My first Tough Mudder!!!!

Hi my name is Robin. I began my journey 12/10 weighing 275, now 9/13 I am at 186, it has been a long journey of ups and downs, but I am near the end with a goal weight somewhere around 175.

I just did my first Tough Mudder a few days ago, and wanted to share the details. It was a way for me to say Good-bye to my old self along my insecurities and believe and trust in my new more confident self. I grew up with my Dad telling me I was never good enough, along with other people in my life, I signed up because I didn't think I could do it, and I wanted to prove myself wrong! This adventure was huge for me, I am in the best shape of my life right now, but I still struggled a lot with this challenge I had chosen. I am new to running, about 2.5 years, I have done two half marathons before this, the Mudder was a huge step up.

I did the Tough Mudder in Oshkosh, WI. The forecasted weather was 88, partly cloudy with possible Thunderstorms. I got to the grounds and it started to sprinkle, by the time I checked in, it was down pouring, cracks of lightening were popping all over the place. We stood in the rain and hour before the start and it continued raining for an hour into the run, we soon realized that the rain felt better, as we became very hot.

Along with the larger obstacles below, there are burn zone or Course hazards - which would be maybe 5 feet deep gullies of mud water, you had to go in and come out...there were numerous of them, I fell more than I stayed upright I think, after awhile I got more skilled with these. Other burn zones were, doing 10 push ups, doing 30 lunges, the bear crawl, the wheel barrel walk, more round hay bales to get over,

Kiss the Mud - army crawl under barb wire in a few inches of water and mud...this was a fun one, I never got snagged by the wire like I thought I would.

Glory Blades - tilted 10 foot walls, no ropes, arm strength only - 2 total - I got up on wall 1, it was quite slippery from the rain and mud, my hands slipped on the decent and I came down wrong on my knee tweaking it and pulling a calf muscle, I could tell my arm was terribly bruised but I was OK. Wall 2, I held on tighter at the top and landed correctly.

Electric Eel - just like Kiss the Mud, but this time there was live electrical wires that would randomly shock you. I got shocked some but all in all it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be...felt very empowered to be done with this one. There was this guy next to me and he was screaming like crazy, so I felt lucky!

Killa Gorilla - huge hill, you climb up in slippery mud and slide back down... I was worried at first I wouldn't make it up, there were all these people running full speed and not struggling much to get up. I didn't think I could run it without coming backwards, so I went to the side and did like a bear crawl up, there was a bit of weeds where I was so that gave me a bit of traction, I was proud to make it up without going back down. Then, it was a blast sliding down, it was like going down a snow hill but no snow...hilarious!! There were crazy people going head first.

Bale Bonds - huge round hay bales maybe 4 feet high to climb over, there must of been at least 5 of them we had to do, you definitely had to take a running start in the mud and try to jump on the bale...I usually dead stopped when I got to the bale...I definitely didn't know when to jump, so I had to climb up the hard way, good thing the guys helped me here.

Boa Constrictor - black plastic drainage tile pile - maybe 16 inches wide....filled with water and mud...one tube going up on angle, one tube going down on an angle...I had no trouble going down, but going up, I had trouble at about the half way point...I tried flipping on my back and using my feet with no luck, I could hear and see people but couldn't get to them, but I eventually got there...I was concerned about the space but did alright since I could see light coming through the other side.

Hold Your Wood - carry a piece of wood by yourself or with a team mate for maybe 500 - wasn't a hard idea but as you went along the wood got heavier...

Mud Mile - there were two obstacles of these - very very hilarious!! Water can be at deep as waist high at any given time, you may find a pothole of sorts and go deeper, then maybe every 30 feet there was a hill of mud you had to get over... a lot of people were faster than me here and stayed on there feet more than me, but I laughed a lot, drank some mud....good times!

