Tough Mudder NorCal 2012: Where Teamwork is the Name of the Game

Normally a day reserved for sleeping in, this last Saturday found me at my friends house at 7:15 am, jumping around excitedly in a bright orange women’s athletic shirt, my bright orange Tough Mudder headband from last year, and camouflage running shorts over running tights.  Our team of 5 men and 6 women may have looked silly in our salmon colored outfits, but we were pumped:  it was Tough Mudder day, and we were determined to have the best time out there.  The crisp mountain air was clear and we had a beautiful day ahead of us.  After navigating the gridlock in Martis Valley on our way to Northstar,  packed in an Expedition, and blowing past the traffic cops while shoving my employee parking pass out the window for authenticity, we casually parked in a nearly empty employee lot and went up the base chairlift (avoiding the already-growing line at the gondola).  Registered, numbered, and bag dropped, we naturally stopped at the base lodge for a group bloody mary before heading to the start.  Uh oh, we have to climb these walls first?  Better put the drinks down.  Two 8 foot walls later, we are packed tightly like sardines at the start, waiting for the Emcee to get the show rolling. I stood shoulder to shoulder with my teammates, and many others dressed in outrageous costumes, athletic gear, or wearing nothing but a pair of hotpants and carrying their country’s flag.  Knowing that the first part of the course consisted mostly of an uphill climb, we used our experience from last year to walk it out, jogging only when “prudent” (re: flat or downhill).  Obstacles came at us slowly at first, with a mud crawl under barbed wire for starters, followed by 2 more 9 foot Berlin Walls.  Never will a person depend on others so much as with these walls.  For most women, they are impossible to climb on our own.  A couple of my male teammates were able to scale them, thanks to a year’s worth of Crossfit training. Having no upper body strength, I had to rely entirely on my teammates to hoist me up to the top.  I was nervous for the 3^rd obstacle, Walk the Plank, as it brought up memories from last year’s event held at Squaw Valley.  While last year’s obstacle was placed in the middle of the course (after we had warmed up a bit), the water was devastatingly cold, and we had to swim about 2 pool lengths (and pass through another floating obstacle of barrels and barbed wire).  Despite being an ex-swimmer, I was terrified and had to forego the floating obstacle, hanging onto the framing for dear life.  This year, the course designers smartly created a small pond to jump into, allowing us to feel 100% the cold water, but within 8 or so strokes, we were climbing out, with the help of cargo netting.   I was happy with the less scary and non life-threatening version.  After watching many of my teammates do gainers and flips into the pond, we continued onward and upward.

Many new obstacles were placed on course this year, including the rings, known as “Hangin Tough”, the “Electric Eel” (a mud crawl under hanging electric wires) and “Mud Mile” (not a mile, but maybe 100 ft of mud holes and hills).  The Electric Eel was entertaining, as I wasn’t receiving shocks through the wires, but through the water I was laying in, being the recipient of electricity conducted from the many shocked participants around me.  I strategically placed myself behind someone who moved quickly through this obstacle, but some of my teammates were not so lucky, shouting out words commonly used in the fishing industry in rapid fire as they waited for the clog to clear.  With that fun over, we reached the top of the course, and, elegantly timed, SNACK TIME!   Most of us continued on through the muddy tunnels, but soon learned we had to wait while 3 of our teammates decided to stand in line with the spectators for sausages and beer. Time was of the essence, so, carrying sausages through the tunnels, we continued onto another mud crawl. 

Down the course we continued, enjoying more Berlin Walls, an “Arctic Enema” (freezing tub of water with ice floating in it), log obstacles, a cargo net climb, the monkey bars, and a very touching tribute to the Wounded Warrior project, which is the primary recipient of the entrance fee proceeds, aptly named “Wounded Warrior”.  This challenge asked for me to pair up with someone and carry them on my back for 50 yards.  Then we switched.  It was the perfect reminder for why 15,000 of us felt compelled to do this silly event in the first place: it’s for our soldiers. 

Wrapping up this “silly” event was the ever-looming “Everest” obstacle, followed by the “Electroshock Therapy”.  Remembering how much of a dangle the Everest quarter pipe was last year, I was about to duck out and around, when I saw participant after participant getting after it, and succeeding to the top, often in one try.  I geared myself up for the run, came at it full speed, and what do you know!  My awesome teammates helped pull me without a hitch.  All that was left was that awful 30 foot run through the electric wires.  Nervous and tired, we gathered as a team, held hands as a team, and blew through it as a team.  And that’s just as it should be.