Tougher and Toughest Mudder Europe

Excuses

There is  a framed poster commemorating the 20th year of the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon on my bathroom wall.  It has pictures of all the winners from 1978-1998, most of whom I got to meet and have autograph for me at the event in 1999.  The 6 Time champion  Dave Scott scribbled his name in black sharpie and wrote “No Excuses!”  It was a profound statement from this elite athlete that didn’t know me but knew only to well how some people are.  We often make excuses whether they are valid or not.  They are mini confessions, apologies and testimonies wrapped into one message of needed validation.  “I didn’t train,” “I’m injured,”  “I didn’t have the right gear;” those were some of my excuses from last weekend at Europe's Tougher and Toughest Mudder.  Providing an excuse I suppose is an escape from the truth.  It is really meant as a way of saying you weren’t at your %100 best and it almost gets you off the hook.  And that’s ok.  The trick is having the ability to bite your tongue when you feel the need to come up with one and just simply congratulate the other person for their race and tell your story without using an excuse for a less than desired performance...even if those excuses really did happen.  Always honor the other person's successes and recognize your own failures and laugh and learn from them.  Also always take the excuses of others with a grain of salt.  I've been bested by more people that tell me they haven't trained, are sick or are injured prior to a race than those that tell me they are ready to race!

Mea Culpa

I didn’t train enough

Competing the new 12 hour Toughest format requires time actually running and doing lots of upper body pull-up type activity IF you want to accomplish lofty goals such as a mileage badge (now in 5 Mile increments starting at 25), a placement in your division, hitting Contender Status (40 Men/ 35 Women) or an outright win.  It’s really that simple.  Unless you are blessed with incredible genes or have a very active fitness lifestyle like my nemesis 2016 and 2018 50+ Age group WTM champ Whitney Tilson--who jokes about not training yet plays pick up basketball, tennis and competes in every local or on business trip-adventure  he can find and is also an avid mountain climber--you will HAVE to run.  For Toughest enthusiasts I think 30-50 miles per week of running is a great range (for me).  I was doing 15 per week. I think I was swimming more miles than running which didn't exactly transfer well.

Coaches

Running Coaches weekly mileage recommendations vary depending on the abilities and type of runners they are training but most will agree the three main weekly staples of a good running program are speed-work, long slow distance (over an hour of continuous running) and hill repeats or at least running on hills.  My longest run this year was 13 miles and a broken 13 at that doing two laps at the College Station Tough Mudder in April with the Tougher champ Evan Perperis.  Nope, not nearly enough to have the stamina to go non-stop for 2 hours and then another 12 hours in the  evening.  Muscle memory only gets one so far. Stubborn persistence gets you just a little bit further.  Laziness and opting to play hours of Fortnite and drink wine instead of train does have consequences.

Fitness trainers will recommend that you do various push/pull sets and lifts that focus on grip and core strength.  The perfect Tough Mudder workout of course is having your own Tough Mudder obstacles in your back yard or at least a pull-up bar, rings, climbing rope and weights to lift/carry. While I do have access to a military style  obstacle course at work I admit the rings, bar and weights at home sat idle the past couple months with the lame excuse that they were in our courtyard where it had been unusually wet--as in the perfect time to train with them.  If you can’t do Funky Monkey or Gauntlet because you can't handle a wet or muddy bar or ring expect to take a penalty which will be more running (as if you weren’t already doing enough of that). Build a relationship with things that you know you have to do but hate.  I hate pull-ups and eggplant and am desperately trying to change this thinking. I’ll start tomorrow.  The pull-ups, not eggplant!

I’m injured

I didn’t start the Tougher race last weekend injured but as soon as I took my first few steps in the thick grass after the start line I suddenly felt like someone had driven an ice pick through my calf.  Dehydration perhaps?  Not stretching enough? God punishing me?  I dunno.  The rest of that race I was limping and in stupid pain.  Also my breathing was  rapid, my hear rate was way too fast and I was overheating  Not a great start!  My buddy 2018 Holy Grail Champ Charlie Boher hung back with me like a good sport and offered words of encouragement.  I’d spent the past few days with him after flying over from the States and we had the same common goal of knocking out the morning Tougher and evening Toughest race with 50 or more miles in mind.  Ironically Charlie slipped off the end of Funky Monkey and knocked the wind out of himself so bad we had to stop for about 5  minutes.  The new concern was he had possibly broken a rib or two.  Now we were both pathetically hurting but finished the Tougher wave as best we could. Charlie went straight to medical and they evaluated him and sent him off with pain killers. We spent the rest of the day trying to recoup and stay mentally focused for the 12 hour Toughest that night.

