Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Tough Mudder Colorado Part 2

When I left off yesterday, we were about 5.5 miles or halfway through the course. If you didn't read part 1, you can find that here

The next obstacle that we came to was called the Funky Monkey. Peaked monkey bars across an open pit of muddy water. This was the one obstacle that I knew I would really struggle on. It has been years since I have gone across monkey bars and I was never really good at them to begin with. I figured that I would give it my best shot and if I didn't make it all the way across, then I would just have to try and make it all the way across next year. 


So I started out and I was doing pretty good. I got up the peak, which is where I thought I would struggle and as I was coming down I realized that I was almost to the end. I was about 5 or 6 bars away from the end when I lost my grip and fell in the water. I was sooooo freaking bummed. I did way better on them than I thought I would, but the farther along I got on them, the more I thought I was actually going to make it. So when I didn't, I was definitely let down a little. But it does give me something to shoot for next year. I will make it across those damn monkey bars!

My trainer
My trainer again and you can kind of see me starting out right behind him
After the Funkey Monkey we had one small obstacle where we had to crawl over and under these large irrigation tubes, but after that we were running again for a while. We didn't hit more obstacle for almost two miles. But I couldn't complain too much because this was the view that we had while we were running. It was absolutely gorgeous up there. 


Once we did start to hit the obstacles again, we hit the area of the course that had like five or six obstacles all clustered together. The first one we came to was the Underwater tunnels. You had to get in the lake and swim underneath all of these barrels. This was actually pretty easy. The water was just pretty cold is all. 


There was also the Rail Garden which was just a bunch of rails that you had to climb over or under. The Pit Fall, which started out with you having to crawl underneath a log that had live wires hanging down from it. I was lucky enough to make it underneath the log without getting shocked. My trainer on the other hand, not so lucky. Once you were underneath the log you were in a huge pit of mud and water that you had to wade across. Again, it was cold. 

There was also the Mud Mile which started off with these huge pits of mud that you had to crawl in and out of. That one wasn't all that hard, but it was crowded. And you really had to rely on others around you to help boost you up or pull you up because some of the mud walls just to get out of the pit were way taller than me. But it was pretty cool to see complete strangers helping each other out so much. And the last obstacle in this cluster was called Walk the Plank. You climb up this wall and walk out on a plank and jump about 12 feet down into a pit of water. I barely had time to think on this one and good thing because as soon as I jumped my stomach dropped out from underneath me. If I would have stopped and thought about it, I may not have jumped. But again, this one was freezing. It was getting a little bit later in the day at this point and the wind was picking up, so you can imagine how cold it was. But I'm glad I didn't hesitate and that I did it. 


Miles 8 through 10 were pretty much all uphill. We walked a lot of it. But if it flattened out or was down hill, we were running. There were a few more obstacles throughout these two miles, but they were actually just part of the terrain. One was called cliff hanger and it was just a huge hill that they watered down and was a muddy mess, but you had to try and run down it. They were things like that. 

The next real obstacle we got to was right before mile 10. It was called Pole Dancer. I wasn't sure how this one was going to go down, but let's just say that I failed epically at this one, haha! There are two poles that are parallel to each other that peak and you have to try and keep your arms straight and get yourself across them. Yeah, I fell right in. I will have to work on this for next year just in case they have this obstacle again. 


Shortly after Pole Dance we came across the 10 mile sign. We knew we were so close to being finished at this point. So we picked up our pace a bit. Everything was pretty much flat or down hill at this point, so we ran as much of it as we could. We got down the hill and towards the finish line and we could see the last few obstacles. 

Everest was one of them. Let me just start by saying that this one was probably the hardest obstacle for me all day. It is a quarter pipe that you have to run up and try to get yourself over the top. There are people at the top to help pull you up, but that doesn't guarantee that you will get over the top of that edge. Trust me, I would know. My trainer had no problems. I knew he wouldn't. He's ridiculous after all. It took me four tries to get up it. And the first three I slid straight back down and let me tell you, that didn't feel very nice. But the fourth try I was able to grab onto my trainer and one other guy and they helped pull me up and over. 


After Everest we had two more obstacles. The first one was Berlin Walls. These walls were about 9 feet tall and were straight up and down. Oddly enough I was able to get myself up and over these walls on my own. I used the joists in the middle to give myself a boost and I got up and over with no problem. The last obstacle we went through was called Devil's Beard. And for something that seemed so simple, it was a pain in the ass. Well for me anyways. It was a cargo net that was staked down to the ground and you had to crawl underneath it. Sounds easy, right?! Yeah, no! My Camelbak kept getting caught on the net along with my ponytail. Not to mention everyone and their mom lost their race bib while crawling through this all day, so there were race bibs with safety pins sticking up everywhere. I was so happy to be done with this one when I finally reached the end of it. 

We had a small distance left to run and then we crossed the finish line and got our sweet orange headbands! 11.1 miles and 23 obstacles later, we had done it. We were now Tough Mudder finishers and now part of Mudder Nation! 



I was extremely proud of both of us. It definitely wasn't an easy task by any means. It was hard! But at the same time it was an absolute blast! I had so much fun running Tough Mudder. And I am so incredibly proud that we did it and finished it. I still can't believe that I was even capable of making it through. It is so crazy to me how far I have come in the last 11 months. If you would have asked me last year around this time about doing something like this, I would have looked at you like you were crazy. But now, I feel like I have no limits and that I can achieve anything that I set out to do!

Now as fun as it was, it didn't come without a few scratches, blisters, bumps and bruises. Here is the aftermath of it. 

My legs covered in mud. 
Check out that tan line! Oh wait, that's mud lines!
These bad boys are from Funky Monkey. Ouch!
On the other hand too! And in the same spot!


My face all covered in mud

My legs two days after! Yeah, and those bruises got darker over the next week!
But even with all the bumps and bruises, it was completely worth it to get this shirt and headband that will constantly remind me of what I accomplished that day! Every time I put this shirt on I will remember how much fun I had that day and how proud I was of myself for accomplishing something so amazing. And that will keep me going! 

Worth it!


Megan

1 comment:

  1. OK... even if I could get back the obstacles and the 11.1 miles, I think swimming under those things would send me into a panic attach. I feel like I would drown! Haha

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