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| The Crew (Me, Jeremy Zenon, Joe Zenon & Jessie Zenon) |
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| Fin! |
If you would have asked me 2 days ago what the toughest thing I had ever done was, I would have given you a story of when I was in China in 07 and I contracted a form of Bird Flu and lay on a dirt floor for 3 days with no medical attention whatsoever convincing myself as to why I shouldn't die! If you ask me that question today, I will tell you the Texas Tough Mudder in Central Texas. This endurance race owned my every bit of dignity, all of my energy and came close to consuming my mind, but I was tough, and so were these guys pictured. Let me say this before I go on, I was struck with 10,000 volts of electricity... in the face... twice (more on that later). The Tough Mudder is 10-12 mile event with anywhere from 24-27 obstacle courses. This particular set was 10 miles and 27 obstacle courses. The event was held at Cycle Creek Park in what I think is Bastrop, TX, a middle of nowhere place between Houston & Austin. The first obstacle was pretty indicative of what they say, we crawled through 6" of muddy water with barbed wire less than 1' from our heads, all the while military personnel yelling at us to get moving and get out, not so bad. Stage 2 crawl through 3' of water but this water had buckets of ice added to it, then you had to swim underneath a barrier (left my skin burning for several minutes). The 3rd stage was my personal favorite I think, we had to jump off of a 30' ledge in to a pool of muddy water (you can view event photos
here) thankfully the many dead catfish in the water were there to dampen the impact of the water. The stages carried on accordingly, with wooden walls to climb all getting taller as you conquered the one before. There was one in particular stage that was most weird, I think it was at mile 6 we had to remove our shoes to trudge through waste deep black mud, this mud would pull you further and further down with every step, about 25' of frustration and agony on the quads, it was shortly thereafter my cramps in my legs kicked in. There were underground tunnels, water stages with tunnels, all with dead fish in them. It was a simple walk through water that both of my quads tightened up and every step was more painful than the next. The log carry stage burned my shoulders and forearms and guess what stage was next, monkey bars. The monkey bars stage was interesting it was the only one I couldn't complete, I fell. The bars angled up at a 30 degree angle to a 35' crest, the catch was, every other one was greased or buttered, and the bars weren't stationary, they rolled in your hands (a true test of strength). From mile 6 to mile 8 there were no obstacles, just terrain, it was nice I made some great time running with a group of marines at a pretty descent pace although there were loads of hills, we pushed on in a very marine-esque fashion.
One of my favorite aspects of the Tough Mudder is the comradeship they implore. I remember one stage I helped approximately 8 people over a wall before I went over, when I arrived at the next stage all those guys were there and waiting to help me up a 35' quarter pipe ramp that had been oiled. Tak, a Japanese fellow that was most helpful found me again a mud hill that was proving very difficult for me to mount. He stationed his leg for me to jump from his thigh, and as fate would have it, 2 miles later we meet again, and I am stabilizing a tight rope for him to walk across this wire over dead fish filled ice water (pain, pain, pain)! It was constant, no man or woman left behind, and these folks took it seriously. You spend a lot of time waiting in lines to undergo the next obstacle so you see how long some folks sit at the end and help people, people they don't know, people they will never see again, but we were all committed and all committed to finish and no one was going to let any fail. One of the final stages me and another guy spent about 20 minutes helping people get done to walk a cargo net, it was a difficult and scary drop to the net, and the possibility of getting your foot loose through a whole was high. We never complained, only encouraged.
There were 100 yards left after the cargo net stage, 100 yards to victory and my orange head band. There was only one thing standing in my way, 20' of dangling wires, and some of them carried 10,000 volts of electricity. Now, 10,000 isn't a lot, but after 3:30 hours on a course, physically and mentally exhausted and the finish line so close, this was not in my book of things to enjoy. I got my wits about me and sprinted through, the ground dropped from beneath me, mud filled my mouth, water overtook my vision then it hit me, I had been shocked and what better place than in the face (the cheek) it woke me up, I was back on my feet, the ground disappeared again, "more mud? damn!"
Shock! "Again?!" I was done, the wire were behind me I was lain on the ground in shock, I had done it, I had actually completed the Tough Mudder. I rose to my feet and was greeted by smiles and cheers and of course, my coveted head band.
On the way out we were served, water, banana's, shot blocks and beer!
