Tough Mudder

Goodness, I'm never going to get through this backlog... I think I'm going to have to skip some detail if I ever want to. That might be easy given how long ago all this happened. Who knows what I'll even remember...

B and I had such a great time at the Atlanta Spartan Race in March, that a few days later, while hanging out at the Cuse, we decided that we should do something else, pretty soon. The next Spartan Race was quite some time away, but there was a Tough Mudder coming up, so we both signed up right away.

...And on April 20th, we ran it!

The race was at Bouckeart Farms in Chattahoochee Hills. I didn't even need to use a map or google to get there. I'd ridden past it, maybe literally a thousand times.

Pre-race, we were all feeling pretty good. The pre-race vibes were much like the vibes at a Spartan event, but a little less commercialized.

We both got geared up and ready to go...

At the spartan events, there's a little warm up area where you can do a couple of pull-ups, climb a rope, throw a spear, etc. There wasn't anything like that here, just a single pull up bar, and I'll admit that the crowd kind-of goaded me into doing too many of them. I was definitely warmed up when I was done, though.

We had to stage in one spot, then get forwarded to another staging spot a little while later. Not sure why, but that's how they did it. I had to jump the fence and pee last minute, but I made it back for the start. They played some music to get everyone excited, and then we were off!

There was honestly, a lot more running than at a Spartan event. I felt like I was running forever before hitting the first obstacle. We ran through some stables, into the woods, down a fire road, into the woods again, across some little creek, etc.

It's been so long, that I don't really remember the order of the obstacles any more.

There was definitely a mud crawl.

And there were some just pits full of water that we had to walk through. And at some point we had to walk along the edge of a lake for a long time.

I could see why they called it the Tough Mudder. You definitely get super, super muddy.

I don't remember the name of this thing, but you had to climb up and over a "wall" of 2x12s.

And there were more mud pits.

One thing that's different about Tough Mudders, is that you're not really trying to "win" per-se. Most obstacles require teamwork, so you get through it, then turn around and help the next couple of folks. Eg: here I am pulling a guy out of the mud pits.

In between each of the obstacles, there was more and more running. Endless running, in muddy shoes. I kept leapfrogging the same group of guys all day, too. It seemed like we were about equal in fitness, until they suddenly dropped off about 3/4ths of the way to the end.

I want to say about half way through, there's a big quarterpipe that you have to run up and pull yourself over.

It would have been easy with a fresh body and dry shoes, but I tried and failed...

...three times, before giving up and using the rope.

In Mudder tradition, though, I then pulled a few more guys up and over.

There's a bit of a ledge that you lean on to pull people over, and as I pulled the second guy over, I simultaneously pulled my ribs into the corner of the ledge. I felt one give and then I heard it snap.

Great.

"Damn. I just broke a rib."

"Awww! Was that what I just heard!?"

It hurt intensely for about a minute, but then it was just dull. I'd start suffering in earnest the next day, but at the time, I felt like I could finish the race.

There was some weird balance thing that you had to scoot across, and the tallest A frame that I'd ever seen, and I forget now what else. I honestly just wanted to be done.

The second-to-last obstacle, the Arctic Enema, didn't feel all that terrible while I was in it...

...but the cold really sets in a few seconds after you get out. My muscles just wouldn't work. At first, I was stumbly and almost fell down, then I almost passed out.

Lord!

The last obstacle was just pure hell.

There's all these cords dangling down, and if you touch some of them, they don't do anything, but random ones shock you half to death.

I was able to dodge most of them, but then I'd hit one and my whole body would convulse, and that would knock me into another one, like dominoes.

About halfway through, I was like "screw this" and I tried to crawl under them, only to get shocked almost just as often.

I saw some people just run through it and yelp when they got shocked. IDK how they could stay standing, my whole body would jerk uncontrollably when I got hit.

Done!

And B was done not too long after me.

The course was longer than a Spartan - 5 miles instead of 5K, but there were fewer obstacles, and they were all a lot easier. There was nothing overhead at all. It looks like if you do the 10 mile option, there are way more obstacles, and they're a lot more challenging. At the time, I felt like I wanted to try that next year, but at the time, my ribs hadn't started really hurting yet.

Sadly, I don't remember much about the drive home or what happened immediately after.

The next day was agonizing though, and I was supposed to go on vacation a few days later.

Woo.