Just a bit about the Tough Mudder: it's a 10-mile race up and down hills and through forests with 25 obstacles interspersed within the course. Some obstacles were not that bad and others were nearly insane. Actually, on second thought, they WERE insane! We were glad when we got to a not-insane obstacle so that we didn't have to worry about DYING. :) If you go to the website you can learn a bit about the course and see a video, etc. http://toughmudder.com/ (copy and paste link in your browser.)
Let's see... highlights of the race... Well, we started out huffing and puffing up a steep hill. Thank goodness for doing the incline so often! We were able to pass a lot of people who weren't used to the altitude. Then we came to the Berlin Walls - two vertical walls that were about 8 or 9 or 10 feet high (heck, it seemed like 15 feet high for us not-so-tall people). I was glad I've been working on my pull-ups because once Brian got me up to where I could reach the top of the wall I could pull myself up and get over. Dropping down over the other side was always a nice awakening to the joints in my legs, haha. :) There were also 4 more of these walls at the end of the course. In a row.
By far, the most difficult obstacle was the one where we had to swim/wade in 36 degree water for about 30 feet to cross a little "river." If that wasn't bad enough, we got to walk about 100 yards (just enough time to start to warm up) and then we had to cross the same river. This time, however, we had to swim under barrels that were floating on the top. We had to dunk ourselves completely under the water and keep going. That water was beyond ice cold. I was shivering so bad that I couldn't even really breathe and my muscles certainly didn't want to work! The thought of holding my breath (even for a second to get under the barrels) was a bit scary. Finally, I made it under the barrels then had to just keep swimming to the shore. By that time, my muscles had nearly locked up completely! Brian was kind enough to pause and turn around and extend his hand to me. When he did that, though, he whacked his right ankle on a rock below the surface. Of course, his body was so numb at that time that he didn't really realize what he had done until we "thawed out." His ankle swelled up so badly that I couldn't even see his ankle bone (more specifically, his medial malleolus!). We still had 6 miles to go at this point.
Immediately after the water, we were handed 20-30 pound logs to haul up a muddy hill and back down. That was crazy - cold water then heavy lifting!
The only other injury Team BS (yes, that was our registered team name) incurred was my knee injury when I went down in a mud puddle. When my left foot slipped I went down on my right knee and whacked it squarely on the kneecap (er, patella). After pausing for a moment and uttering only one bad word, I got back in. With Brian's help, I finished the rest of that obstacle. My knee hurt SO bad. It was bleeding and it swelled later. It's been over a week since the race and Brian and I still even have a little bit of swelling/bruising on our injury sites! This picture was taken as I told Brian I was okay to get back in the obstacle - you can see how he is taking such care of me and letting me lean on him. There was also another guy who stepped in to support my other arm - that's what's cool about this race. It's totally about team work and helping others.
Other than that, nothing too extraordinary happened. Just walking through some electrical wires with our feet in water and climbing up and over cargo nets and scrambling up icy snow with no clearance between you and a cargo net so we got tangled in the net...
Good times! We're making plans for how to train for next year's race!
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