Tough Mudder: What I learned...

This past Saturday I participated in Tough Mudder (as mentioned here).  To sum it up:  It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done in my life, but I'm so glad I did it.

After a 4:30am wake-up and a 3 hour drive later, we arrived in "middle of nowhere" Indiana at an off-road park that looked like a combination of sand dunes, swamp, and forest.  The first waves of Mudders had already started, and although we weren't scheduled to go yet, we decided to jump over the 8 foot wall into the next wave of participants and get underway.  As we began the run, the heat was already a staggering 95 degrees and the sun was beating down, which is really what took the race from being hard, to ridiculously difficult.  The first obstacle was jumping into a pool of ice water and having to dunk underneath, swim across, and pull yourself up the other side.  While it sounds refreshing in such heat, it literally felt like my body was in shock afterwards from going through the 2 extremes of temperatures.  The entire course itself was brutal - the ground was very rarely flat, and it was basically running 12 miles on sand, gravel, and constantly climbing uphill and downhill as we made it through the 20 obstacles in around 5 hours (I did have to skip some of out physical pain, and/or fear...).  Here's a few highlights:

- Slip n' Slide:  This one looked like a ton of fun until we approached it and realized it was covered in gravel from everyone already going down.  Yup, it hurt.  Really bad.

- Berlin Walls:  This one was fairly easy since my burly man teammates hoisted me up and over the 12 ft walls with what seemed like little effort.  They rock.

- Walk the Plank:  I'm afraid of heights.  It took some convincing and hand holding to jump off the 20 ft high platform into the water below.  Swimming out of it was almost impossible since it was at mile 6 and I was already exhausted, so thank goodness the bf was there to cling onto and pull me out of the water (sorry about almost drowning you haha... but seriously).

- Twinkle Toes:  Being a dancer, I was all talk about how "I got this one, I've got mad balance!".  Yea right. Barely halfway down the 4 inch wide wooden balance beam it started wobbling uncontrollably, and I ate it into the water below.

- Monkey Bars:  This is the one I thought there was no way I'd get across.  My hands were wet and muddy, the bars were greased, and they went uphill over a pit of water.  I got onto the first rung and thought for a moment I should just jump in the water and quit this one. Then I somehow managed to grab onto the second rung, and the next, and the next.  I saw guys dropping left and right next to me.  But somehow, I landed on the other side and that was the turning point - I did it.  Everyone knows the feeling of accomplishing something that they thought they couldn't.  It was a high I'll never forget.

- Electroshock Therapy:  Now before I will say I was terrified of this one.  The last obstacle to run through before the finish line where wires are dangling carrying upwards of 10,000 volts of electricity.  However, the confidence I got from the monkey bars helped me run straight through - sure, I got shocked and I felt pain  through my entire body - but I that meant I had finished!

Everyone has been told the phrase "you can do anything you put your mind to".  It wasn't until I finished Tough Mudder that I really can say I understand it.  Would I do it again?  Probably not.  But I really do feel empowered, and ready to take on challenges with a new found self esteem.  So if I could pass on any advice at this moment, it would be to step outside your comfort zone, put your mind to it, and just go for it.  You may surprise yourself.  

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