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Well folks, I survived — barely, but still alive over here! Honestly, I was petrified. After my herniated disc resurrected itself, I was scared to run, jump, or do anything that would compromise my ability to fully participate in Tough Mudder. I couldn’t even fathom having to “back” out (sorry, not sorry, for that genius pun).
The day of Tough Mudder was a terrifying one indeed. I could barely sleep a wink, and kept replaying all the horrible scenarios of everything that could go wrong. Maybe I’d start running and immediately feel excruciating pain, or maybe I’d take a nasty fall and would need the medic to escort me off the mountain without finishing the course.
It was about 14 degrees, wind was hitting us hard, and the torrential downpour wasn’t helping the situation. I was drenched standing with my team in the warm-up zone watching what must have been the first wave of mudders crossing the finish line. They were covered head to toe in mud, some collapsing onto the ground, some limping across to join their team. Gulp. This was my future.
My team walked into the start area and that’s when it all became real. Holy moly, I was really doing this. All that training and all those paleo meals later — I’m finally here. This is what I’ve dedicated my past year to. The motivational speaker’s inspiring words over the cheers from spectators made the jitters fade away and turn into anticipation. With the sideways rain pouring down on us, we recited The Mudder Pledge. “I overcome all fears,” we repeated back to the announcer while my mind clicked into beast mode. I was so ready to rock this.
The whole course was 16.5km and took my team from 12:45pm until 5:45pm. Five hours of running up and down steep ski hills, trudging through thick mud that consumes your shoes with every step, and of course the 16 extremely challenging obstacles. As you can probably guess, the exhaustion checked in pretty early. My back was hurting and the non-stop running was certainly taking its toll on my team. A couple were wounded and two could barely walk, but we kept moving onwards. We made it over towering walls, swam through ice water, and dodged live wires juiced with 10,000 volts. Sounds insane, right? Well, it was, but it was amazing. Our hard-earned orange headbands felt like crowns atop our muddy heads as we headed home to celebrate our victory.
Looking back, those five hours were torturous. Those five hours were mentally and physically exhausting. Those five hours were the best five hours of my life. Though I was in immense pain and totally scraped up, all of it was worth it.
You’d think I’d immediately go to bed right after finishing the course, but instead I decided to sign up for next year. Better start prepping for Tough Mudder round 2…after I sleep for 4 days straight. Goodnight.
