Tough Mudder Pennsylvania

It's Saturday morning.  3:30 in the morning to be exact.  My alarm is going off but it doesn't matter, I've been up all night anyway.  Quick shower, some coffee, strap on my Salomon Speedcross 3's and I'm out the door on the way to Pocono, PA.  I fire up the playlist on my iphone and 3 hours and 200 miles are quickly in my rearview. I pull into Pocono raceway with a few hundred other early mudders and we hop the bus to Pocono Manor.  A quick check of the weather on my phone, 31 degrees farenheit.  Yikes.  Off the bus at 8:00 AM, perfect for an 8:20 start time.  After the usual Tough Mudder routine of picking up my bib and having my bib number written on me, dropping off my bag at back check, and some quick stretches, I'm off. 

The obstacles were the usual Tough Mudder fare.  "Kiss of Mud" was the first obstacle.  In this obstacle you "Army crawl" in the mud under barb wire.  Except this time the mud was frozen.  This would be the biggest challenge for the first few miles.  After a jump into a dumpster full of ice, I shook uncontrollably for at least thirty minutes and couldn't feel my hands for about an hour.  This concerned me because I really wanted to get across the "Funky Monkey" successfully to keep my perfect record going.  There were two obstacles I had never seen before.  One was the "Electric Eel" the other was the "Rings".  Electric eel is basically another army crawl, but in a pool of water, under dangling electrified wires that shock you as you pass under.  It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I was really excited to do the rings.  The rings are just metal rings hanging above a pool of ice cold water.  I felt my upper body strength was an advantage here but misjudged the last ring and almost implanted my face into the ledge on the other side.  Shortly after I breezed through "Electroshock Therapy" in front of a crowd of cheering spectators, gathered my beer, headband, and was on my way back to the truck.

This Tough Mudder weekend was to be much different than past event weekends.  Sunday I would be attempting to run the course again.  This time with a group of friends that met online months beforehand and only a few of us had actually met in person.  So after a quick shower and nap I headed over the New Jersey state line to meet up with everyone.  First up was Jen, Rich, and Jason.  After Jason was introduced to me he was only called "Sheetz" so that's how I'm going to refer to him. We headed over with Jen's hilarious father to get some dinner.  Jen told me a few times that this was her local watering hole and they did not disappoint.  The bacon was amazing, the beer cold, the dead animals on the wall were plentiful.  After some great food was had, and some beers guzzled, Tracy, Matt, and Brian showed up.  Followed not too long after by Jeff, Tim, and Jess.  It really was something special meeting everyone in person and feeling like we were all just old friends meeting up for a night at the pub.  The time quickly passed and we soon realized we needed to get to bed soon if we were going to do this thing in the morning.  Tracy passed out some magic elixir she called "Coconut Water", we drank them and all headed back to get some rest so we could meet up again nice & early.

We pull into Pocono Raceway and start running into all our new "real-life" friends.  We were joined by some of Jen's amazing family along with Jeff's amazing family that were there for support and to photograph some of the madness.  After another quick bus-trip to the event-site we met up with Jim & Kristy.  Jim had also run the day before and opted for a double-dose of insanity, but today his wife Kristy was joining him.  We grabbed our bibs and had our numbers written on us.  The girl writing on my arm looked up when she saw the faded number from the day before, "Umm, were you here yesterday?? Man, you crazy".

After some group shots, and some stretching we were soon on our way.  Up over the wall to the start line and the MC starts getting us fired up.  What Jen didn't realize is we told the MC it was her birthday.  Picture about 500 people close together on their knees singing "Happy Birthday" to you right beofre you go off on your first Tough Mudder.  That's something that can never be tainted and you'll never forget.  Then the national Anthem and we're off!! The day seemed like it was going to be warmer than the day before, and it was, but the wind was crippling.  After the first mile or two we decided it may be best for the group to split up and continue at a pace we were each comfortable with.  So Jen, Rich, Sheetz, Jeff, and I headed off.  We hung together for a couple miles until Jeff decided it was beer & cigarette time.  We had also picked up a guy by the name of Pete.  Pete was a New York Firefighter that was running solo and ended up staying with us the whole event.

The four of us and Pete continued together through the obstacles, dealing with extreme cold and wind, and bad muscle cramps.  We hit Everest in the midst of them dumping canola oil down it and Sheets was pretty well oiled up. 

Then came Electric Eel.  I got shocked much worse on Sunday then Saturday and the rest of the group agreed saying they could hear the shocks.  This seemed to trigger muscle cramps in Jen's leg and in my upper traps.  We powered on as we were about three-quarters the way through the course at this point.  I got to the monkey bars and assumed it would be a breeze for me, as it had been in the past.  One grip of the bar I realized all that canola oil they dumped onto Everest had made it to the bars.  The bars were extremely slippery and I thought I was going to fall a few times, but made it across.  Next up was the mud mile and we were all pretty cold & miserable.  Well that was until Rich turned to tell Sheetz "look out for that ledge" as Sheetz stepped off and got a faceful of mud.  This made Jen laugh hysterically for awhile and we forgot how cold it was for a bit.  Next up was the rings and I was determined to make it across, which I did.  Sadly in "Twinkle Toes" I fell off the beam and got wet.  I have yet to make it across, but this was the furthest I've made it yet.

So we were shaking uncontrollably, possibly hypothermic, but we were almost to the finish so we pushed on.  Before we knew it we were passing through electroshock therapy.  It was quite exciting seeing my new friends collect their first of many Tough Mudder headbands.  We did our best to get warmed up, hopped the bus back, and said our goodbyes.  We'll be saying "Hello" again before we know it I'm sure.  Lifelong friendships were solidified on that cold April day.

Thanks to all my new friends!! I can't wait to see you all again soon!!!