We are Tough Mudders!

Well we went to Squaw Valley, and conquered the Tough Mudder this past Sunday. It was a perfect day for this race, it was about 70 degrees, and sunny which helped dry you out after the water obstacles. We went with several people from Letha's work, but they left us pretty early on, so it was just Letha and I left to conquer the Tough Mudder by ourselves. The race started at an elevation of 6200 feet and at the top of the mountain is 9050 ft.

My favorite quote of the day about 2/3 through the Tough Mudder, Letha looks at me and says, 'I know why I married you, you are crazy enough to sign up for something like this with me, and nice enough to not leave me behind.' We had a good time!

Here are the obstacles. There were two missing obstacles, the Fire Walk, probably due to fire danger, and a rope ladder climb obstacle not sure why that was missing. Not sure of the exact order, but this is close:

1. Brokeball Mountain – This was kind of weird, there were a bunch of guys throwing extra large and heavy beach balls at you as you run up the mountain. After this one, I was hoping all the obstacles were not this cheesy – they were not.

2. Kiss of Mud – A 10 to 15-yard obstacle where you get down on your stomach in about 1.5 foot of muddy water and crawl through. Don’t get up to high; barbwire is less than a foot over your head.

3. Mud Bath – This one was pretty gross. Muddy water fills a garbage dumpster shaped pool. A plywood obstacle blocks your path. You must go under the obstacle to continue. It was full of stuff from other competitors. I saw chap stick, a hat, and a couple energy bars.

4. Chernobyl Jacuzzi – This is very similar to the Mud Bath, except there is less mud and a lot more ice. The water temperature is 33 degrees, you jump in and it’s pretty cold, but you go under the plywood and come up on the other side through about 6 inches of ice cubes, and you wait on other competitors trying to climb over and out of the ice, probably the longest 30 seconds of the race.

5. Everest – This one was pretty cool and this one was much easier if you were tall. It was a 14’ high quarter pipe; anything goes to get over obstacle. There were human ladders, or you could run and jump and try and grab someone’s hand at the top, and they would help pull you up. I made it on the first try, but I saw plenty of people try over and over, without success. Letha tried twice, and came close, but decided to use the side of the obstacle where there were some foot holds to use.

6. Death March – This is a long trail straight up a ski slope - it was long and hard in the high altitude…

7. Funky Monkey – This one took you back to your playground days. First there were about 12 to 15 monkey bars on an incline. Then you go back down another 12 to 15 monkey bars, if you fall, you get wet. This is the one I wanted to finish without getting wet, I almost lost it about 4 bars from the end, but I was able to ignore the pain and finish. Letha made it to the second bar, before the big splash, but lots of people were falling in.

8. Rope a Dope (the mystery obstacle) – This rope climb obstacle was right after the monkey bars, so your arms were already tired. Luckily for most of the competitors, the ropes had knots. Letha made it with a little help, she hung on to the top of the rope for at least 60 seconds before we figured out how to get her up to the top. I had to lean over, and pick her up and lift her the last foot.

9. Devil’s Beard - This was a stretchy cargo net that you had to crawl under. The trick on this one was it was built on top of snow from last winter. It would have been hard alone, but there were about 20 people going under with us, that made it much easier.

10. Log Jammin’ – After running down a steep section of hill, you came to a log obstacle, here you had to climb over and under several log structures. Be careful on the under sections, they are wrapped in barbwire.

11. Hold Your Wood – On this obstacle, you were able to choose a section of log and carry it down a hill and back up again. The path was only about 400 meters (quarter mile), but it was pretty hard.

12. Rock Slide – Careful on this one, this is a steep decline, and your path is covered by ankle twisting rocks.

13. Berlin Walls #1 – 12’ Walls – These obstacles were also pretty difficult for the shorter competitors. There was one 2X4 step about 3’ off the ground to help get you to the top. Here is how Letha and I got over. I would help Letha up to the top, she would wait there until I got over to the other side, and I would help her down. Each time someone would ask if she needed help getting down, she would say, ‘No thank you, I am waiting on my husband.’ We did see someone break his ankle on this one, he was not happy.

14. Walk The Plank – This was the one I was a little worried about, not because of the 15’ jump, but the landing in the 40-degree water. I saw this temperature somewhere on line, not sure of the true temperature, but it was COLD! Letha actually sucked in a big gulp of water, because of the shock of the cold. She did not look comfortable on the 50-meter swim, but we made it.

15. Under Water Tunnels – Just after the swim of the Walk The Plank, there was a structure made of barrels, in the middle of the pond. The objective here was to go under 3 sets of barrels. But don’t get too far out of the water, because there is barbwire overhead between the barrels.

16. Boa Constrictor – AKA “The Cut and Bruise Maker”. This one was painful, there are two large pipes leading into and out of muddy water, again with barbwire over your head. For some reason they felt the need to fill the pipes with sharp rocks and mud. This is where I got most of my cuts and bruises.

17. Berlin Walls – 7’ Walls – These walls were easy compared to the 12’ walls.

18. Bale Bonds – There wasn’t much to this one by the time I we got there, the huge hay bales, were beat down to a much smaller pile of hay.

19. Turd’s Nest – A big rope net spans a 30’ long by 10’ high structure, the key to this one is to roll down the net to the bottom, then climb to the top on the other side. Probably would not have thought to roll by myself, but seeing others do it made it look easy.

20. Twinkle Toes – Basically a balance beam, this is a 4” beam that spans a 30’ pond, and if you fall off, you get wet, again. The trick to this one, once you get to the middle of the beam, it starts to shake back and forth. This is where I almost fell off, but I was able to stand still for a second to stop the shaking, and continue on.

21. Electro Shock Therapy – This was a little disappointing, in our group of 12, only one was shocked. I even ran through at full speed. It probably helped that I didn’t fall in to the last water obstacle, so I was dry when I went through. Letha was wet however, but she was able to avoid the shock.

Sorry, I didn’t get many photos, because I didn’t carry a camera. The one guy in our group that brought his phone, cracked the face on one of the obstacles. But if you want to get an idea of some of the things I described, here is a link to some pictures.

http://gudphoto.com/2011/09/18/tough-mudder-norcal-2011-photos/

There were also some funny signs along the path of the Tough Mudder like:

“REMEMBER YOU SIGNED A DEATH WAIVER”

“WARRIOR DASH FINISH, BUT YOU SIGNED UP FOR A TOUGH MUDDER” – At the 3.1 mile mark.

“CHUCK NORRIS NEVER RAN A TOUGH MUDDER”

“NOT FINISHING THE TOUGH MUDDER IS NOT EMBARRASING, SIGNING UP FOR A WARRIOR DASH IS”

“CAN’T FIND YOUR LOVED ONES? THE NEAREST HOSPITAL IS: …”

We had a fun time, and everyone in our group got through with out a major injury. A successful Tough Mudder!