Working that Blockness with Charlie

Toughest Sages

Between Charlie and I we have done 18 Toughest Mudder races and 6 Worlds Toughests.  With such experience one would think we were experts but I admit I’m still learning all the time what works and what does not. Equipment, nutrition and gear depends on the distance, time and weather. In the past the Toughest venues were 8 hours (with :30 extra to finish a lap).  Now they are 12 hours which in my opinion is three times more difficult.  In the past we could put our gear in a communal tent but this year we could bring tents like at Worlds.  Also we could have Pitt Crews and be on 2 or 4 person Teams.  Since I had arrived from the States I traveled light but Charlie had a tent connection.  That plan backfired when the tent that we were given actually turned out to be a fold-up bed making the mallet that came with it equally useless.  On our side was good weather meaning no rain. We would be starting at 8 pm in about 50 degree temps so I could leave my gear out in the open.  Coincidentally I staged my stuff right next to Jessica Hanes who would (spoiler alert) go on to claim the Green Sprint Jersey and Champion Yellow Jersey with 45 miles. 

In that next hour I was pretty nervous and changed clothes three times from shorty wet suit to windbreaker to just race bib and compression arms.  I have a bad habit of overheating and tearing off wetsuits on the first mile (as women’s 2nd place ETM finisher Jessica Morris can attest, an ongoing joke between us). My damn calf was throbbing and I was wondering if one 5 Mile lap was even possible.  As luck would have it I ran into another over 50 Champ and legend James Brown who offered his expertise on fixing my calf as he is a personal trainer.  With magic hands and tape he patched me up in five minutes and by the grace of God my calf did not bother me the rest of the evening.

Brit over 50 Champ and my "Doc" James Brown

Gear choice

I opted not to bring a wetsuit for a variety of reasons: Number one being I wanted to travel light and not check bags on Norwegian airlines which I love and hate for their cheap prices but tacking on of fees.  I figured a compression T-shirt,tights socks and sleeves would be fine at first and that it couldn’t possibly be colder than it was at Worlds last year in Atlanta.  Funny thing about temperatures though: 28 degrees is really cold and 38 degrees (3.5c) is also really cold.  For shoes I foolishly opted for a used pair of well-worn  ASIC Kayanos I’d bought on EBay.  Very comfortable but with zero grip which made each mud traverse terrifying and stupid.  I took no less than 6 complete wipe outs running in the mud.  After the first lap I made a game of rewarding myself with an extra article of clothing each Pitt stop until I wore all the gear I brought.

Jim Campbell, Giles, Kyles, Me, Chris and Sonya

I was trying to follow Charlie’s meal plan all week of eating lots of protein, fats and meats and not my usual high carbs, fruits and vegetables plan. I also avoided wine all week but of course had a few beers the night before at the TM Ambassadors meet and greet that Race Directors Kyle and Giles and the TM crew provided similar to the one I missed in LA in April.  Both guys were very friendly and accommodating and arguably doing everything they can to get Tough Mudder back on track including honoring Charlie Boher’s Holy Grail highest points victory from last year which had been gravely left out at the awards presentation in Atlanta.  Charlie had attained 400 miles/ points by racing all the Toughests in 2018 along with the Toughers that were on the same day in addition to going 55 miles at Worlds.  (The old record was Ryan Atkins at 335 and yours truly at 325).  Kyle made sure a donation was made to Charlie’s charity James's Place which revolves around suicide prevention and awareness and is a program that is very dear to my heart having also lost a childhood friend and several members of the Navy SEALs community to suicide.  Charlie was presented a special Holy Grail personalized jacket and  Champion race bib minutes before the start of the Toughest race. No doubt it was this special award that gave him the energy to blast through 4 laps in four hours before succumbing to his rib injury and sadly withdrawing from the rest of the race.

