It finished up with crawling over muddy hills, which is shown in the picture below. I loved the mud mile!
Obstacle #7 was a different take to the "fire walker." There was a wall of fire (two feet) that we jumped over and into a pool of water. This one was more fun than challenging.
Obstacle #8 was the angled, eight-foot "berlin walls" obstacle. My small stature and upper-body strength made it easy to get up and over the few walls. The bigger folks took less ease to getting up and over.
Obstacle #9 was another of my favorites, "island hoppin." There were floating platforms place 3 feet apart and were not much more than buoyant. If you landed on a corner or even with just a little more weight to one side than the other, you were off in the water.
My tactic with this one reminded me of a water spider, hopping onto each platform with all four limbs landing at each corner to provide stability. It was not the quickest way, but I stayed out of the water.
Obstacle #10 was a new addition to Tough Mudder's obstacles, the "cage crawl", and was another that I was not fond of. You laid on your back in muddy water and crawled along a fence above you for twenty yards.
I hated this one mostly because my ears were under water, so I could hear nothing, and I could not see where I was crawling too. It seemed to be way longer than twenty yards, though it was not.
Obstacle #11 was another fun obstacle, well for me at least, "walk the plank." I have always loved jumping of things into water, from high dives and trees overhanging lakes, to a 60 foot cliff in Hawaii. So jumping from a 15-foot platform into water was a joke.
Parker did his trademark backflip as I did my classic front-flip with a fancy spin. I like to think it is fancy at least.
Obstacle #12 was "trench warfare." Similar to the "boa constrictor" but with no water, thankfully. I zig-zagged through a dark mud tunnel, on my knees, and came up on the other side without any complaints.
Obstacle #13 was another that was not made for those of a larger stature. The "just the tip" obstacle required Mudders to shimmy along a wall, over a pool of water, using 2-by-4s to place your feet and hands. Tough Mudder made it even more difficult by placing "trench warfare" right before it, caking slimy Georgia clay on our hands and toes.
Parker and I managed to make it across without falling in the water. We were of the lucky few.
Obstacle #14 was the "electric eel." Similar to "kiss of mud", but electric eel requires you to crawl through muddy water, trying to avoid the hundreds of dangling wires with thousands of volts running through them.
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| This guy's face says it all. |
The first shock I received was when Parker, my muddy partner, was zapped a few feet away. The current travelled through the water, hit my calf and made my whole body flench and tighten. When I flenched, my shoulders rose up a couple inches and each shoulder blade touched a wire.
This shock was much worse than the one Parker allowed me. It did not "hurt", per se, but my entire body locked up and it was not exactly comfortable. Shockingly, I crawled the rest of the way without any more stings.
In honor of one of Tough Mudder's sponsors, The Wounded Warrior Project, obstacle #15 was the "wounded warrior carry."
I know it as the "fireman's carry", but simply enough you carry someone on your shoulders for a hundred yards, then they carry you for a hundred yards. I sure was glad Parker is not twice my size on this one.
Obstacle #16 was the vertical, 9-foot "berlin walls." These were no where as easy as the angled walls, but with the help from a fellow Mudder or two (or if you were tall enough to reach the top) you could be up and over easily.
The next obstacle, obstacle #17, was "log jammin." Requiring you to maneuver over, under, and between logs. After nine miles of running, this was a lot harder than it really was.
Near mile 10 we came to a pond. In order to get to obstacle #18, "pirate's booty", you had to walk through the mid-thigh deep pond, which was far from warm. Then you came to a rope net that had to be climbed over and down. Fairly easy.
Obstacle #19 was the infamous "Everest." This is a greased up quarter pipe that seemed to get the best of most people. I watched a few successful, and unsuccessful, Mudders go up (and some slide back down).
Confident with the observed tactics I needed to succeed on the first try, I went for it. To my surprise, my waist hit the top of the wall before my hands did, meaning that I almost ran completely to the top.
Being up and over without having to try again felt good, I was running on fumes at this point.
Obstacle #20, the "funky monkey", came and went with ease. One thing to watch out for on this one is that the bars roll around and are greased.
After completing this one, I scanned the roped off course ahead, which snaked a half mile or so along a hill, and came to what I recognized, and dreaded, to be the final obstacle, "electroshock therapy."
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| This guy got zapped so hard that his body went stiff and fell to the ground |
I gave the last jog all I had and, when I approached obstacle #21, I saw a gap in the dangling electrical wires that I could possibly fit through unscathed. Then without being "electroshocked", I stood on the other side of electroshock therapy, smiling when I realized I stood ten feet from the finish line.
There at the finish line stood the Tough Mudder workers and volunteers with orange headbands in their hands. Behind them were tables lined with Tough Mudder 2013 Finisher t-shirts and Dos Equis beer.
So with Parker at my side, we stepped across the finish line, 2 hours and 9 minutes after we had started, as true Tough Mudders.
Though we were all exhausted, the smiles on the other finishers' faces, and my own, made the pain subside. It was time to celebrate.
Parker and I hobbled to a table near the live band that played (no clue who they were, but they were good), giving high-fives and congratulations to others along the way.
After a couple brews and a painful, slow, walk back to the car we were on the way home.
Side notes:
Not only was the obstacle course fun and challenging, but Tough Mudder, with much help from their sponsors, provided and atmosphere that made me feel like I got my moneys worth.
Around every two miles along the course, CamelBak set up water stations that helped me stay hydrated and coherent.
At these water stations, bananas (potassium is a good energy source) and Clif Bars were supplied to help to keep us going.
Under Armour is another sponsor of Tough Mudder. The Tough Mudder 2013 Finisher shirts we received at the finish line were provided by Under Armour.
The Wounded Warrior Project, arguably Tough Mudder's most important sponsor, raises money to aid in helping injured veterans and service members get the care and operations needed from injuries they have received protecting our Nation.
They take donations of all sizes and forms, including monetary donations and donations of time through volunteering in their sponsored events.
I would like to send a big thanks to Tough Mudder, The Wounded Warrior Project, Clif Bar, CamelBak, and Under Armour for a great time and a challenging course.
If you want to know more about Tough Mudder and their role in the Wounded Warrior Project, or find a race near you, go to their website.
If you want to know more about the Georgia Tough Mudder, go to their Facebook page and look at all the pictures of the race, or ask me about my experience. I would love to tell you more.
Think you are tough enough to be a Tough Mudder? Take the quiz and see if you could make it (middle-left side of page).
Photos courtesy of Tough Mudder.
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