Tough Mudder - Team BD

[Psymonkee]

Survivors!

Think I'll make it next year!

[BBx]

A full written walkthrough is needed I think so we can empathise with your pain!?

BB x

[Tak]

What was the final timing? Well done all of you (loons )

[Nutcase]

Very well done fellas

[Zirax]

I pressed a wrong button somewhere, I am the mystery donor on Jims page

Well done lads

[Desmo]

Thanks for the donation Z man

[Desmo]

My Tough Mudder UK

So it's about time I got this experience in to a few words

We had an early start....5am to be precise. One hour to get some food down our necks, get ready and hit the road. As it happens we got there with plenty of time to spare and could have had another hour in bed but it was great to be there and soak up some of the atmosphere.

When you arrive it's time to grab your signed death waiver and head to the signing in tent where you're given your number, wristband and bag tag. You also get your number written on your head in permanent marker (presumably incase it become detached from your body). We dumped our bags in the bag tent and then waited for our start time to be called for 10am.

They called us out..."Wave 7....come to the stage for warm up". We're sent out in groups of 600 people at a time. We do a little warm up session and then head over to the starting pen where everybody is held for the start. Being a pen, you have to get in and because this is Tough Mudder, you climb over a berlin wall....obviously There's lots of "hoo-raah's", shouting, cheering and best of all for me, the national anthem. We countdown from 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...

And we're off, having a nice trot down the hill where you can see the course head back up and off to the right. What you can't see is that in the dip is a river (I'll use the term river in most of these as although they're not huge flowing rivers, to call them streams would be an understatment). You're in up to your shoulders in to cold water and swim to the other side where you scramble out. What a start. It's then on to many more obstacles, many of which I can't even remember doing at the time. We were under barbed wire crawling up a mud slope, next in to the freezing cold skip full of ice where you are fully submerged to dive under a bar. Coming out of that, I couldn't feel anything below my waist but you carry on running up the next hill.

From here on in my memory is sktechy as to the order of obstacles but we come across more Berlin walls that get higher and higher, mud tracks that try to rip your shoe from your foot, nets to crawl under, logs to jump over and dive under, hay bails to climb, hills to slide down and logs to carry.

Tough Mudder is a bit of a runners course...and I'm no runner. I was expecting half mile runs broken with various obstacles but the runs inbetween were often much, much further. I've only ever run 5km (3.1 miles) before so the longer distances really caught me out. To try and complete four times my normal distance and include obstacles wasn't an easy task and at times it got the better of me. Some of the runs turned in to walks as my calves started to cramp up. I managed to keep going but they were getting worse and funnily enough any obstacle I came across was a nice releif. It took constant pressure off my legs to keep performing in that same running pattern. The one obstacle that got me was the Electric Eel. Crawling across the floor with electric wires hanging down and some sod spraying you with water from a hose. The first shock I got was right where I didn't need it....my right calf. It didn't lock up but it didn't do me any good. I got zapped another 4 or 5 times through there.

After the final long run with small periods of walking, we finally came to the top of a hill and as we turned the corner we could see ourselves coming back to the main area with the final few obstacles. We queue to get on the balance beams and I take the time to try and stretch my calves and quads out, getting serious cramp issues by now and the cold water isn't helping. I get on to the balance beam and made really good progress until I near the middle where it starts wobbling a good two inches side to side and I'm in the drink. Cramp hits my left calf instantly but I manage to hold it out, swim to the edge and climb out. Next we're on to the monkey bars. I've never been great at these and this was no exception. With pitch roof climb and drop, these were going to be hard and with wet hands and wet and spinning bars I wasn't expecting much and made it out one bar and I was off

Once out of the water I made my way to Walk the Plank, a 15ft high jump in to the river again. At the botton, a course marshall was telling everybody to stretch out their calves which I'd already started to do. I waited a bit as my team members climbed the three high beams to make their way up. As I put my foot up to the first beam....bang, my left claf locks up in a cramp like I've never had before. The marshall runs over and starts to help and I'm now laying on my back at the foot of the climb up. Another Tough Mudder takes over the stretching before he makes his climb. I look back at the wall but it's not good, I've got no chance of getting up there so head down, I head off to the bridge and walk across heading over to Everest, the quarter pipe ramp. As I'm walking...bang, my right calf goes and it's like nothing I've ever seen before. It was indented right in the middle like it had a massive thump print in it and it was pulsing like a heart...my entire calf was just pulsing. Really strange and once that happend I knew there was no way I'd make the ramp. Gutted. When we stood there watching the queue had really built up and would have been a 15-20 wait anyway and I was starting to get cold as the wind picked up and was shivering as my body started to slow down. Only one of our team waited out long enough to give it one shot and then gave up when we then headed up the hill for the final obstacle and the finish line. This time the electric shock only got me a couple of times and we all crossed the line together.

Across the line we collected our headbands, t-shirt and a beer.

What an utterly amazing event. Seriously. Despite all the pain and effort, we're already talking about the next one. I'm sitting here now with major groin strain in both legs, I'm aching everywhere and covered in bruises and scrapes but I want to do it again. I'm gutted I didn't get to complete the course properly or fully but at the same time, considering my preparation, I'm pretty damn chuffed with myself

So, Tough Mudder UK next year.....WHO'S IN?

[vix]

You're all crazy. But brave well done!

[Tak]

Sounds stupidly hard congrats on all who did it it - brilliant achievement

[Matblack]

Hmmmmm, maybe



MB