I left off at us starting the race. Tough Mudder for those coming in a bit late ;)
We had to hike up a bit for the starting point, because the first challenge of the race was the "Braveheart Charge" where you run screaming down the mountain, through freezing rain created by snowblowers (that weren't really blowing snow, just large amounts of freezing wet stuff), up and around some smaller hillocks, and into the first obstacle. The "Boa Constrictor" which were 8 culvert tubes side by side, that you had to crawl through, at the halfway point your tube was separated by the 2nd set by a water pit with netting hung above it so you had to stay low, and then up into the second tube.
From there the race only became more insane and challenging... I have a list of all the obstacles, but as I look through it I realize that they aren't always listed in the order in which we went through them. And looking back, at points my memory is kind of hazy due to freezing my butt of, the insanity that I was putting my body and mind through, and at some point I'm sure I was battling mild hypothermia but I was just too darn stubborn to admit defeat. Plus I made an awesome running, TM buddy for life with Andres, and we kept each other going through the insanity that was TM SoCal Frozen Sunday.
I'll list the obstacles, and if I can remember what it consisted of I'll write a brief description.
1. Braveheart Charge - already explained that was the screaming start from the start line down the side of the mountain.
2.Boa Constrictor - culvert tubes that we had to crawl through, along with cold water and what was supposed to be mud, but was more gravel and sand.
3. Kiss of Mud (so out of order here) - there was barbed wire about 18" off the ground, and you had to crawl underneath it. It really should have been called "Kiss of Pea Gravel and Sand" because at our event there wasn't a lot of mud, just water and gravel... I think thats where I got the nice scrape on my hip bone, but I was so cold that I honestly don't know where it came from.
4. Gauntlet - This involved running down the side of the mountain, over hay bails, through treacherous footing (mud/water slick shale), snow blowers(wet frozen stuff, not really snow, yet not rain) and a few patches of snow.
5. Chernobyl Jacuzzi - One of the most AWFUL obstacles. They built 3 free standing wooden boxes... I think they were 15 feet long by 10 feet wide by at least 6 feet deep, but I'm not really sure on the dimensions... Filled with water, and roughly 200 lbs of ICE CUBES. Halfway across the box there was a board that was level with the water, the only way to get past this board was to completely submerge yourself under the freezing water and then try to swim to the other side, and hoist yourself out of the freezing water - this was one of the many times I was grateful for the basic tenant of the race in which it boils down to "No one left behind" because without their help I wouldn't have been able to get up and out of this "jacuzzi".
6. Devil's Beard - I honestly have no idea what this was... I blame the freezing cold and my mind shutting down just to make it through.
7. Log Bog Jog - pretty self explanatory, this was after the Chernobyl Jacuzzi. Down the side of a hill on the mountain, running over, around, and/or under logs placed down this path.
8. Evil Knievil - we had to run UP a half pipe. You know, the ramp that you'll see snowboarders use sometimes that launches them up into the air. Not the easiest thing ever, one of my most fantastic bruises on my arms was from this - again without the help of fellow TM'ers I wouldn't have made it. I got up the half pipe just fine, but grabbing ahold of that top lip and hoisting my behind up and over it I'm not sure I could have done without help.
9. Hold Your Wood - they had a pile of cut firewood that you had to choose from. There were little itty- bitty pieces up to logs that took teams of 6 to carry. Picking up a medium size piece, I hefted it up the side of the mountain and back down to the pile to deposit it so that they could reuse it for TM'ers following me.
10. Underwater Tunnels - they weren't actually tunnels. In a natural lake they place 3 sets of floating barrels, which you had to swim out to, and then dunk underneath. The water wasn't cold, it was getting soaking wet and then climbing out into the air.
11. Walk the Plank - You climbed up onto a platform, and jumped off into the lake. Nothing crazy but it was about a 15 foot drop, so if you did it wrong it HURT.
12. Ball Shrinker - Yeah, that name is pleasant I know... There were 2 ropes strung across the lake. One high, one low, and you had to try and traverse the length of them without falling into the water. Possible if you were on it by yourself, almost impossible once you got 15+ people all trying to balance on the same rope. I'm sure most events this is actually very cold to get dumped into, but honestly the water was warmer than the air.
13. Mystery Obstacle - This was pretty much impossible. I think out of both days, there was only 1 guy who managed to traverse it without falling in. Basically there were a line of boxes, strung together with one rope going through the center, floating in a pond... The goal was to get across them, balancing trying to keep from falling into the pond... Most people ate it before they got to the 3rd box.
14. Death March - Yepp, as pleasant as it sounds. Scaling the side of the mountain. I felt that I understood what a Mountain goat goes through, climbing up and up and up...
15. Primal Scream - At the summit of the Mountain 7,830 feet up. At this point I couldn't even really yell, but there were some awesome yodels coming from this point.
16. Funky Monkey - Grown up Monkey bars. They took housing trestles, outfitted them with metal crossbars, and suspended them over a shallow pit of water. At this point my hands were so frozen that I made it to the 3rd rung before my grip just gave out.
17. CLIF Hanger - Sponsored by CLIF Bar. Pretty sure this was worse than the Death March. Practically straight up the side of the Mountain (this came before the Primal Scream, but like I said my paper has them out of order).
18. Greased Lightning - A water event that I skipped... I was so cold at this point that I knew if I did it, I'd have to say done and get brought back down the mountain by one of the many emergency vehicles. Think of a GIANT slip and slide, into a huge collecting pond that you then had to climb out of using a rope.
19. Kentucky Derby - Giant logs that you had to jump over, or go under. The thing I was most unhappy about was having to give up my mylar sheet to do it, but Andres was nice and held mine for me so I could wrap back up into it as soon as I was done.
20. Berlin Walls - yepp, walls as in 4 of them... 12 foot walls, that had one little foot hold about 2.5 feet off the ground, and one little 3 inch notch at about 9 feet. Once again definitely a team event. There were a few guys, like Andres, who were spiderman enough to scale it on their own - me on the otherhand, I was so beyond thankful for the help that I got.
21. Mud Mile - self explanatory. Run a mile, through muddy/wet terrain.
22. Mystery Obstacle - No biggie - just crawl under an earlier pass over... I think it was their way of fixing an "intersection" on the course.
23. Electroshock Therapy - Yepp - this was the 2nd most AWFUL obstacle. I don't know how to describe the framework other than it was a lattice work of little yellow and black electrical wires hanging down over a shallow water pit... And running through these little yellow and black wires was 10,000 volts of electricity. Not all of them were live at the same time, and I think they had to be re-charged after each contact. So when I went through it I only got a couple of mild shocks on my calves - but I know for a fact that it dropped people into the mud and water below it... Grown men, and women crying and crawling like babies.
And finally
The FINISH LINE!!!!
I crossed that line, got my BRIGHT orange headband, a new mylar heating sheet, my t-shirt, banana, CLIF Builder Bar, Myoplex protein shake, FRS energy drink, and the BEST beer I've ever had, a Dos Equis.
I did it! I managed to survive the "Frozen Sunday SoCal" Tough Mudder, and I can't wait to run another one... I want to do the NorCal event so badly, but don't think it will happen due to the $$$ that it would take to not only participate but to get there and for housing for a night or two.
Next year though - I will do SoCal again! Now how many people can I convince to go be crazy with me?!
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