Sunday, February 24, 2013

Tough Mudder Race Recap!!

Today was SO much fun! I had an absolute blast with our team, Mudder Militia! That being said, I may not do another Tough Mudder event in the future- the electric shock is no joke and it really hurts! Especially going though it twice! 

Our wave was one of the first to start 10:20am, I thought that was the perfect start time. Not super early so you have to wake up in the dark and then still be cold outside- but not late enough to where the heat is unbearable.


We woke up and started getting ready. My mom was coming over to do my hair give us a ride to meet up with our team. While we were getting ready I tried to make toast and burned it... twice! Like pitch black and toaster smoking burnt... I hurried and opened some windows so the smoke alarm wouldn't go off. 

My mom gets there and walks in and immediately says 'what's burning?!' Awesome. She attempted to french braid my hair but it just wasn't happening. I don't know if it was just too early for her or if my 3-day old, unwashed hair was to blame.  So I ended up WITH hair 3 inches tall and WITHOUT toast. 




We were finally ready, met up with the team, and headed out to the race. Since we had to pay for parking the whole team squeezed into one car. (My mom was planning on coming later but I forgot my ID so she brought it to me and stayed for the whole thing- BEST. MOM. EVER!!) 

We got checked in, got our numbers and took some pictures before the start. Then I found another pink porta-potty! It wasn't hot pink like the ones in Las Vegas- but close. ;)



 When it got closer to our start time we made our way to the start line. (This is when the nerves set in and I realized what I was getting myself into.) In order to get to the start line, you have to climb over a wall. We haven't even started yet and I was already struggling. 

Here's the team- flying right over, looking strong....





Then here's me.... 




Once we made it over the wall, we were off into a cloud of orange dust. There were 21 obstacles over the 12.5 mile course. The first one was crawling through mud- not so bad right? Then came the second obstacle: the 'Arctic Edema'. This is where you climb up a ladder and jump into a dumpster full of ice water (with ice chunks floating everywhere). You have to swim to the other side- but in order to get to the other side you have to go under a wooden board, so you are completed submerged in the freezing water. The second I hit the water I felt like I couldn't breathe and just stood there frozen. Luckily, another girl in there said we would all go under the board on the count of 3. I knew I had to go on 3 or else I never would have gone. I could not get out of that fast enough!

For some strange reason the team wanted to keep going? So on we went. We climbed a mountain of mud (ridiculously hard to climb when you're still soaking wet), went through more mud, made it over the 'Berlin Walls' (shout out to my team mates for doing a majority of the work for me on this one- they lifted, pulled, and caught me over both walls. Please reference my upper body strength at the beginning of this post). I was seriously embarrassed for my team due to my lack of upper body strength. (I'm working on improving it!)
I think my brain must of still been frozen from the 'Arctic Enema' because I can't remember what was next or the order of the remaining obstacles. I do remember we had to carry a log and walk about a mile with it and I remember a guy who resembled Arnold Schwarzenegger walk up to me and ask if I wanted his log. I said sure and took off walking. For a little looking log it weighed a TON! At one point we had to jump over fire pits and into water. This one was actually pretty scary- the fire pits were pretty big and the flames were pretty high! 

Then there were these tubes we had to crawl through. They were really small ( and I get claustrophobic) so I was really nervous to go in. It was really dark and muddy inside. 



There were 2 tubes to crawl through and once you made it out of the first one, the second one added some water. Making it even more scary fun for people who are claustrophobic!




There were also hay bails we climbed, rings we tried (and failed) to cross, monkey bars, more tunnels, and at one point I ended up carrying 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter'. 


2 bar in was as far as I got
Some of the most terrifying were the 'Electric Eel', 'Electroshock Therapy', and 'Walk the Plank'!! Oh.My.Gosh! Just thinking about them again makes my body tense up. The 'Electric eel' was where we had to crawl through another mud-pit... but this time there were hanging electrical wires that electrocuted you every time they touched you. Everything about this one hurt. I tried to go fast but every time I got shocked I went slower and slower. When I finally reached the other side, I just sat there for a minute and heard some really loud high pitch female scream. I turned around and realized it was coming from the biggest guy on our team- Private Pile!! haha!

'Walk the Plank' is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You climb up a steep wood ladder and then have to jump off. I am terrified of heights and I honestly didn't think I would do this one. I think the only reason I did it, is because the three of us were holding hands and I had no choice but to jump.


The photo is blurry and you can't see the pure terror on my face... 

This is what absolutely terrified looks like..... 
After this obstacle, there wasn't much more I was scared of- except the last one, where we would get shocked again. So I was excited to see what was next and to keep going at this point- I mean what else could there possibly be?! 

Meet Everest. Probably the hardest obstacle we had all day. 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' ran right up it and got up by himself on the first try. (He was so fast no one even got a picture of him!) One -by-one our teammates went and got up with little to no help. 



        

Then it was down to me and Private Payne. He tried, tried, and tried again and still could not get up there. One one of his attempts he came crashing down and hit his knee pretty hard. He told me to go and I didn't really have much of a choice. I took a running head start and took off sprinting..... I grabbed my teammates hands, they grabbed mine, I slipped out and came sliding down. (Somehow in the shuffle the managed to slip off by LiveStong bracelet and not break it.)



I set up for my second attempt and backed up even further to have more of a head start. I took off sprinting this time and once again grabbed onto my teammates for dear life. This time, they recruited more help from fellow 'mudders' and I was just dangling there. Like we saw earlier in this post, I lack upper body strength and once again was left at the mercy of my stronger teammates. The only thing I could do was try to kick my leg to the side and yelled for someone to grab it. After a few kicks someone was able to grab it and they were able to pull me up. Ya.... it was great.

It took 5 people to pull me up.... Not embarrassing at all! 
Now we just needed to get Private Payne up. The crowd had been watching his continuous efforts and began cheering for him (and shouting out pointers!). It was awesome to see all the support we got from everyone. After a couple more attempts, he got up and we could not have been more proud. The crowd exploded in cheers for him and we celebrated the sweet victory. 



So happy to have the hardest obstacle behind us. We were now onto the final obstacle. 




The final obstacle was the 'Electroshock Therapy'. Finish with  bang right? We all stood there, just looking at it, watching people run into it and get shocked repeatedly (probably didn't help). Next thing I know,  one-by-one all of our teammates have gone through except for me and Dena... we were scared and watching everyone else go was just making it worse. 

 A group of ladies had came up behind us and told us we were all going to go on the count of 3. At this point we had no choice- I knew I either was going to go with them or not at all. When she screamed out "THREE!!" we all took off running. My plan was just to run straight through as fast as possible and just get done with it. Ya..... that didn't happen. I tried to jump over the first hay bail and my foot got caught and I tripped (while getting zapped SEVERAL times!!). I decided it would be best to just stay as low as possible and army-crawl out of there. My thinking was I would be low enough not to get zapped- I wasn't! I got zapped many, many more times! 
See me fall? Way back at the first hay bail? 
"Go around sir." You can also see the ladies planning my rescue on the left.... 
Finally almost out- but still getting shocked
'Go on without me. Save yourselves'  (Seriously, how dramatic was I?!)

For you're viewing pleasure I give you the grand finale and to really hammer home my pathetic-ness.... 


Once I was finally drug out and ran through the finish we got our orange headbands and celebrated finally being done!



My awesome mom- who stayed the whole time and took these amazing photos! 


We are officially TOUGH MUDDERS and have the bruises, blood, scars orange headbands to prove it!  




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