Tough Mudder Virginia - Part I

Well, the Tough Mudder has come and gone and I'm still standing (sort of). It was definitely the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I used to say that about Insanity, but no longer! I'm still surprised I actually did it. I learned a lot about myself yesterday. I'm going to do this Mudder blog in a series so that it doesn't become a novel.

Our start time was at 9:40am and it's about a three hour drive. So, at 4am we were getting out of bed, eating a protein-filled breakfast and heading out the door. I made sure I had a 2-part breakfast so I could eat closer to start time as well. The night before I packed all my extra clothes and what-not so I wouldn't have to worry about it in the morning.

We arrived about two hours before our start time and parking took forever, so that was ok.

Here we are right after parking. Still intact.

We took a shuttle up to the resort and went through registration. We signed our Death Waiver (yes, that's what they call it), got our number written on our head and arm, and put on our bib.

Death Waiver

 Then we went into the starting area and watched the group before us go out with gusto. It was quite emotional. Once that wave went, we went into the starting corral. After some awesome music, a motivational speech and the National Anthem, we went out into the Braveheart Charge. You just run and scream and get hosed down with freezing cold water. The charge then turns up a hill and starts going up a very steep slope. I attempted to keep my pace up but ended up walking rather quickly, as did everyone else. 

At the top of the hill was the first set of Berlin Walls. Two 8-foot tall walls that you must scale. They weren't too bad. Chad helped me over and someone else helped him over and we were on our way. That's the awesome thing about Tough Mudder. It's not a race; it's a challenge. You're required to help people along the way. Many obstacles are impossible to do without help. Especially for those of us with little upper body strength. 

The Gauntlet was where we simply climbed over large hay bales while being doused with frigid water. Climbing the bales was pretty simple, but it's hard when the bales are soaked and it's pouring water on you that's so cold all you can think about is getting to the end.

After that we hiked another steep hill and almost at the top had to crawl under a low cargo net. We all decided to bear crawl it so we could hold the net up with our butts. Quite genius. Now, I don't remember exactly what order all the obstacles were in, but I'll try my best to keep them somewhat correct. I do remember that the Funky Monkey (monkey bars on an A-frame) was where I first got really wet. Chad went first and made it almost all the way across before falling. I knew I wasn't going to make it far, but I gave it my best. The bars weren't secure so when you grabbed them they rotated. I think I got 3 or 4 bars in before I fell. Then I trudged through the water to the other side where Chad and some other guy helped me up. 

I think after that was the Boa Constrictor. You have to crawl down a pipe into a pool of cold water and then up another one. I was worried about this because I thought the water was going to come up really high into the pipe, but it didn't. The worst thing about it was the rocks under your knees.

I'll end this blog here. Watch for another one tomorrow.

Our Mudder clothes in the washing machine.