I gave up the couch (not completely) from February '11 to October '11 and challenged myself. I set a goal for myself, and recruited friends to go along for the ride, and to support each other in the goal. Four of us ended up making it to the end, signing Death Waivers a few hours away from home.
Tough Mudder VA 2011 had arrived. The four of us on Team UMADBRO? Arrived outside of Charlottesville, VA on Friday night. After a decent meal, we hung out in the hotel room, anticipating the next day's torture. I was super confident....and I was so wrong.
The next morning, we were up bright and early, trying to eat a quick breakfast, throwing in some supplements along the way. We headed to Wintergreen, a ski resort about 15 minutes away, where we caught a bus to the top of the mountain and waited for our start wave.
At this point, it's about 55 degrees at the start line, at best. Getting pumped was the easy part. I OD'ed on some supplements, so shortly after the start line, I was already dizzy, looking like a wimp, and keeled over trying to throw up. I look happy here, but this is after diving into over-the-head ice water within the first two miles. (No, really, they were bulldozing ice into it). I skipped two obstacles involving water because I couldn't feel my legs. About this time was when our friend Deryk (taking pics) told me that he'd kick me down the mountain if I was trying to quit.....I kept going....
So at this point, we've done a Braveheart Charge, run through fire hoses, climbed giant hay bales, carried logs up and down a bunny slope, gone under fine cargo nets, jumped over and gone under logs with barbed wire, balanced on 2x4's over cold water *and fallen in*, monkey bars over cold water *and fallen in*, and literally waded through ice water over our heads. This is all in about 2 miles.
Then there were the first set of Berlin walls (about 8') each, the water obstacles I skipped, one that was closed for maintenance, and then "Death March" and "Cliff Hanger". Let me just say, these are supposed to be distinct obstacles of hell-like ascents up the steepest ski slopes on the resort....However, about 70% of the course was just that....up and down the mountain.
Tough Mudder states that our elevation gain was 1250 feet. However, if you add up the amount of distance we actually went down and up in those multiple climbs, we actually descended about 4500 ft, and ascended about 4700 ft. from everyone's technical gear that I heard from. There is literally no stair-stepper machine to prepare you for this multiple times:
Then there was more mud to crawl through under barbed wires, cargo nets to climb while the men hold them steady before we wiggled to our deaths, more logs to jump over in the woods, crawling through sand under barbed wire, a mystery obstacle slide that many were injured on, and some dark wooden tunnels. Next, this charmer: Turd's Nest. Simple enough, until you realize someone's holding a fire hose and aiming at you as you try not to lose a leg through the cargo net!
At this point, we'd gone about 8 miles. Really, there were mximum of 3.5 miles of straight running and thank God it was at the top of the resort, through the golf course. It was a great portion, because those people in the condos at the golf area were outside adding extra water stations for us, cheering us on, and really contributing to the true sense of comraderie that this event has.
I never hit an obstacle that someone wasn't willing to help me with. Sure, we had our team, but people literally waited around to help the next wave. It was amazing. And we really needed their help for the next obstacle: Everest.
This is a basic quarter pipe, probably about 15 to 20 feet above ground...slick with mud and water from those who ran up before us. Apparently we were supposed to form some sort of human chain to climb up, but what happened to be working best was taking a running start, and reaching for those waiting to pull us up on top. This was actually one of the simpler obstacles, in my opinion, but those getting punched in the eye, pulling friends up, and having to attempt 4 times probably would disagree. They had the Degree photo station here, so our pics automatically posted on Facebook.
The last two obstacles were much advertised, and feared by many. But I'd do Firewalker and Electroshock Therapy 10 times each to avoid that ice bath. Seriously. What's a little smoke and fire, followed by a hose-down of water, then a shock of up to 10,000 V electricity? No big deal, right?
Tough Mudder was literally the most difficult physical challenge I have ever been through. My team was awesome but I really did hold them back by being underconditioned for it. But we finished, drank some protein shakes, and some Dos Equis. My recovery time was approximately a week, given that I was dehydrated, kidney infection, sinus infection, and every muscle was strained in my body.
We're signed up for round 2 this year. Different team, but I am super excited to do it again. MidAtlantic 2012 in MD, Team DTF (Down to Finish, get your mind outta the gutter!!!)!!!
Anyone else out there done TM?
