Ever since I saw my friends back in Ontario participate in the Tough Mudder, I've had my heart set on doing the same. Two things have always stood in my way. Timing and Team. It was harder than I thought to convince people to throw themselves in the mud with me. I also had to be in town for the actual event.
This year, finally, it happened! We booked quite last minute because it took that long to finally decide we would go ahead and do it, but we managed to use a 25% discount code.
Were we prepared for the Tough Mudder? NOPE! The extent of my training consisted of my many hikes that I did and that was about it! To make matters worse, The day before the race, I had to work a wedding and turns out, the shoes I wore were NOT feet friendly. I ended up with 4 blisters on my toes, one of which tore open and hurt with every step I took. But nothing was going to hold me back! I ran the Tough Mudder with bandages.
Even now I can't believe I made it through. The course is 17.6 km in length and 18 obstacles to overcome. My run became a limp along to ease the pressure off of my left foot. The obstacles were more fun than challenging because of the camaraderie involved. I am happy to say I attempted all of them and never gave up once. My biggest obstacle was the Funkey Monkey 2.0, which was an inclined monkey bar with a parallel bar at the end. I made it halfway up before I lost my grip.
But what does it matter! We finished! We passed the finish line as a team! And that was the most rewarding feeling. I can now proudly say I completed the Tough Mudder and I have the t-shirt/headband and bruises to show for it! LOL
