After Actions Report - Tough Mudder

angelaneale

How was the Tough Mudder? C'mon guys and girls, give us all the muddy details! What did you like the most about it? What did you dislike? Details - Details!

montana_girl

Angela - My husband I took some extra time in TN so we got back late Tuesday night and yesterday was our rest day to run errands and chores done before coming back to work. (Well for me... my bum of husband took the rest of the week off! LOL)

Here's a recap, I'm sure Carol will have a lot more to add! LOL

The day of the race we met up in a parking lot not far from the race. Scott and I rode with Lefthand and his wife Tia (he was doing the race, she was spectating) over to the venue. That took forever because there were so many people driving to the race (and Lefthand got pulled over for not wearing his seatbelt, so that delayed us a bit ). We were supposed to start at 10:15/10:30 but Carol forgot to contact Aaron Kreiger about the place and time to meet so he was late getting there (this seems to be a theme with Carol, since she also forgot him on the podcast we did!).

We started about noon and… WOW! It was so much fun! Everyone on the team was awesome, nice, and fun to hang out with. I even did some of the obstacles that I thought I would skip. And honestly, the mud pits and muddy parts of the race were the best parts (that and wading through the creeks… it was hot so it felt great!). I did some of the walls (with help), attempted the Funky Monkey (monkey bars) but just jumped in the water instead (the bars were over a water pit), did the Artic Enema, the Everest, and would have done the last two obstacles, but the heat was getting to me. I didn't have any issues with my knee (my greatest worry) and I was able to do all the obstacles I attempted except the Funk Monkey, so I worried about those darn obstacles for no reason!

I didn’t realize how bad the heat and humidity was affecting me until after we had completed the race and I had gotten my headband. I drank some water, felt nauseous so I found a semi dry spot to sit down. A volunteer asked me if I was okay. I told her I was okay, just felt a little sick and could really use some ice (all the water tasted warm). Next thing I knew I had two medics by me and I was transported to the medical tent. They were checking me over when I got sick and before I knew it I was hooked up to an IV to get fluids. Wasn’t sick again, but felt awful until the fluids kicked in. Luckily I felt better before they closed down the medical tent, otherwise I would have had to go to the local ER. Was kind of funny because the doctor was telling me he would give me five minutes and if I didn’t get sick, could walk unassisted, and my blood pressure was within normal range he would let me go. But we had to do something because (and he said this like it was no big deal) there was a tornado warning and they were making everyone leave the venue. :laugh:

Would I do it again…? Hell yes! There was one obstacle I didn’t even try, but I would love to work on my upper body strength so I could at least try it next time. Plus I didn’t even attempt the last two obstacles because I felt so sick, but I could have easily done them if I had felt better.

The team is already talking about doing it again in Dallas in October. Tried to talk my husband Scott into it, but he just rolled his eyes and said slowly, “no, we are already going to CA in November for a race…” I think he’s convinced I fried my brain somewhere on the course! I hope Carol makes this a yearly event, because I would love to do it again!

angelaneale

That's such a great report! I'm sorry you got sick though. That must've been terrible. Really glad you started feeling better so you didn't end your day in the ER. Great job to on doing most of the obstacles and at least trying some of them that you weren't originally planning on doing. It's so nice that your knee didn't give you any trouble either. I would love to join the group to do a TM sometime, although this October won't work for me. Maybe next year?