Alright, if you haven't read yesterday's blog, read it before continuing. After the first couple of miles in the Mudder, I was feeling tired but also very invigorated. I was ready to tackle this thing.
Here's where the fun stuff really starts. It's the obstacle everyone fears and always remembers how they felt going through it. You've seen the awful pictures and heard the terrible stories. Yes...the Chernobyl jacuzzi. Basically, this is a dumpster full of gross colored water full of ice. You have no choice but to simply plunge in. With Chad on my right and another mudder on my left, the three of us stood there staring at it for several moments. Chad and the guy on my left finally lowered themselves in slowly and started toward the middle, where you're forced to plunge your head under to get on the other side of a plank with barbed wire on top. I debated jumping in after hearing some people talk about jumping in as close to the middle as possible. But, I ended up following the lead of the other two and lowering in on the edge. I think at this point my adrenaline reached an all-time high because I don't remember being as cold as everyone else. I was very cold, though. Once I reached the middle I couldn't allow myself any time to gear up for going under. I just plunged under, came up the other side, and swam to the other edge. However, upon reaching the edge I realized that it was very high and I had no way to get myself out. Chad had already taken off in fear of hypothermia, so I thought I was on my own. Luckily, some other mudders were behind me, saw me struggling, and pushed me out. I yelled my thanks and took off screaming like a banshee.
In that moment, emerging from that dumpster, I felt incredible. Yes, I was cold. Yes, my limbs were numb. But, if I'm going to be honest, I've never felt so alive in my whole life. My screams were half from fear and shock of being the coldest I've ever been but also from sheer joy of being alive and running through the mud in a beautiful place with a bunch of other fun, motivated people. It was simply fabulous. I felt like laughing and crying and screaming all at once.
After the jacuzzi was the next obstacle of climbing up and over a cargo net. People on the other side were taking turns anchoring the bottom. When I reached the other side of it, the girl who had been beneath me looked like she was going to pass out, so I took her place and the next guy after me took mine. It was a good system. Then there was climbing over and under logs, scrambling over rocks, and then reaching Twinkle Toes. This involved planks about 3 inches wide suspended over freezing cold water. Walking across those planks was very challenging, especially when I got to the middle because they were swaying terribly. But, I've always prided myself on my balance and I managed to get to the other side without going into the water.
The hardest times in the race were simply all the mountains/ski slopes we had to go up and down. In Hold Your Wood, we had to pick up a log and carry it up and then back down some tubing hills. I chose a log that would be heavy enough to be challenging but not so heavy that I wouldn't be able to carry it the whole time. I knew that was the right choice when I was half way up the hill and a group of guys was off to the side sitting on their logs. After trudging up another ridiculously steep hill (suffice it to say you almost had to bear crawl to get up it, people were sitting/lying off to the side every 20 feet, and it was probably a whole mile long), we had to crawl under barbed wire placed 8 inches off the ground. I didn't foresee this as being as hard as it was. The ground underneath was hard and rocky and putting my elbows and knees into it was quite painful. Luckily, after that obstacle was an aid station with bananas! A banana has never tasted so good or felt so fulfilling.
Then there were miles of simply walking/jogging through and around a golf course. This was the best part because it allowed some recuperation and it was simply beautiful. Then there was climbing over/under more logs, jumping up hay bales (very tall ones, which most of us mudders needed assistance with), and the mystery obstacle. I'm going to save the mystery obstacle and the finish of the Mudder for tomorrow.
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