1st Jessica Haney, 2nd Jessica Morris, 3rd Sarah Drees

1st Lukas Abrhan, 2nd Oliver Sterne, 3rd James Laffar

Nutrition 

I firmly believe the perfect hamburger I had in Mudder village two hours prior got me through the race as that was the only real food I ate for 20 hours besides the  two bananas,  one quart of water, two packs of Cliff shots, Blueberry apple sauce, Lucozade (like Gatorade) and a small bottle of Coke.  I often find it funny how much food people pack to these events.  Granted I would have paid good money for some warm broth at 2 am when the temps dipped again and was ravenous at 9am.  Always experiment with food in training not on race day.

The Race Course

I’d already done 70 TM events (4 at this same location) and by the end of the night  it would be become cemented as my all time favorite race site.  The greenery of the magnificent Bevoir Castle (pronounced Beaver)  includes winding dirt paths, bridges, creek crossings and meadows.  Since we started at 8 in the evening we could actually see for almost two hours and then when a full moon appeared it captured the spectacular land scape of hills and trees.  A spooky mist would appear along with the many sheep wondering what us idiots were all doing.  In the background I could hear hounds howling in the night and several times I was alone with not a person in front or behind me and then magically a volunteer would appear at a station in the woods or at an obstacle and to tell me if it was closed or open.  And there was this sporadic opening of obstacles throughout the night.  Hero Walls were open and then closed and then opened again.  Same with Funky and Gauntlet and Hangtime.  Arctic and Augustus opened around 3am.  Blockness was awful because the blocks wouldn’t spin enough and there were no helpers at the top of a very muddy Everest with no rope assists like years past so most took the penalty run.

Like all Toughests (with the exception of the day race at NorCal) the obstacles were closed on the first hour except the mud pits, Creek Crusde and Mud Mile.  Mud Mile wasn’t as bad as the 100 meters that followed it especially in my slick ASICS.

The top guy was sub 37 minutes on his first lap but I was closer to 52.  I know by now pacing and staying out of the Pitts is the key to these Toughests.  That being said, I did Pitt after each lap to put another piece of gear on until I was wearing everything I had brought.  The shorty wetsuit, 1:5m top, compression tights and socks, windbreaker and neoprene combo was the trick.  I had mobility in my legs and warmth in you fork head and chest.  This would be my first race with the BleggMitts which kept my hands surprisingly warm.  The clock at each start lap would also cruelly display temperature and although I saw 4 degrees Celsius it sure felt more like two degrees warmer in the first half and 2 degrees colder in the back half.  Arctic may have had something to do with it.

As the night went on I found myself shuffling which was better than walking. I didn’t feel on top of my game and I didn’t have the fitness to go any faster.  I really focused on one lap at a time and not thinking about what I had just done or how many laps I was going to do.  I began to enjoy some obstacles like Creek Crusade and Hang Time and hate others like the European Funky Monkey and Devils Beard which was uphill and 5x longer than any other I’ve done.  My wrists are still sore from crawling under that God awful tight net.  On my 5th lap I lost my headlamp in Arctic and actually spent a minute looking for it.  I had to run near blind the next 3 miles without one but luckily had  another headlight at the Pitt.  Next time I’ll lanyard it to my wetsuit or bib.  On my next lap I lost my timing chip which was comprised of a flimsy neoprene band with tape that I knew would not last long.  I should have taped mine on like I saw others do. Fortunately just before I finished I noticed it missing and went straight to the timing tent. I had my Garmin running the whole time but it was concerning that I wouldn’t get mileage credit.

Tougher and Toughest Mileage

Finish line 

I thought that surpassing my best ETM mark of 25 miles would be great and then when I did that I went for 30 and then finally 35 when “loser math” kicked in and I realized I would need at least 1:30 on the clock to go another lap so at 6:40 I stopped. Stupid move.  I’d gone for it before and made it within seconds but not today.  If one doesn't complete the lap before 8am they don’t get any credit for that lap and my hands and feet had swollen up.  Also I’d forgotten to take my wedding band off and my finger was throbbing and turning purple.

