Reppin' MM at Tough Mudder Mid-Atlantic

[CaptainHenreh]

So. I've got a CSB to share with you.

Those of you who know me know, I've never been what you'd call an "athlete". I was homeschooled, and bookish to boot, so I didn't do any sports or anything like that. Any muscle tone I had as a young man came from riding my bicycle around the neighborhood or stacking firewood for the winter. To top that off, I decided that I.T. was my field of choice for a career, so I've spent the time since high school sitting in front of a computer screen.

This April, I found myself staring at the precipice of my thirties, looking at death off in the (not as distant as it once was) distance, and noticing that I couldn't see my toes very well over my belly. Coincidentally, a friend of a friend had just finished her second Tough Mudder and had posted pictures of her adventure. "Wow," I said to her. "I could never do that." She simply replied: "Why not?"

Why not?

So yesterday I found myself here:


I did not train enough.

The first problem I encountered was an overabundance of hair:


Bic was happy to take care of that situation for me, and make a donation to WW in the process:



The fact I had to go to work monday looking like either Robert DeNiro from Taxi Driver or Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit (depending on how the wind blew my 'hawk) did not concern me at the time.

Following the construction of my Most Bitchin' Hawk, I met up with my Team Captain, (who we will call T.C.) who would be attempting her third orange headband today.


Immediately after this picture was taken she asked 'Did my hair look Fierce?' lol. TC you so crazy.

So to even get to the Start, you had a wall. It would have been cheating to go around, no?


Then the EmCee got us all pumped up,

You can tell by the smile on my face that I have no idea what I'm about to do, and that ignorance is bliss.

First obstacle (after a short warm up run) was the Arctic Enema, a dumpster full of ice water and at the middle, some wood and barbed wire, ensuring you had to get your whole body under the ice.

(here I am, helping my team mates out of their baths)

"Rex, how did that feel?"


Not sure if I could trust my legs to run at this point:


So, yeah. Nothing like starting a 10 mile run soaking wet, right?


The next 3 hours or so, my Photographer couldn't catch me, so I'll post some Official Tough Mudder pictures of the obstacles I had to face:

(my tank had ALOT more ice...we were earlier in the morning...)

Yeah, that's more like it.

Now JUMP


Then, how do you feel about some Walls?


Or crawling through mud?


Climbing haybales should be nbd:


Or carrying logs around a cornfield:


Run. Run. Run. Run. Oh, have you dried off? Here, crawl through some mud more...in a tunnel underground.

Has that dried mud made your clothes heavy and slowed you down? Let us rinse you off:

(Hope you're not scared of heights)

Up and over, buddy:


Now, crawl through the mud again, but this time under electrified wires:


More crawling, this time down into mud and then up a sewer pipe!


You getting the picture? My photographer caught up with us about Mile Marker 8:
Mud Hills.



This looks easy. It wasn't. It was slick as snail shit and I'd been running for miles. I was exhausted.

TC grabbed my hand here after I'd pushed her up and over, and we both slid down into the mud...gravity is sometimes your friend, but mostly your enemy:




But even as exhausted as we were, we knew we had miles yet to go:


Monkey Bars actually were welcome, as I couldn't get all the way across and fell into some lovely cool water:


Balance beams...I took them really slow, made it across without incident...only two more obstacles to go:


And that's when my body failed me:
I was trying to climb Everest. You pretty much can't do it by yourself, just get as high as you can and have the people above haul you up:


It's steep. On my third try up, my calf seized up:


I never made it up. Only a half more mile to go, and it's just more electrified wires. Same as the last ones, right? They weren't too bad:


No. I was wrong. These were turned up much higher. I got shocked and it literally knocked me over:


I tried to get up, knocked to my feet again. Tried to crawl, shocked into the mud.


One particularly bad jolt made me spasm into the mud either so fast I didn't notice or I blacked out, as when I "came to" I found mud in my open mouth, up my nose, an in my right eye.

The last few feet I could barely walk, much less run.


But. I did it. The rain that had been threatening all morning began to pour as I hosed myself off.


