Overall the Tough Mudder was a great event and I’m already looking forward to next year.

I found running on the mountain and the trails to be extremely challenging and enjoyable.

Some of the obstacles where really hard, while others where way too easy.

I completed the course in 1:22
They say the course was 7 miles long, but it seemed shorter.

I’m gonna break it down for you:

Registration was well run, lots of volunteers and organization. The resort was beautiful, parking was fine (at least for those of us that showed up early).

David and I arrived around 8:00 am. Registration was supposed to open at 9, but it was already up and running when we got there.

Man it was hot. Not warm or tepid, but hot. Only 9:30 am at this point and the mercury was rising. Running 7 miles at high altitude in the heat sounds awesome.

Around 10:15 they started to corral us up on the side of the mountain for the 11:00 am start. I guess they didn’t realize how quickly everyone would be up and ready because we all sat in the sun for 45 minutes waiting and pumped for go time.

Luckily they had an impromptu water station set up staffed by some awesome volunteers.

So 500 of my closest friends and I are standing on the side of a mountain at Bear Creek Resort waiting for the starting gun. They make some announcements. A few of our finest veterans are applauded, the national anthem is played, Fireworks explode – as do us all.

We start running down the mountain and turn back up at the bottom. Running up the gravel road. Running is a bit of an overstatement. The crowd is thick at this point and there are a lot of people the apparently forgot to train. And did I mention it was hot? 15-20% grade trudging behind people, occasionally passing some.

This goes on for 10 minutes or so and we get to the sweaty yetti – it was supposed to be a crawl through the snow, but the heat made it a shorter crawl through ice. The ice actually felt great and I shoved some of it down my shirt.

Back to running. We run up a little more and then it’s flat/downhill for a while. Next obstacle is the Devils Beard – cargo nets that where as promised, annoyingly low. It wasn’t a difficult obstacle with all the other people going at the same time. as long as you kept your head low and angle right you were fine.

running again, downhill. The heat is blistering, no shade, no clouds. damn it’s hot.

Hold your wood – giant log pile at the bottom of the mountain. grab one and head back up the mountain. Going up was hard. and the crowd was still kind of tight at this point. it was slow going. The way down was a bit better. I was able to go off into the brush a little and pass a lot of people. I put my wood back into the pile and went on. I would grade this is a harder obstacle, but doable for sure.
Cliffhanger – run up the black rated ski slope – WOW this is hard. There is no running by anyone. this feels more like a death march than anything else. the oppressive heat, the steep incline, slippery ground – this is where I started feeling the pain, but it is also where I got my real separation from the crowd. Luckily there was water at the top (for those of us that made it).

Boa Constrictor – supposed to be a line of tires to crawl through, ended up being pvc single wall corrugated drainage pipe under some dirt. It was long enough to be slightly scary, small enough that I couldn’t use my legs at all. Bumpy enough that it was exactly fun. Overall it wasn’t nearly as hard as crawling through the center of tires though.

Swamp Stomp – about 30 feet of running through water/mud that was waste deep. more water than mud and a lot shorter than what I expected. I was able to run through half of it, but finished by walking/trudging. back to running. Running with soaking wet shoes is awesome :/

Wet shoes and all though, this was my favorite part of the course. Lot’s of shade, running and jumping over rocks and trails. not a lot of other people around, but enough so you could talk to others. I passed a few people, a few people passed me. this was about a 20 minute run and it ended at the Kiss of Mud. Wire eight inches from the ground. it was a bit longer than the cargo nets, a lot lower. It scratched my back quite a bit (but it kind of felt good). I thought I was near the end and it turned on me. damn. by the time I got to the end I was happy to see it behind me.

More down hill running and to The Ball Shrinker. it was supposed to be a rope bridge, but it seems that there was a bit too much slack. I started on the ropes but once the water was waist deep I decided to abandon the top rope and quickly pull myself through the water using the bottom rope. It was much faster that way. Man the water felt good (and cold).

Next up Underwater Tunnels this felt like kind of a joke. only three barrels that you had to duck under. I swam under the first 2, came up for some air, went under the third. All of 3 seconds on this obstacle.

Another simple obstacle next - Walk the Plank – I’m guessing water depth and insurance stopped this from being a 15 foot drop. it was more like 6-8 feet. After walking the plank you had to swim out and around a buoy and back to shore. While the jumping off the plank was easy, the swimming was extremely hard for me. Out to the buoy was fine, but on the way back I couldn’t kick any longer. My shoes were so heavy, my legs so tired. I did the breast stroke, back stroke and doggy paddle in order to make it. The whole time the guy on the shore with the life jacket was eying me up. I know he didn’t expect me to make it. It felt like forever, but I finally made it safely to land.

My legs were tired, my arms were screaming. 12 obstacles down, 5 to go.

As I started to run again I thought about the exhaustion I was feeling. Man I was tired. How the hell am I supposed to get over the f’ing Berlin Walls directly ahead of me?
10-12 ft tall straight walls with a small little 1 inch spot to step on a couple of feet up. I made my first approach, jumped, reached the top, and started to heave my body up. I made it almost over and then crashed back to the ground. Damn it. I tried again. This time I had nothing left to even get my body most of the way over. I fell again.

I was stuck. How the hell was I going to get over these 2 pieces of shit?
I guess the look on my face said it all, because just at that moment a guy I passed a few miles back came up and asked if I wanted a hand. There was no pride at this point, I needed the help if I was going to make it. He gave me a hand to step on and it was enough to get me over. I helped him over the next one and someone else helped me again.
This was the most difficult obstacle. if it wasn’t for the help of my fellow mudders I would not have made it.

The Killa Gorilla originally this was called the bastard, not sure why they changed it, but either way, running up and down a hill 10 times sucks. the way they had the ropes set up it was more like up and down 5 times though.

Greased Lightening – Picture a slip and slide in your back yard, no picture it 30 feet wide and a hundred feet down a hill with fire hoses keeping it wet. they were sending us 2 at a time. I went feet first, but it didn’t really matter. I spun all over the place as I bounced down the hill. My shorts were so far up my ass I wasn’t sure if they’d ever come back out. My worries were quickly dispelled as I hit the water shoulders first and my shorts abruptly jumped down to my ankles. Luckily for everyone else the water was dark and I was able to regain my composure without anyone seeing.

At this point there was a head on the side of the water wearing a terrible grimace. I asked the floating head if he was OK. (He did not look OK). “I’m OK” said the head. I asked several more times and tried to assist but he continued to refuse. I helped him out of the water a bit and his thigh was bulged out and red. dude was in serious pain. I called for medics and he continually tried to tell me he was OK.
As the help was coming I continued on to my goal.

Probably another 1/2 mile run here. It was flat and easy. knowing I was near the end definitely helped keep me going. I caught up to a couple that I was chatting with after the mud obstacle. We jogged slowly and waited for another member of their group to catch up before making the final run through the Fire Walker. The run through the 4ft flames wasn’t quite what I was expecting. There was a ditch dug in the middle and flames on each side. You had to run through the middle. It was extremely hot and smoky, but short enough that there was no threat of death. It was cool. Not as cool as my imagination had built it up, but still cool.

The final ‘obstacle’ was really just a 1/2 ring of fire that probably looked neat to spectators, but the runners had no trouble going under it.

I did an interview with someone, ate some food, hosed off, changed and continued my journey through life. Not a changed man, but a tougher one.