My crossing at the finish was bitter sweet.  I was pleased I had gone as far as I did but then wished I had done  just one more lap.  I was happy for those that reached or surpassed their expectations and sad for those that didn’t.  Charlie and I opted out of doing the Sunday Classic race while at least 3 brave souls I know did: Chris James, Jack Riley and Kevin Calder: Good on ya!  Overall it was an incredible experience and well... no excuses!

Hardware is always nice

Toughest Mudder South 2018

Starting Over

Smithville, Texas- Toughest Mudder South and the Tougher Mudder that preceded it 16 hours earlier felt like the true start of the Tough Mudder season and the re collecting of Holy Grail points for 2018.  In January I thought that maybe I could continue the streak of doing all the Toughest Races again but TMHQ had increased the number from six to eight- with four of the locations outside the USA.  For those of you (besides my mom) who read my Toughest blogs might remember I sold my car last year to pay for the 2017 season.  This year I would definitely need help with tickets to the U.K., Australia, Scotland and Germany not to mention those in the States (LA (now Sonoma due to the flooding roads), Texas, Michigan and Boston). It’s not easy getting sponsorship dollars to support my habit.  Especially when you don’t really ask for them!  Despite my :13 minutes of fame on CBS Sports Road to Toughest Mudder last year and contrary to popular belief no moula poured in and I would once again be on my own.  But then lo and behold TMHQ had announced a special bonus of $10k to whomever amassed the most Holy Grail Miles and bingo I started doing the math in my head of how I could win. Last year only 3 of us went over 300 total Holy Grail Miles (just Tougher, Toughest and Worlds Toughest Mudder Miles count ). Alison Tai got 305, I got 320 and Ryan Atkins accumulated 335.  Ironically I did twice as many races as Ryan but his repeat 50 miler Toughest performances and the 110 miles at WTM (to my measly 70) earned him the deserved 2017 title. Winner last year got his or her name on a perpetual trophy but this year there was cold hard cash up for grabs.  I took advantage of all the early bird TM specials and bought tickets to 7 of the 8 Toughests plus 10 Tougher Add Ons to my Season Pass I earned from being a TM Ambassador last year.  I strategized how I could hit 400 miles, win the Grail and repay the Credit Cards I would use to make this all happen.  It was a brilliant plan until it wasn’t.

Last week TMHQ announced by way of a sneaky email that the deal was off.  The bonus was no more citing cancellations of the Scotland Toughest, something about fairness and basically padding the Tougher and TMX race prize purses as the excuse.  It was devastating news.  It took me a full hour to get over it!

Feeling blah

I had been sick more than usual this year.  Stomach woes limited my training all year with my longest run being not much longer than my longest ocean swim (5 miles).  Yeah pathetic and stellar at the same time huh?!  My upper body strength wasn’t much better despite buying some Kong style rings on Amazon and suspending them from an old truck lumber rack in my courtyard.  I flew from San Diego to San Antonio late Friday, skipped dinner and drove to a town named Balstrop 40 miles east of Austin.  I had two Ensures for dinner and two more for breakfast and drove to the General parking lot which was: 30 from the race site and cost $25.  The bus driver got lost (God bless her) and I got to the race site at 7:15.  Two words:  Premium Parking!

I toed the line at the Tougher race with every intention of walking %90 and running %10 to get the mileage and the lay of the land.  Then Sean Corvelle spoke and all bets were off and I did the opposite sprinting the first mile like I was going to win the thing. Ankle deep mud put a stop to that nonsense pretty darn quick with several of us slipping on our backsides and into the muck.  It had rained the day before and it showed.  The 10 Mile two lap course turned out to be 12 miles with single track trail, several stream and creek crossings which were more like creek traverses with soft gravely sand and ankle to knee to neck deep murky brown surprisingly warm water.  The course was a reminder and combination of the 2017 TM Seattle, Atlanta, Philly and Nola course all in one.  At 7:45 it was almost 70 degrees out and I opted to just wear compression shorts, the Tougher race bib and an older pair of Merrrell All Out Crushes and compression socks.  Perfect.

