Tough Mudder Experience Part 1

I'm not sure which was more Tough: 

Me, in a Wonder Woman outfit braving 30* temperatures in freezing rain turned snow then hail with 20-30mph winds and gusts up to 60mph while running 10 miles off road (mostly up hill) attempting to tackle 20+ obstacles that included things such as snow, ice, fire and electrocution in what is called Tough Mudder,

OR

Dominic spending a solo 48hrs taking care of the girls while Mommy was out of town :)

I'm fairly certain both were ALMOST as equally tough but I would gather he had a much better time than me.  Unfortunately what was supposed to be 60* and only partly cloudy turned HORRID to say the least!!!!!!  No one could have prepared for the furry of HELL mother nature would unleash on us that day.  Granted, NOT being dressed in a Wonder Woman costume may have helped but what fun is that?  I honestly contemplated staying at the cabin, in bed with a Bailey's and coffee.  After all I was on vacation.  But my team mates and I rallied and did the best we could to tackle (the coldest Mudder to date) SoCal Sunday Tough Mudder.  First, the outfits...

 

Anticipation grows as we see bits and pieces of the obstacle course through the thick fog

and freezing rain. 

ITS TIME!!  We have entered and finished the 9:20am Costume contest (of which we were beat out by Oompa Loompas, Richard Simmons and the Black Swans) and it's now time to make our way to the start line.  The Star Spangled Banner was sang, we took our Tough Mudder pledge and off we charged...

 

The very beggining started with the "Braveheart Charge" downhill, through streams of muddy water in the freezing rain while being blasted by snow making machines....it felt AWESOME!!  I'm pretty sure the pain in my face says it all....

It wasn't long after that that the fingers and toes went numb, the snot dripping from my nose began to freeze instantly and we turned a corner just to start the first of MANY grueling ascents up the side of the Mountain.  The second obstacle, the "Boa Constrictor."  Again, more snow making machines blasting down on us from above as we prepare to crawl on our hands and knees through a long narrow tunnel made out of some type of pipe in muddy water and rocks just to get to the end of that tunnel to realize there is another.  There is NO standing up between the two pipes because if you do, you'll be taken out by barbed wire.  Did I mention between the two tunnels was a full on puddle?  Freezing, muddy water up to my chest and neck.  And then, more running.  Uphill!!  The next obstacle, "kiss of mud" if I remember correctly.  Again, crawling for feet under barbed wire through a muddy, rocky puddle.  I'm pretty sure that's when hypothermia began to set in.  There was a medic station at that point handing out silver, aluminum, hypothermia blankets and my team mates and I all grabbed one and began running STRAIGHT down hill holding on to our aluminum blankets for DEAR LIFE!!  Actually there was no running...yet.  The hill was far too steep and it took everything I had not to trip since I was quickly losing feeling in my toes.  At the end of the hill we once again began running in an attempt to stay warm-ish.  If there was such a thing in below freezing temps.  Off to the next challenge...

The next obstacle, "Chernobyl Jacuzzi"  or better known as the ice bath.  A dumpster full of ice and water. Goal, take a deep breath (as if that was possible) and dive under a log to the other side before trying to climb out.  This picture is not of me but YES, I was the only one out of our entire group stupid enough to do it.  My thought "I'm here, may as well."  Knowing myself I'm not sure I would have been okay with completing the whole course and skipping the obstacles.  That wasn't the point of Tough Mudder in my mind but apparently I had lost my mind when deciding to do this obstacle.  What was I thinking?...

Okay!  That SUCKED!!!!  Thank God I had to friends beside me wrapping me in new hypothermia blankets or foil or whatever that crap was that could've been A LOT warmer!  I was told my lips were blue and with out speaking (because it was impossible at that point) I took off up the hill (of course up hill).  My entire body was on FIRE from the freezing ice.  I NEVER again want to experience that feeling.   After about a 1/2 mile we turn a steep corner to see truck loads of people being driven down the mountain.  You know something's wrong when just as many people are coming down the mountain as are going up.  "Good God what could be up ahead?"  And with that, I practically trip on some girl in the middle of the trail, passed out and completely blue.  I ran passed her to allow the emergency vehicle coming up behind me through.  "Damn, she didn't look so good!  Keep moving Ash.  You don't want that to be you."  After the "Log Bog Jog" and more steep ups and downs, I'm beginning to feel okay.  The sun made an appearance for just long enough that I was able to recover from the Chernobyl Jacuzzi.  At this point my only goal was to NOT LET GO of my aluminum cape!!  My toes were still a bit numb.  And then we arrived...three back to back obstacles. First the "BBq pit,"  I was praying to God it would be warm in there but NOPE!!  Why would they do that?  Just more crawling through mud and rocks under wooden platforms that gradually got lower to the ground making it more difficult to move while smoke machines blasted in your face...

