My Tough Mudder Memoire

Obstacle # 2

We were descending the next leg of the journey, winding in a not quite straight down hill route that led us to obstacle #2 Arctic Enema: First you must bravely jump into Big Mudder’s floating iceberg abyss. Once submerged, find the mental and physical strength to swim through the ice, under a wooden plank and pull yourself out on the other end before you become hypothermic. To picture the scene, we had to climb up a wooden frame work to one of three cargo containers filled with water and ice, and dyed brown, acid green or toilet water blue. I chose the shortest line up with had me sliding into an appealing green water. Now this was one of the obstacles that worried me the most because I worried about muscle lock and having to be rescued. Instead, thanks to the very thick layer of mud it helped to wash off, and the heat of the day already starting, I was absurdly grateful to jump into the shockingly cold water. The barrier in the center wasn’t as deep as I feared and I was quickly climbing out the other side before my body had really figured out the madness I had plunged it into. On the spectator side of the tape, I saw Mike cheering me on and grinning at me, probably vastly amused and grateful to NOT be doing that task.

 With the second obstacle out of the way, we had another ascent to master, this time going all the way up the ski hill, over hill and dale and that leg of it felt like a lifetime. Every time I crested a ridge, I thought that that had to be it, I was at the top. But no, nothing so sweet as that. Eventually I made it to the top and got to start back down, heading towards the third obstacle. At this time I realized that if the spectators wanted to come up here and watch us run this, they too had to master those hills and I laughed hysterically at one Barbie doll of a woman who was whining about all of her makeup being ruined now. Seriously, who gets dolled up to go watch a MUD RUN?! I chose to ignore the idiocy of vain people and found myself making friends with a woman named Juli who had signed up with a group of friend, who had promptly left her behind when she couldn’t keep up. Like me, she was not what one would call athletic looking, however I will admit that my new friend was closer to 210 lbs than my 163 lbs and she was having a harder time. However, the moment I heard her friends had left her behind, I refused to do the same, because I seriously did not CARE about my course time and I know how it feels to be left behind.