tough mudder

Last Saturday, Matt and his friends from home ran a Tough Mudder.  I did not run because I am neither tough nor strong.  I took pictures.  

This thing is 11 miles long with 22 obstacles scattered throughout the course.  Their course in Poplar Bluff, MO, was built on a four wheeling site, so they conquered hills and streams along with the man-made obstacles that forced them to swim, crawl, jump over things, and occasionally be electrocuted.  (I may not be tough but I am also no fool.  No thank you.)

Pre-Run, clean and numbered, in front of the very last obstacle.  Some of those long yellow wires are charged.  

The 6,000+ runners were split into many starting heats.  The guys started in the second heat of the day, which was great because they didn't have to get psyched out watching people go through the obstacles (that was my reasoning).  And also the line to the showers got longer later in the afternoon (again, my reasons, not theirs. They're tough, remember.)  Before the race even started they had to hop a wall to get into the holding pen.

And they're off!

And I was off trying to follow my map and catching them at as many obstacles as possible.  

This picture does not do justice to what they all agreed was the worst part of the whole thing: jumping into a dumpster filled with ice water, diving under a barrier, and crawling out the other side.

Ahh, a Saturday afternoon crawling under barbed wire.  My favorite past-time.

I liked that this wasn't really a 'race'- nothing was timed and it was structured to foster teamwork, not just amongst people who signed up together but amongst everyone in the race.  It was nice to see.  It also meant they could stop for a group photo right in the middle of the whole thing.

Log jumping . . .

Wall climbing . . .

Fingertip-dangling . . .

And of course, electrocution.

And lots of mud.  

And many happy faces at the finish line.