Tough Mudder

 Kevin mentioned a while ago about wanting to run a Tough Mudder. It is a 10-12 mile obstacle course with lots of mud, water, and stuff to climb. I really didn't have any desire to do one but since Kevin wanted too I agreed and we had some friends who wanted to do it too. We formed a team and before I knew it we were in Seattle at this crazy event with some guy writing my race number with permanent marker on my forehead and leg.

This was us before the race. Very clean. And dry. I guess I should emphasize that this wasn't a "race", but more of an adventure with the goal being just to finish. We had to climb a wall to get to the starting line and the guy starting us did some crazy dance and had everyone join in. It was pretty overcast and in the 50's when we started. One of the first obstacles was the "artctic enema" which consists of a large vat of ice water with a board in the middle. You have to go under the board, about 3-4 feet under the water and come out the other side. The water is kept at 34-36 degrees and it is extremely cold. I didn't know how long the board was when I initially went under and it scared me so I came back up. Kevin was waiting for me on the other side and I told him there was no way. The scary marine guy was yelling and I didn't see a way out so I dove under and pushed up the otherside through the ice. I was numb for a mile after coming out of that. It was the worst obstacle, I can see why they put it first. There were lots of very steep mud hills, holes of water, walls, monkey bars and the terrain was very rocky and had stumps all over. We crawled under barbwire with electric wires carrying shocking volts hanging down, through pipes, over rocks covered in icy river water and jumped off a plank 15 feet into cold water. The shocks were my next least favorite. My knees and elbows were pretty scraped up and bruised and I think next time I would wear capris and a long sleeve shirt. I wore football gloves and they were amazing and saved my hands. There were just over 25 obstacles at a little over 11 miles. I am so glad we had boys with us to help us get over walls and up some muddly hills, there was no way I could've done this alone. The other really fun part was the people watching. I saw a guy doing it in a suit, a team in onesie super hero costumes, several crocheted bunny hats, tutus and lots of other very interesting get-ups. Overall we had a great time. I did have a hard time accepting that we weren't racing and that it was okay people sometimes walked at times. I think we would all do it again!

 Wendy and I after the race, she was smart and brought a towel. Yes, they provided "showers" when we were done....they were hoses hanging from pallets with sprayers containing cold water on the ends. Very cold. So we drove home from Seattle very dirty. My parents were awesome enough to come up with us the day before and watch Edyn for me duing the race. She looks so clean compared to us!