After that the "Funky Monkey" or Monkey Bars that were intentionally greased up to make them more difficult.  Underneath them, more waist deep muddy water.  For Christ sake, I did sign up for "Tough Mudder" in Snow Valley.  The event was DEFINITELY living up to its name.  Epic fail...half way across the monkey bars, I fall. Waste deep into freezing, muddy water. I was wet all over again.  I had a feeling I wouldn't make it across because I couldn't feel my fingers.  Behind the guy in the picture below is my team mate Christina.  To hang by her arms and legs was brilliant.  Why didn't I think of that?  Although a bit tattered, I was just happy to have my aluminum cape still :)

Immediately following Funky Monkey was "Hold Your Wood."  Grab a log or large piece of wood and hike straight up and straight back down the mountain.  It was much harder than it looked.  The hill was STEEP!  At this point I feel like there are giant rocks in the heels of my shoes.  All of a sudden I realize that water must have leaked into the air pockets in my shoes and froze.  "Oh my God, this can't be happening?!  I don't think I'm even half way done!!"  I wrapped myself in my hypothermic blanket, grabbed a decent sized log and bear hugged it.  It was actually the warmest I had been since the race started....minus my feet.

At this point, 3 out of the 7 of my team dropped out.  I didn't blame them one bit.  I wasn't sure how much farther I was going to make it either.  My feet and legs were so cold, I couldn't stop shivering.  These stupid hypothermia blankets sucked...no longer was it my friend.  Nothing at that point could warm me up enough.  CRAP!  Off we went, me and two others..."just keep moving and MAYBE you can do this."  More up hill.  Climbing higher and higher to the peak of the mountain.  The closer to the peak, the colder it got.  They said that while soaking wet and with the 60mph wind gusts the air temp up there was around 10*!  I wouldn't be surprised if my body temp was below it's normal 98* at that point.  There are no words to describe how cold I was.  ""F" my life...this is insane!!!"

Next Obstacle...I didn't even see the name.  All I saw was water...more water with so much steam coming off it that people were happy to jump in it.  I was told the water temp was about 46* and I believed them.  With that much steam it looked like a nice, warm bath.  I stood there contemplating jumping in for a good 3-5mins..."should I or shouldn't I?"  I knew it would be warm getting in but to come out.....EEEK!!!  I had to pass.  I couldn't imagine getting out and being any colder than I already was.  My shoes were frozen my lips were blue and I could barely walk my legs were trembling so violently.  Up ahead were two more obstacles involving a lake and another medic station equipped with a want-to-be warming tent.  We stopped, grabbed new hypothermia blankets and ran under the tent in hopes of warming just enough to keep going.  After all we were only half way done... Here are some pics a photographer took of the warming station...

 

In the picture below to the right was the the lady (in red) and the man (orange shirt) that helped us, me out.  My feeling is we stood too long in hopes of getting some feeling back in our bodies that it made it worse.  The warming tent for us didn't help one bit.  At that point I began to accept the fact that regardless of how much I wanted to push forward, mother nature wouldn't let me.  My girlfriend walked out of the tent saying "I'm going to go see what we need to do to get off this damn mountain."  They grabbed us, hurdled us together, began asking me questions (the medics had genuine concern on their faces looking at me) and said "get her out of here next.  She looks critical."  I felt like complete sh!t not going to lie but I didn't think I felt that bad.  I was having a hard time thinking and talking and answering questions but I was more concerned about my toes and how weird it was that something in my shoe actually froze.  It took everything I had to hold back tears.  I wanted the opportunity to complete this in the WORST way and was dealt the short end of the stick.  The weather was in the 60* and sunny the day before and the day after Sunday.  Beyond upsetting.

And with that...our Tough Mudder experience came to an end.  The drop out rate that day was over 40%.  I'd like to say thank you to the fellow Mudder who helped us get our lockers open so we could get warm clothes on.  Our hands and fingers were so numb it was a challenge in itself just to get the key in.  Congrats to all that did finish.  Regardless of whether or not they completed all the obstacles, just to finish 10 miles in those conditions was quite a feat.  We did have one team mate finish.  My friend Christina (aka Soy).  It took her 5.5hrs but she did it.  She said the fog was SO thick at the top of the mountain you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you.  She also said there was inch thick ice on some of the obstacles and icicles hanging from the trees.  CONGRATS SOY!!!  YOU were tough enough....

In hindsight, myself and two other friends made it to the half way point, 4.5 miles in with only mild hypothermia.  The rest of our group dropped out not too far behind us.   I'm proud to say I did every obstacle in my path before giving up up at the lakes.  I'm 90% sure Dominic and myself will both be competing in Tough Mudder NoCal at Squaw Valley up in Tahoe this September.  Some of my team has already signed up.  Thankfully I have all 10 fingers and toes and will live to Mudder another day.  As for  SoCal Sunday....SUCK IT!!  I will get my revenge!! 

When asked  "How well did your training help?" a fellow Mudder responded  "for the 10 miles – it was great. For the +20 obstacles – I felt flawless! For the curveball known as “Mother Nature” – I was a fish out of water..."   Although I only completed half of the 23 obstacles, I feel the EXACT same way.  So disappointing to have to quit something half way when you're not even the least bit tired or fatigued.  Physically, I was ready!!!