Tough Mudder Run Part 2, The Shock

Fortunately not long after passing the first mile marker there was a water station. I had originally thought this was a bit of a waste when I originally saw the course map, but now I understand. You are so fatigued from the obstacles you really need a short break. I grabbed a water and a banana, scarfed them down and proceeded on...


Berlin Walls #1

The next obstacle was called Berlin Walls. At this point in the run I had almost completely forgotten everything I had read about the course map over the previous week because I was just so tired. Already! So I didn't realize that this was only the first set of walls. The second set came later. However, these walls were about eight feet tall and all you had to do was get over them by any means. Fortunately I was able to run, jump and scale them pretty easily, but you had to be careful coming back down on the other side because it was an eight foot drop. I definitely didn't want to injure my ankle or pull a muscle so I was careful about it.

Hold your Wood

The next obstacle really surprised me. It was a pure strength exercise. You had to haul a very dense piece of wood approximately half a mile, some of that through water. I picked up what seemed like a reasonably sized log, but it probably weighed about 35 to 40 pounds. I will admit right before I went in the water I had to set it down for a second, but I soon resumed and trudged through the lake with that damn log. Once I finally was able to put it down I noticed there were a few people washing off their feet in a shallow part of the lake. I decided this would be a good idea because I had obtained some rocks in my shoes. While I was washing out my shoes I noticed a man with a backpack full of beer that he had been carrying! Soon he became very popular as everyone was wanting one. Looking back, I think he was just glad to be rid of some of the weight on his back.

Dirty Ballerina

Next up was Dirty Ballerina. Here you have to jump over eight chasms, each four feet wide with progressively less space in between them. Many people did this without stopping, but I decided to take my time and was able to get through it without much problem. Unfortunately I had forgotten what lay ahead of me.

Electric Eel.

This was the obstacle I was dreading the most. It was just like Kiss of Mud, but with low hanging live electrical wires instead of barbed wire. Some of these wires had a voltage as high as 10,000 volts. Now you may think that is an exaggeration, but trust me, it isn't. Because it isn't a consistent current and only pulses the voltage can be very high without being fatal. Thankfully I didn't take a lot of time to sit and think about this obstacle I just dove right in. In hindsight I should have crawled much, much faster. I caught one on my arm that wasn't bad at all, another on my back that was a little muscle jarring, but then near the very end one clipped me on the head. And it was a big one, I don't know if it was the 10,000 one or not, but I felt like I had been kicked in the head with a steel-toed boot. I scrambled out as fast as I could and took a minute to recover. It is honestly a sensation I will never forget. I can remember what it felt like even now, as I type this. This was probably the single worst thing that happened to me all day. After resting for a minute and gathering my thoughts, I moved on.

End Part 2.

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