Three Ring Circus: Tough Mudder!

MUDDER! MUDDER! MUDDER!

I set a goal back in December to complete the Tough Mudder May 12th, in PA and that day came and went and was a HUGE success. It was harder than I can even describe but it was a memory I definetly want to hold on to so I will attempt. But first I want to make sure to say two things. One, thank God for Matt. He literally lifted me over walls, and counted so I would jump off a 15 ft plank, run into electrical wires, and swim through ice water. He was a champion. And two, Nick spent the whole day (in boredom) to support me. He is a wonderful man, and the love to my life.

Training: I started training back in December with mostly my classes which include spin, pilates, and running (but only a few times, and definetly not as much as I should have). In March I started the Insantiy program which is appropriately named but I did it every single day and could feel my strength increase and my endurance get better and better. I felt prepared but anxious.

Nick and I drove the first half of the way and met up with Lorin and Matt in Binghamton, NY to drive down to the Pocono raceway in Pennsylvania. There were thousands of people being shuttled around, registering, warming up, stretching and putting on their very interesting costumes.

Our time heat started at 10:40. They make you scale a 9 foot wall jsut to get tehre and then take a knee to say the Tough Mudder chant, and salute the US flag. The race started with a jog through the woods. Everyone was together, and it didnt take long to figure out that this race was going to be much more teamwork than I had anticipated. Our first obstacle was army crawling under barbed wire through the mud. It was fun, but already harder than I was expecting. My forearms were already cut up but I was ready to go. We then ran to these big tanks that were filled with ice water. Nick said they were bringing in the ice on fork lifts and dumping it into the tanks. Matt and I got there and on his count we jumped in. It felt like we got kicked in the chest and I instantly lost my breath. Not only do you have to swm across but you have to swim under a board. On the way up its hard to surface because the ice is so heavy on your head that you think youre still under the board. It was hard to lift myself out of the tank because I was shaking and frozen but I made it. Nick was there to watch so I tried to kiss him but he pulled away lol. And then, we were off.

We ran and ran through the woods and the mud. There were rocks, sticks, logs, boulders, huge hills, and steep slopes. Everyone ran together but since I am not a runner it was hard to keep up. We came to a small set of walls we had to lift up and jump over. We then came to the first set of two walls that were 10 feel high to get over. Matt helped me over and then made it over himself. We then had a huge hill of rocks to climb. We ran and ran through mud and rocks for miles and miles. We had to crawl under a very heavy net held up by all of our backs (team work) and run through fire that made my face feel like it was melting. We picked up logs and carried them on our backs, or hips or however we could make it for about half a mile. We had another set of walls that were 12 feet high to make it over this time. We climbed up nets that had to be two stories up and jumped off a 15 foot plank into a freezing cold lake (again, I completely lost my breath) We ran, and ran, and ran, and ran. I fell and slammed my knee into a rock around mile 7. It hurt and every time I tried running I would fall but I kept trying to go in between walking. I knew Matt was being patient with me but could run on ahead if he had the chance. Hes so superior in strength.

We climbed "Mount Everest" which is a half pipe you have to make it up and Matt again helped me. We had to swim across on our bellies under live wires hanging above us that would shock us if we touched them. I made it slowly and carefully but Matt lifted up too soon and it shocked his butt. I was SOO scared to get shocked, they make sure you know it does NOT tickle and it will hurt. I have never been shocked like that, so I was petrified the entire time. We made it through these muddy water ponds that we didnt know how deep they were until we jumped in each other, made it across rings (although we fell in the cold water on that one) and both crossed the beams that move underneath you. It was always one foot in front of the other. The only people that were stopped were laying on the ground with cramps or pain. I tried to always keep running, but had to walk towards the end. 12 miles was much further than I had ever run before and it was hard to keep going. We had one mile left and ran to the finish line!

Finally, the finish line was right in front of me but first you had to run through "Electroshock Therapy" which were live wires that would shock you. They had hay bails under the wires so you didnt even have a straight shot to get there and knowing there was no way to make it without getting shocked. Matt ran right through and it was a moment of knowing after all that I had gone through, that I needed to make it this last 30ft. I took off and was shocked right away. Im not sure if I really stopped but I felt like I did (at least mentally) to take in what that felt like and then continued on. I was shocked 3 times and while it was intense it didnt hurt nearly as bad as I thought it would. and there I was... the finish line!! They "crowned" me with the Tough Mudder headband that you earn and I was instantly overwhelmed to tears. I tried to not cry but I felt just so completely overwhelmed with what we had just done that almost could not stop it. Nick and Lorin had missed everything by just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I wished he could have seen much more of the obstacles but I was glad he was there. We finished, we conquered, we are MUDDERS!!

I was so sore on Sunday that I could hardly move but I will be back next year. Better trained and with my darling husband who was inspired to try. I cant wait!!!