Tough Mudder

A while back, Travis started showing me these videos about a race that he wanted to do called the Tough Mudder.  Every time he would show me a video, I would tell him he was crazy.  He would just reply, "it looks awesome!"  If you know Travis well, he loves to do crazy, adventurous, adrenaline boosting things.

Since we have been married, he has calmed down a lot.  I think part of it is that he doesn't have "his guys" here to do these things with him and I am not as daring as him.  So when he told me there were some guys at church that wanted to do it, I happily consented to his plea.  It was good to see him get so excited about something and get involved with this group of guys.  Most of them are the husbands of my friends, but the guys don't get together often.

Travis and his buddy Jake started working out together on a regular basis to train for it.  Then, I blame this idea on Jake, they decided to be tough they needed to grow out their facial hair.  Neither of them shaved until after the race.  The other men couldn't participate in growing out their facial hair because they are all military men (lucky for their wives).

The day of the race came and this is what Travis looked like!  Mountain man?

  I have to say that I am glad the race is over because he has finally shaved and he came back uninjured!  I knew he could do it, but I was a little stressed that he would hurt himself. 

The group of guys got up and drove down to Kentucky the morning of the event.  Once they got there, they duct taped their shoes on and put on battle paint.  Travis got a GoPro camera basically for this race, so we have lots of pictures and videos.

For those of you that have never heard of this before, this is the websites description of it:
Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. As the leading company in the booming obstacle course industry, Tough Mudder has already challenged half a million inspiring participants worldwide and raised more than $3 million dollars for the Wounded Warrior Project. But Tough Mudder is more than an event, it’s a way of thinking. By running a Tough Mudder challenge, you’ll unlock a true sense of accomplishment, have a great time, and discover a camaraderie with your fellow participants that’s experienced all too rarely these days. 

Travis loved it!  He said that it was really tough.  There were parts where his legs would cramp up due to the intensity and freezing cold.  He described one area as a battle ground because there were people sitting/laying down from the intensity.  He said people were wrapped up in space blankets just massaging their legs so they could make it through.

Now for the pictures!

Before the event started with his warpaint!

 Photo-op in the mud!

 I don't know all the names of the obstacles, but this one you had to army crawl under the barbed wire.  I think that is Kent.

 

Mud from crawling on his tummy!

 

 The group of guys.  (starting from the left and going around)  Kent, Jake, Justin, Ryan and Travis.  They are missing Bishop, JJ and the Colonel in this pic.

 More mud...just thicker now.  They walked through a mile of this!

 Justin and Kent about to jump into a dumpster of ice water.

 Bishop on the rings.  They had to stick their whole arms through or they would just slip off.

 Jake going into the trenches.  

 

So much mud!  Gross!

 Other obstacles included climbing over a huge wall of stacked hay bales, running through live electrical wires, jumping through fire, jumping off a high plank, running up a half pipe, carrying a log 1/2 a mile and the boa constrictor. 

The boa constrictor would have stressed me out.  You crawl through this tunnel and can't see a thing.  As you go down, it starts to fill up with water.  You come out into an opening of muddy water and then crawl up the other side.  I would have freaked!  I can't handle small spaces, especially if you can't see and water starts filling up!  I will get the video of this obstacle as soon as Travis gets home. 

I am glad everyone made it back alive and mostly unharmed.  There were minor scrapes and bruises, but nothing broken or stitched up!  I did have to laugh at them at church the next day as they limped around!