Hi all, I am hijacking Rachel's blog site to share an event I did this weekend.
Thanks to Baron Grant and a few other gentlemen from my Ward here in Australia, they convinced (or coerced) me to join them in the Tough Mudder challenge that came to Melbourne this past weekend. If you do not know much about this event, I will try to explain briefly in this blog or you can look at the following website (http://toughmudder.com) for its history and description of the challenge. The Tough Mudder is a 20 kilometer (or 12.43 miles) obstacle course designed by British Special Forces to test your 'all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie'. I always wanted to participate in a 5k/10k fun run or a mud run or even a half marathon, but I should have made some excuse after hearing the Tough Mudder course was 20 kilometers in length plus obstacles. The course consists of 28 obstacles.
Some of the various obstacles were:
Climbing over walls
Crawling in mud under barbwire
Scaling cargo nets
Mud pits
Jumping in a pool of ice and going under a wooden post to the other side
Jumping off a 4 meter wall into a lake and a 100 meter swim
Monkey bars
Crawling though pipes w/ water
Scaling other things
Running through mud, fire, smoke
Electrified fields
Etc, etc, etc
After reading from their website and seeing some of the Youtube videos I was very nervous. But, I committed and started to train. Pickup my running, did Baron's bootcamp, power walked the 1,000 steps (http://www.dandenongrangesattractions.com.au/attractions/1000-steps/) multiple times with Mike O'Keffe & Daniel Fitisemanu in the dark early mornings and rode my stationary bike. Did I think I was prepared...NO!
The challenge could not have been at a better location which was held on Phillip Island at the Grand Prix Circuit. The views were stunning, but I did not have much time or energy to enjoy.
As we prepared to start the challenge, the MC was getting us pumped to go. I was just telling myself to keep a steady pace and rely on my team to pull, throw, shove myself through the obstacles. The first obstacle was a wall which we got over fairly easy which gave me confidence, but by the time of the ice bath which was the 3rd or 4th obstacle I started to have doubt.
The best thing about this challenge is that it is about team work. It is not a race. It is not about time. It is about overcoming physical challenges and working through the mental aspect of finishing the course. I can tell you that I am very thankful for my team that helped me and I hope I was some help to them.
When we started we were the full team above, but we split off fairly quick and the team that got me through the challenge were these Tough Mudders:
The biggest challenge of the day was the obstacle they call "The Everest". A huge Half Pike wall that you have to scale and with the help of your team and other Tough Mudders to get people to the top.
This obstacle gets backed up as people attempt to get on top. You have about a 30 minute wait to get your shot and you observe the different tactics or plans of attack (a run and leap to grab a hand from up top, shirts tied as a rope, pyramids, etc). I never worried about the other obstacles because of my team, but this seemed to hard. I quietly watched and wondered if I was going to tap out and go around the obstacles. As I got to the front of the Giant Wall and watching other people not even get to the middle of the wall, I was in a bit of panic. As I prepared to give it a go, I looked up to the top and saw Daniel F. & Mike O. with their hands extended and shouting "you can do it Bruther!" which gave me some confidence. I took off and got up the wall okay and grabbed hold of their hands and thought I had it, but you need some upper body strength from there. Your feet & legs are useless on the muddy/rubber wall. We lost our hand hold and I went down the wall in disgust. I thought "there is no way", but then I looked up and Daniel, Mike, Baron & Dusty were there. I gave it a go again and went right up the wall and got a hold of their hands, but I was useless trying to pull up. All of a sudden my Tough Mudder Bruthers just took their strength and pulled my dead weight up to the top. They were awesome and we were all elated as each member made it past the obstacle. We were so pumped that the Electric Wire obstacle did not even phase us.
We did it...20 kilometers & 28 obstacles we crossed the finish line together.
Thank you to Baron who put this crazy challenge in front of us and to my team which made this a day we will be talking about for awhile...at least until September where we try again in Sydney.
Some of the various obstacles were:
Climbing over walls
Crawling in mud under barbwire
Scaling cargo nets
Mud pits
Jumping in a pool of ice and going under a wooden post to the other side
Jumping off a 4 meter wall into a lake and a 100 meter swim
Monkey bars
Crawling though pipes w/ water
Scaling other things
Running through mud, fire, smoke
Electrified fields
Etc, etc, etc
After reading from their website and seeing some of the Youtube videos I was very nervous. But, I committed and started to train. Pickup my running, did Baron's bootcamp, power walked the 1,000 steps (http://www.dandenongrangesattractions.com.au/attractions/1000-steps/) multiple times with Mike O'Keffe & Daniel Fitisemanu in the dark early mornings and rode my stationary bike. Did I think I was prepared...NO!
The challenge could not have been at a better location which was held on Phillip Island at the Grand Prix Circuit. The views were stunning, but I did not have much time or energy to enjoy.
 |
| Baron Grant, me, Adam Grant, Dusty MacGraw |
Here are a few of shots of our obstacles:
The best thing about this challenge is that it is about team work. It is not a race. It is not about time. It is about overcoming physical challenges and working through the mental aspect of finishing the course. I can tell you that I am very thankful for my team that helped me and I hope I was some help to them.
 |
| Team Members Front Row: Sam, Dusty MacGraw, Hannah, Adam Grant, Jo Second Row: Leroy, Damien, Baron Grant Back Row: Daniel Fitisemanu, me, Brent, Dave Berry, Mike O'Keffe (hidden), Cory, & Kurtland White |
 |
| Front row: Leroy & Dusty Middle Row: Mike, Kurtland, Adam, Baron, Dan Back Row: Daniel & Dave |
This obstacle gets backed up as people attempt to get on top. You have about a 30 minute wait to get your shot and you observe the different tactics or plans of attack (a run and leap to grab a hand from up top, shirts tied as a rope, pyramids, etc). I never worried about the other obstacles because of my team, but this seemed to hard. I quietly watched and wondered if I was going to tap out and go around the obstacles. As I got to the front of the Giant Wall and watching other people not even get to the middle of the wall, I was in a bit of panic. As I prepared to give it a go, I looked up to the top and saw Daniel F. & Mike O. with their hands extended and shouting "you can do it Bruther!" which gave me some confidence. I took off and got up the wall okay and grabbed hold of their hands and thought I had it, but you need some upper body strength from there. Your feet & legs are useless on the muddy/rubber wall. We lost our hand hold and I went down the wall in disgust. I thought "there is no way", but then I looked up and Daniel, Mike, Baron & Dusty were there. I gave it a go again and went right up the wall and got a hold of their hands, but I was useless trying to pull up. All of a sudden my Tough Mudder Bruthers just took their strength and pulled my dead weight up to the top. They were awesome and we were all elated as each member made it past the obstacle. We were so pumped that the Electric Wire obstacle did not even phase us.
We did it...20 kilometers & 28 obstacles we crossed the finish line together.
Thank you to Baron who put this crazy challenge in front of us and to my team which made this a day we will be talking about for awhile...at least until September where we try again in Sydney.
GREAT JOB MUDDERS!!!
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