It was, simply, the hardest thing I've ever done. Today I am so sore I can barely move, but I can't wait for the next one.



Self-portrait of the waterlogged photographer:


(course map, for anyone curious: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://toughmudder.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/12.09.08.MD-08.28.12-Marketing-Map.pdf">http://toughmudder.com/wp-content/uploa ... ng-Map.pdf</a><!-- m -->)

[PDenbigh]

Congrats Rex! That is AWESOME!

[BLINGMW]

One particularly bad jolt made me spasm into the mud either so fast I didn't notice or I blacked out, as when I "came to" I found mud in my open mouth, up my nose, an in my right eye.

Hooray! Sounds fun! :|
Well, good job not dying

[Jake]

I think we should make Team MM for the next one (April, right?) and give it a go.

[Steve85]

Way to go Rex! Congrats!

[Jeff]

Wtf lol good job chap!

[D_Eclipse9916]

Congratulations man!

[premiershine9]

Congrats Rex!!! Thats some insane stuff!! The haybale mountain........whoa

[kcook]

Props to you man. Good job! I need to do one of these, looks like fun

[kcook]

double post

[Mike]

Awesome.

[ScottyB]

go Rex go!

i can't get over those jellyfish wires....no idea they set 'em to stun, i thought it would just be a little tickle like putting a battery on your tongue. "oooh, i felt it! tee hee we're so wild!"

i gotta say though, these are a lot of fun, especially with a group to keep your spirits up and push you on. i did a warrior run a few years ago and its just a great experience, even if its more of a "feat" than a race. they will definitely push you (i was a pile of mush afterwards, and i used to run pretty decently back in the day) and with these things, usually after the race its a big party with lots of beer, meat products, and music.

i'll be running with team Rex next year in MD. who else is in? G, John and I think a few other MM'ers did a challenge run not long ago.

[Jake]

i'll be running with team Rex next year in MD. who else is in? G, John and I think a few other MM'ers did a challenge run not long ago.

I signed up for the April 2013 "Pre-Registration" in Mid-Atlantic today. Guess we're teammates. <BroFist.jpg>

[Nis01]

Great job Rex. I think I am still somewhat scarred from the Wintergreen event, walking/running up ski slopes was brutal. If we get enough people together for 2013 I may have to join you guys. :thumbup:

[Mike]

i'll likely sign up.

edit: scheisse! just got a save-the-date for that weekend.

[D_Eclipse9916]

i'll be running with team Rex next year in MD. who else is in? G, John and I think a few other MM'ers did a challenge run not long ago.

I signed up for the April 2013 "Pre-Registration" in Mid-Atlantic today. Guess we're teammates. <BroFist.jpg>

I never saw the team, which?

[CaptainHenreh]

Can't do a team until registration is open...and it ain't. (I think).

[G.Irish]

Congrats Rex, looks like the obstacles were even more fun this year.

I saw that your friend Lydia said that the parking was a huge clusterfuck, what was the deal with that? Any other organizational issues?

So this one was 10 miles distance total?

[CaptainHenreh]

Congrats Rex, looks like the obstacles were even more fun this year.

I saw that your friend Lydia said that the parking was a huge clusterfuck, what was the deal with that? Any other organizational issues?

So this one was 10 miles distance total?

OMG the parking. So Frederick County, MD law enforcement is a bunch of bobos. 24k people (not including spectators) coming into your sleepy-ass town on a weekend? No need to do anything at all, I am sure it will be fine.

The road going into the course (2 lanes) was entirely gridlocked for over 3 miles. People were abandoning their cars and running to the startline to try to make the last waves. Very poorly managed traffic.

The course was just over 10 miles. Looks like registration is open for the "mid atlantic" event in April 2013 (may or may not be in frederick, location TBD)...details forthcoming for anyone who wants to run with Rexypants & Co.

[Evan]

Im definitely in. Probably not for april as Im very slow to recover from a torn elbow tendon, but next fall for sure. Ill probably do a Warrior Dash or 2 as a sissypants warmup.