The two-lap course was set up to separate the pack meaning the tougher obstacles were on the second loop. Lap one consisted of the mud swamps like Quagmire, Pitt Stop, Mud Mile (down and back);  Kiss-of Mud, Turducken (with pretty Gatorade blue water) and Trench Warfare

Turducken by day

 (Think 20 yards of crawling in mud in an underground tunnel like in WWI).  Lap two had the more technical obstacles like Funky, Just the Tip, Kong and an incomplete Rope a Dope that you just had to run and grab the rope instead of climb.  There weren’t penalties on these with the exception of Kong, which was extra mileage.  EST was an obstacle on the first lap and since I loathe getting shocked (because I usually pass out)  I skirted the outside of the wires as best I could and crawled over the last hey bale unscathed.  A guy behind me yelped in pain so I knew they were turned on.  We had to carry wood logs on Hold your Wood on both loops and hurdled horizontal trees on Lumberjacked for more time killers. We got to rinse off with obstacles like the old Cage Crawl and the new Happy Ending  (imagine Pyramid Scheme with a rope and a waterslide).  Mudder friends helped me up and over Mud Mile and Everest.  The only obstacle I really struggled with was Everest-, which was slick as snot, and the ropes didn’t help much.  Myself, Lindsay Rude ( who I cat and moussed with) along with my buddy Deanna Brasz (who got 4^th overall and 2^nd female) and I’m sure a few others got lost a couple of times which may have cost them (not me) podium positions.  Some of the trail could have probably been marked better. Blockness was easy to do solo with very heavy slow spinning blocks.  Sorry this is not much of a Tougher report but hopefully you get the gist.  Despite spending an hour longer on the course than I had intended and totally exhausting myself I had fun so to speak.  It was a great course and it was good seeing all the personalities of TM and getting down and dirty again.

I don’t wanna do I havta?

After the race I hung out for an hour and chatted with famous people like Clinton and Sue Harvey Brown who is Merrell and represents the brand well.  I skipped my celebratory beer and gave my new mudder buddy Charlie Boher (who consequently was also going after the Holy Grail win and equally dismayed at the news) from the U.K. a ride back to his hotel in Austin.    I was ravenous hungry so I ate at Maxine’s Dinner in Balstrop and fed on cat fish, hush puppies and mashed potatoes with a heavy douse of gravy.  Despite the excellent pie menue I said no thank you ma’am and wallowed back to my hotel.  I crashed hard for an hour and then tussled and turned until I was grumpy as hell.  Every 20 minutes I checked  the hotel clock and got more and more restless as the time got closer to the time I had to leave.  At 9:30 I swear I didn’t want to race anymore. At 10:00 I was still in my room wondering if I could transfer my entry to next year.  I don’t know what was wrong with me but I felt lousy, out of shape, had no motivation and didn’t want to race ever again.  So I grabbed my gear, purposely left my hotel keys in the room and got in my rental car and drove to Smithville 17 miles away.  I put the comedy station on. It didn’t help.

Family Reunion

Goat Tough Crew

It was almost 11 when I got to the race site.  No line- which was nice.  $35 parking fee- which was not nice.  I like to think my parking fees put a few kids through college that day!  I checked in and got handed the new 2018 Toughest bib in blue which was so pretty and started running into one Mudder  after another that I knew.  The Goat Tough Team that I had been recently invited to join was there and Jim the Goat himself took a selfie group shot with all of us (Ryan and Lindsay, Kris Mendoza, Matt Lister, Kenny Ng, Shark bait and Chris Betcher and Nigel Medina).  Good company.  I really admire these individuals for their performances and doings on and off the racecourse.  As midnight got closer I started to perk up.  My Toughest couple buddies Kailey and John Brodacker were there with their his and her war face paint comprised of pixie - her and lizard man him motifs. My fellow over 50  (actually 61 year old) Mudder brother Tex Ritter pitted with me.  The man still gets after it and finishes ahead of guys a third his age.  My twin sister Jahlisa James took a selfie with me and Superman Tyson (who I raced with at the Vegas TM last year and who went on to do WTM) was there too but not racing after getting hit by a car a few weeks ago.  Jessie who also did WTM would be racing with her crew though.  They both have such can do magic personalities.  Their crews are Godsends.  A few of the die hards who had raced that morning were visible from were I set up my gear on a table outside the main tent which seemed crowded.  Deanna Brasz, John Lee and the Brit Charlie Boher to name a few. A dozen more familiar faces stopped by to chat as I set up my gear and nutrition. Nick, Kenny, Worlds Toughest Podcast’s Will Hicks and others I should mention because they are so cool.   I was going to go light.  I had a 2mm O’Neil Wetsuit top, a shorty and a neoprene hood standby for warmth.  For food I had a six pack of chocolate Ensure, 5 baby food squeeze bags in banana flavor, a gallon of water, a can of Kill Cliff and two Cokes for emergency only.  I also had a bag of gummy bears and a half eaten Kind Bar.  I have trouble eating when I race so I rely heavily on liquid nutrition.  I also had a windbreaker and an extra head light and wool beanie hat still in my kit bag.  I only wore shoes (Salomon 3’s that I would dispose of after because they were so thrashed), compression socks (still damp from Tougher), 2XL Compression tights and long sleeve compression top under my pretty blue Toughest Bib.  I checked my headlamp worked and thought for the first time that evening Ok maybe this wasn’t so bad.  I could hear Coach summoning us to the start line so like a lemming I went.