Firewalk - jump over some fire pits. There was maybe a 3 inch concrete divider in between the fire pit, I did not trust I would land on the 3 inches....I did good until the last pit, I froze some because of the other side of this concrete was a water pit maybe 6 feet below...so I asked a guy to hold my hand...he did...once over the last pit, I jumped in the water and climbed a rope net out.

Arctic Enema - jump in a dumpster of ice water.... I climb up the wood ladder to the edge - no problem....then you are suppose to stand on the edge and jump as far in as you can...haha! I froze a bit again, I was afraid I wouldn't stand on the edge and fall in the ice unprepared....so I very gingerly stood up, shaking like crazy....jumped in...went to the middle, went under the water so I could swim under the half wall in the middle , that was when the cold hit you...on the other side of the wall was where there was a larger amount of ice.....coming up for air, you are a bit disorientated, luckily my team mates were talking to me, so I knew where to go...then climbed a ladder back out, this ladder was very tricky as the foot areas were maybe an inch slats...I was thrilled to have done this successfully, the ice does take your breath away.

Berlin Walls - two 12 feet wood walls, you have to get over without ropes, all arm strength. I ended up skipping this obstacle, my arms were tired and I didn't want to hurt my leg more and not be able to finish. I did however help protect and catch the girls that did go over on our team. I saw a lot of men and women with great and amazing strength on this one.

Walk the plank - climb up a ladder -with one inch slats again - with one inch slats - about 15 feet up - after you just came through think heavy mud, your shoes are full of mud, the ladder is full of mud, hard to hold on and not fall back down the ladder. Once at the top, the only way down is to jump in the water and swim out....scary as the plank is covered with slippery mud as well. Then, you have another rope net to climb out - felt exhilarating to complete this one, after being very scared.

Warrior Carry - carry your team mate 100 yards, then switch for another 100 yards. My team mate that was left, sadly didn't want to be carried or carry me, so I had no choice to skip this one. I tried to find a single person to do it with without any luck.

Funky Monkey - greased Monkey Bars over a water pit, the bars inclined up and then back down. I did 4 bars before I fell. Amazing to watch the skill and speed of some.

Cage Crawl - go on your back in water and mud and crawl under a cyclone fence for 50 yards. I was hot so this one felt good...I didn't know how I would be in the confined space but did alright.

Everest - a greased skateboard pike you have to get to the top of, maybe 15 feet up....people at the top with 3 feet ropes for you to grab and assist you up, this was so breathtaking, the strength and desire it took to get up....such team work! Lots of scary moments when the guys at the top had someone's legs instead of their arms....some teams made a human chain where they stood on each other and climbed up that way, I wanted to do that for my team but I was the only one., so we didn't do it. You have to sprint from the go line through some heavy mud then continue up the pike to get to the rope, there was a 30-45 minute wait here for us, I had started to cramp up, I attempted this, but came no where close to the guy with the rope, so I slid back down. You only get one attempt, if you want to do it a second time you have to go to the end of the line.

Last obstacle - Eletroshock Therapy - run through maybe 60 feet of live barb wire hanging down - through gullies of water and over bales of hay....you know that once you are done with this obstacle YOU ARE A MUDDER...so scared as heck, I went forward, you can hear the people scream, and smell the current, which makes it even more worrisome....BUT I survived and I am a MUDDER!!!!

With the larger obstacles and the burn zone items, there was at least 30 in total.

I am banged and bruised, but all in all a good experience - I am an average runner at best, I still have to walk some at times, but I did it!! I don't know how much weight the water and mud weighs but it was hard work to run with that on your body!! the course is definitely full of emotion and defeat, but you fight through it with your inner strength and with the help of others...I never thought this was something I would ever do, but I am thrilled to have it as one of my successes.... I do not know if I will do another Tough Mudder but I am I vey proud and content with my effort for this Tough Mudder!!

We got held up for 30-45 min. at Everest but we still finished with a time of 5 hours, we were all pleased with that.

Growth comes from hardships and challenges - one thing I learned is never sell yourself out short...if you DON'T try you never know what you will be able to do!!!!