Team Ridiculous

That Mud Run was both the hardest physical challenge I've ever done and one of the best days ever.  I'm going to try and recap it here for you, but it will be tough.

First, our team name.  I don't remember whose idea it was, and I had some team name envy when I looked over the list of teams. However, we were about halfway through the race when I realized it was the most perfect name possible.  Voluntarily crawling through mud and hoisting myself over gigantic walls is RIDICULOUS.  But we took each obstacle one at a time and we conquered them all only as a TEAM, which is what made it such a successful day.

Speaking of team, there is no way I could have done any of it with these four amazing women.

Team Ridiculous: Amie, Me, Kristy, Abi
I need to work on my tough face.

The key to the mud run was working as a team, and that is one of the things we did best.  Each obstacle we did together.  We mastered the cheerleader's tool of standing on the upper thighs of two friends to give  a boost on the climbing obstacles.Whether it was climbing over five foot tall walls (3), conquering the many over/under logs or the dreaded monkey bars, we did it all together by standing on the backs or the thighs of our friends.  The last obstacle we had to literally carry two team mates about 100 yards on our backs.  It was a very symbolic of how we accomplished the whole race.

Highlights

The cargo net was a favorite of some of my team mates.  We had to climb a cargo net, that was maybe 15 feet tall and loose at the bottom (which means it swayed when you hung on it.) At the top, you swung your leg over a log and then came down a similar net on the other side.  The great thing was, teams helped other teams here, by holding the cargo net taut.  I can't believe I completed this one and it wasn't even that hard.

The 10 foot solid wall was another great one where teams helped each other.  We boosted Abi up first and someone who was sitting on top of the wall from another team, just grabbed her arm and yanked her up.  She disappeared so fast, that person was strong.Then Amie and Kristy boosted me up, but they couldn't get me high enough for Abi to pull me up and I couldn't reach to grab the top.  In step two gentlemen who grabbed my feet, along with Amie and Kristy, and boosted my feet up over the top of their heads so that I could clamber up on top with Abi. From there, I pulled up Amie and Kristy as the two guys boosted them from the ground.  Then Amie and I reached over to pull our new guy friends up too.  

I absolutely loved this forever-long river obstacle.  It was only a foot or so deep, but the water was icy cold and so refreshing.  It also cleaned off the first few rounds of mud.There were logs buried in the river bed so often that you were continually tripping. I tripped once early on and landed face down in the water.  From then on, I floated down river, using my arms to propel me forward. It wasn't swimming, more like aggressive floating.  Anyway, it was way faster than the people who walked (which was everyone else except for Abi who took cues from me), because they had to go slow so they wouldn't trip on the hidden logs. I just floated over most of them. I felt like an alligator, floating along, with just my head out of the water, and loved it.

The steel cable crossing was also fun.  A steel cable stretched across a mud pit. There was also a slightly slack rope stretched across at head height.  You could hold onto it, but the combination of the two meant that you were continually swaying as you inched your way across.  I screamed every time I swayed, which I'm sure was entertaining for the Marine and other teams watching.  Amie started laughing, which made me start laughing, which made me almost fall off. Laughter is my Kryptonite!  Bonus: it was fun and I made it across without falling in!

Lowlights
I could not run much of the race in between obstacles. It is my one regret; that I didn't build up my running enough before hand.  Plus, I was continually drenched in watery mud or thick grey mud, which made running difficult and affected my attitude a bit.

The lame and sheer amount of hills we had to run up one side of and down the other.  There were several obstacles built around either running up and down the side of natural hill continuously or running up the side of a hill made from a load of dirt that had been dumped there for the mud run - and then down the other side.  These were not fun obstacles in any way, but they were tough, oh-so tough.

Other obstacles, there were many over/under logs of varying heights - from 3 feet off the ground (easy) to 5 feet of the ground (more difficult); there were many logs you had to crawl under in a pit of mud; there were many more walls of varying heights; there was a rope swing across a mud pit and a Tarzan swing across a mud pit (the Tarzan swing is pretty much impossible to do no matter how fit you are- you have to change ropes mid swing and continue doing this about six times).  When we fell in the mud pit at the tarzan swing we had to do 20 pushups as punishment for failing to complete the obstacle.

So you saw our team's before picture above.  I'll post more pics in a follow up blog later this week. But first, here's our awesome finish picture:

Me, Kristy, Amie and Abi, covered chin to toe in mud.

I've taken two showers, but I've resigned myself to the fact that I will be cleaning mud residue from my body for days to come.

I'm sure you can not possibly have any questions as I went into far to great a detail above, but if there's anything you're wondering let me know.  I'd love to answer any questions you have!