Let’s do this

When you go into the start line corral that is pretty much the point of no return. It usually happens around 11:15-11:45 depending on what country or state you are in).  It starts with loud thumping music (Think AC/DC and or Irish music at high speed); then Sean comes out, then Coach, then Eli with the Rules.  And then the American Flag anthem and then a moment of silence and then the Toughest Pledge.  The last two minutes time stands still and Sean uses it to carve out every positive message he can before the NASA 10 second countdown and the mad rush to get out of the starting gate as if someone yelled “Fire!”  I switched my headlight on and did a couple of bunny hops as if-to warm up.  One last  deep breath and then moved out into the fray hoping for the best.  

And they are off

Despite being one of the top 25 out past the start line in the next mile I would be passed by what felt like 100-200 gung ho Muddders in onesies and twosies.  Some were kind enough to recognize me and say "Hi Mark" and not cruel enough to say "Almost there!" or worse "Are you ok?"  I was on conserve and don't blow up or slip in the ankle deep muck mode. By mile two I was shuffling and then half walking half running. Having done most of the course earlier I knew what was coming.  I just forgot where things were and didn't know if the obstacles would actually stay closed the full hour or not.  We have been tricked in the past and I wasn't going to keep my hopes up for a completely free lap.   Muddy single track trail with roots galore and low hanging thorny branches opened up to a creek crossing and then grass and then started all over again and in the first mile we were already wading through a creek and completely wet.  Fortunately the water was still surprisingly warm.  It was the getting out of the water that gradually took its toll and caused an unpleasant chill.  It was going to be a slow first lap.  Despite it being relatively flat, compared to past courses, there was enough rise and fall in the trail to slow things up.  The mud was so thick it was easy to slip and though the night I must have taken a dozen falls each one feeling like I was hyperextending a knee or throwing out a hip.  Things were moving at about a 10 minute pace and then Mud Mile hit and the it went to 20 minute pace.  It was clear this first lap would be an hour plus for me.

Lap Two, Three, Four, Five and Not Six

I had finished the first lap in 1:02 somewhat disgusted in myself.  We had done a few mud obstacles but in my mind I should have gone sub 40.  In my mind I should also have a pet unicorn but I don’t.   I did a quick pit stop to take off my wet compression top.  I was warm so I donned  compression arms, slugged down an Ensure and went back out.   It was a longer stretch of trail then before when we hit Quagmire and the same with Kiss of Mud, Lumber jacked and the tame Ladder From Hell.  In fact, as the night went on, it was evident that the terrain itself was much more difficult than the 20 obstacles.  Just the creek traverse to Devils Beard was a scene from a Vietnam jungle movie.  Several of the loops I found myself alone in this section and it was a surreal OMG moment (this from a former Navy SEAL too!)  Pitfall was more mud but with various depths so I just got down and swam it just like I would Creek Crusade because it was faster to swim then trudge through.  Cage Crawl was one of my favorites as I just lay back, reached overhead and pulled on the cage wire and tried to stay as horizontal as possible and just pull and float.  I think I held my breath through this so I didn’t get water up my nose.    Another mile later I was at Just the Tip and despite studying the U-tube videos on how to do this obstacle (I think the guy is a pro rock climber) I got to the second black peg and slipped off. As for  the dumb trailer hitches I can't grab those for shit.  I started my watch to time the penalty lap and found I could do it just under two minutes so that would be my plan.  Fail and then run.  At Funky Tough they had changed the standard monkey bars to vertical 12-inch long silver bars at 30-degree angles.  There was a block of wood in between that supposedly had a lip underneath to reverse hold but I never made it that far.  Into the water I went each time.   Timing that penalty loop I was just under: 2 again.  Blockness I remembered from that morning was easy to do solo. 

