My Tough Mudder Memoire

Obstacle # 8

The trails here were less actual trails and more tracks through the underbrush and around giant piles of logs so we came upon the next obstacle in a clearing, long before I expected to see it.  We’d fond obstacle #8 Trench Warfare: This military-style obstacle requires Mudders to crawl through narrow, dark, muddy trenches. This was an obstacle I had feared as I used to consider myself claustrophobic. These tunnels aren’t just dug into the ground, they go at an angle so that the moment you are in, there is no light to see. Others were hesitating at the beginning, trying to work their nerves up, but I just dove in head first and closed my eyes. It wasn’t like I could see anyways! Luckily, the tunnel was high enough, and I guess I am small enough (it feels weird to consider myself small, more on this later) that I was able to crawl on my hands and knees through most of this. When I felt my side brush the wall, I opened my eyes to see that I had made it around the bend and there was faint light again as I approached the exit; I kept going forward and made it out rather quickly, surprising Juli with my swiftness. I never felt afraid, I never hesitated and it strangely felt comforting in the tunnels because even though all sounds were faint and muffled, I could HEAR the others around me calling out in encouragement and just making noise as they moved through the same obstacle as I did.