Kelly (Wife) and I decided we would tackle our 2nd TM in Las Vegas, NV October 6th. It was actually in Beatty NV. About 90 minutes outside of Vegas. The event was held at Spicer ranch. Way out in the desert. Past a couple of cattle ranches, RV parks, a brothel, and a few left for dead cars. We got lucky with the weather. It was about 65 degrees when we started.
We got right in, parked, picked up our bibs, got out numbers "sharpied" on our foreheads, did our bag checked, taped up our shoes, and strapped on our camelbaks. "9am racers, head to the start line".
Had to start off with an 8ft wall just to get to the start. The MC pumped us all up with music and giving great thanks to the wounded warriors and our country's soldiers. Goosebump city. Freakin' awesome !
And we were off !! Run, run, run ! Army crawl through water and mud under barbed wire. Run, run, trudge through knee deep mud, not totally man made mud either (Think cattle ranch). Hit the ground and army crawl under ground for about 50 ft in the dark. Come out and trudge through that awesome smelling stuff again and do your best not to fall over. Get out and.....run. Came up to the Artic Enema. 3 huge 8ft deep dumpsters filled with water and ice. EXTREMELY cold !! All 3 dumpsters a different color. Get up the ladder and jump on in ! Get to the middle. In the middle, there is a 2ft deep 4x4 that extends down into the water and ice. This forces you to have to go under the ice. Get under and feel for the bottom of the 4x4 so you don't blast your head coming back up. Then get to the end quickly, jump out and scream something crazy !! Then....run. Run, run, start heading UP, up the hills. The Mudder's hardest parts are the hills and distance (11 mile average). This Mudder had much more water obstacles. Where you actually had to swim. Didn't really want to know what was swimming in those ponds. Pretty crazy. We got to the first pond and had to swim out and go under 55 gallon barrels 3 times. Then headed to "Walk the plank". This is a 15 ft high platform that you have to jump off of into about 8ft of water. This was a real "face your fear" for me. Don't care too much for heights. But, didn't think, just did. Then....we ran. Got to the Berlin walls (10-12 ft walls). Got over those (2). Started getting calf cramps bad. That was the injury of the day. Saw lots of Mudders constantly stretching. Then the hills really started. I can remember being so gassed, but I just seemed to keep going. Kelly was incredible on the hills. She never seemed to tire.
We got to the "Log Jam" which is a series (8) of 3 logs that you had to climb over and under. That's when my calf froze. Holy crap !! Couldn't stretch it out. This was at about mile 6. I had to fall off the logs because I couldn't get my calf have to "un-freeze". Made it through it and found a way fix it temporarily . Then it was crazy hill time again. Got to the bottom and it was flat desert. Whew ! Yes ! Nope.....it was "find a mudder to carry" time. Good God !! Kelly got on my back and away we went !!
Had to do that twice. Then it was huge hill time again with more Berlin walls waiting near the top of the hill. Whew ! I'll jump forward to the last mile. This included, Funky Monkey (monkey bars over water), gymnast rings (over water), Wall crawl (wall climb with very small pieces of 2x4 to hold onto, over water), Electric Eel (army crawl under barbed wire in water, with "hot" live wires hanging down to shock the crap out of you), Mud mile (waste deep thick mud that drains every ounce of energy you have left), Everest (15ft high half pipe that you have to run up, grab the lip and pull yourself up), and finally, Electroshock therapy (you have to run through mud with 5 ft "Hot" live wires dangling all around you ready to shock and knock you on your butt !!). After you wake up from your "Shock Coma" you yell or scream something cool and walk to the finish line and receive the ultimate prize, your Orange Tough Mudder Headband......and a fresh cold beer ! I would describe everything that happened in those obstacles, but it's better to see for yourself in the video.
I will say, the Tough Mudder is a life changer. It is incredibly difficult and you will learn a lot about yourself. Way more mental than anything else. Enjoy the video.