Slow spinning Blockness

It was not easy to do if two jumped at the same time however which I found out.  Berlin Walls were easy peasy and Mud Mile had started to degrade in such a way that there were foot and handholds to go over solo also.  Rope a Dope opened much later, I want to say around 3AM.   The trick is to use your hands and your feet although that heavy weight on the bottom of the rope makes it difficult to do a standard rope climb.   One guy tried to get away with just leaping across citing that he had done that earlier at the Tougher race.  Fortunately the lifeguard called him back for a do over.   I would complete this obstacle three times without fail.  Shortly after Kong Infinity was up but we had the choice of doing regular Kong, which I did.  I use my whole arms in the rings, which hurt, but I never failed this way.  At around 5am they made us all do the new Infinity version, which I failed twice.  Everest was a skip for me.  I headed right to the sand bag carry, which I could do again under 2.  I’m sure some just went up and over no problem or figured out how to use the thicker than last year rope but I didn’t.  At 5am they changed the route to the Everest 2.0 only version, which was a lot harder.  You had to at least attempt it before heading to the sandbag carry.  I was humbled to see Kiris Mendoza also fail and take to the sand bag.  I think he probably did his carry under 1 minute !   Arctic remained pretty tame all night.   They never seemed to add more ice to it and gone were the tunnels or slides from past years.  It was simply get in, duck under some wire and get out.  As the night went on you could manage it without getting the top of your head wet.  Still though I was glad I put on my 2mm O’Neil wetsuit top around 4am.  I didn’t want to get too cold and slow down.  Despite it being on the map there was no EST (thank God!).  Happy Ending had long frayed ropes that made the traverse up easy.  The first couple laps had cascading water like Augustus Gloop (which I miss sooooo much!).  The slide down the back side seemed to nail my tail bone each time and on my fourth lap my head lamp which I had placed around my neck wacked me on the forehead drawing blood.  Kailey and Coach were both kind enough to point out that I was bleeding again and several Mudders were kind enough to let me know that I had torn a hole in my 2XL compression tights on the left butt cheek.  Ah for modesty.  Actually I was trying to compete with Chris Betcher’s wardrobe a few TMS back! 

Eureka

At 7:34 I finished my 5^th lap in 1:29.  I did the mental (loser math) and despite it being light out and warming up opted out of going back out for a final lap.  I had pushed hard last year at Toughtest Northeast and made it witih: 40 seconds to spare and was nowhere near that kind of shape now.  In hindsight I should have gone for it.  This would be the first of 7 Toughests where I did not qualify as a Contender  (they changed the Contender qualifying status from 25 to 30 this year for men).   Shoulda.  Coulda.  Woulda.  Whatever.

Finishing off with a Kill Cliff

Highlights

Starting and finishing a race I swear I didn’t think I would even start that night.

Chatting for 6.6 seconds with both Lindsay (about our dogs) and Ryan (about the Holy Grail bonus) at two different moments in time and only because I couldn’t keep up as they whizzed by.

Running with Tex Ritter for a few miles like we were on a Sunday fun run.

Seeing Sue, Deanna and Shark Bait and Kenny Ng achieve Contender status for Worlds.

Putting Superman Tyson in a chokehold after the first lap.

Hearing Coach say nice mostly true things about me.

Feeling better as the night went on.

Excellent racecourse.

Fair penalties per failed obstacle.

Low Points

Parking fees

Plenty of 50 Mile Patches on site that no one earned but no 25 Mile Patches (they will be sent in the mail!)

Discontinuation of the Toughest event location finisher patches:  i.e..  South, West, etc.  WTF?

Changing from Everest regular to the higher version and Kong to Kong Infinity version.