TOUGH MUDDER

The morning air was crisp high up in the mountains surrounding Lake Tahoe. I rolled out of my bed bright and early while the rest of my team slept. I took my time getting ready for the day, and presently the other 3 Rum Runners roused themselves from their beds. We ate bagels and fruit, and several of them partook of a blue energy supplement powder, which would later prove to be a fun part of our day. Random yells of "BLUE!" would come from any one of team members throughout the day as it was their first source of energy and enthusiasm for the day. I was slightly upset that I did not have that in common with my teammates, but a self-diagnosed heart issue prevents me from partaking of anything with caffein in it.
After we were mostly dressed and ready in our spray-painted team shirts designed by your's truly, we made our way to the registration area. I could feel the excitment in the air, and my legs felt like they had springs in them as we joined the other's milling about getting ready for the day. It was well organized, but with so many people, there were bound to be some lines. I saw a team of people dressed up like Alice in Wonder Land, and there were several men in nothing more than a tuxedo thong. There were several 80's groups that looked as if they had stepped out of a Jane Fonda workout video. It was too much to take in everything, but I tried my hardest. The line for our start packet was relatively short, even though my last name starts with an S. We were smart enough to have filled out all of our waivers beforehand. After we had collected the things we needed, we made our way to the face marking booth and covered ourselves in numbers. Then we wrote our team name on our forearms. After all of the preparation was over, we made our way to the start gate. The announcer was doing a good job of getting the group ahead of ours pumped up and ready for the run.
Finally, it was our turn. We lined up at the very front of our starting group at 11:40. There was a very dynamic and animated group of Crossfit trainers next to us. With 17 in their group, and only 4 in ours, they sort of adopted us. After the announcer did his job of getting us pumped up for our first run, which for me, ended up being possibly the most difficult part of the course. As we took off through the orange smoke and the shouts and cheers, the altitude suddenly threatened to take away my breakfast and break my spirit. It was clear at the beginning that I was not as fit as the rest of my team, but I had one thing going for me, sheer willpower and determination. They have never let me down, and it was true for today as well.
After a short distance, big orange bouncy balls suddenly came flying out of the trees toward our heads, knocking down several runners in front of me. I was lucky enough to evade them, only to come upon barbed wire over a big mud puddle that I had to crawl through. Instantly my shoes were full of water, and I knew I was doomed to walk in squishy puddles for the rest of the day. That's what I signed up for! Presently, I jumped into a big pit of water and swam under a board and popped back up. The water wasn't half as cold as I had thought it was going to be, at least that was the smug thought in my head, until I came to the next water obstacle, which was virtually the same thing, only this time, I witnessed a tractor dump a load of snow into the water! That's more like it! Popping up out of that water, I looked down to find my sport's bra full of ice cubes! I was numb from head to toe now as we took off running again and came to a huge group of mudders waiting to climb a 15 ft quarter pipe. I think the hardest part of this obstacle, was standing there freezing for 40 minutes before we climbed up and over. I tried to help pull myself up, but my muscles were still tight and frozen from the ice water and the shivering. Thankfully, there were some strong handsome Mudders who pulled me up with no problem. More running followed this obstacle. I fell off of the greased and spinning monkey bars next, but I made it up the mystery obstacle's ropes with ease and grace, thanks to those gymnastics lessons when I was 6.
Many more fun and challenging obstacles presented themselves throughout the day. Including a short trek through the snow as we crawled under a net. All in all, the running and walking up the hills with an elevation change of over 4,000 ft was the biggest challenge of all. It even turned out that the obstacle I was most worried about, the 12 ft walls, ended up being possibly my favorite. I only saw a few minor injuries along the way, and one serious one, all in all there was a lot of cameraderie and fun to be had. I even met a man near the end who had done the whole course several months after his 2 or 3rd knee surgery! After running as much as possible, walking up a lot of hills, sympathizing with a fellow Mudder puking up her breakfast on the trail side, and waiting in several long lines, we finally made it to the finish line. There was still cold free beer out waiting for us, as well as a t-shirt, and the most awesome orange headband I will ever own. After the race was over, we found out that we had participated in the toughest Tough Mudder in North America, it was the steepest one yet, and we raised the most money for our wounded warriors out of every Tough Mudder to date! I am so happy I got to be a part of this, and I can't wait for the next one. I will definitely be doing more outdoor training for the next Mudder!