Tough Mudder

I did Mount Snow, VT in May 2011. I did Tough Mudder when I was really hungover. I had smoked many cigarettes in my hotel bathroom the night before and even set off the hotel-​wide fire alarm to necessitate a hotel-​wide evacuation.
But Tough Mudder was the perfect thing to get me back on my feet 9AM the next morning.
I went with a team consisting of my coworker and his old college buddies (football/​soccer/​rugby athletes). They spent the morning drawing fake mustaches on each other and chugging Redbulls. Other competitors were stretching and putting on their costumes. This was my first mud run and I did not wear my typical Salvation Army halter dress.
I was decently fit, being able to trail/​hill-​run 12 miles or so. I’ve read up on the training articles and watched youtube videos of the obstacles (this is a good one of Electroshock Therapy
). But nothing could prepare me for the cold.
After the initial climb up a blue trail, I was sweating and overheating. After I hit the first water obstacle (boa constrictor), my knees were bleeding from scraping the gravel in the tubes. But I really couldn’t feel it since I was freezing. Love it.
Other things to watch out for are all the steep downhills in mud, especially in the Mud Mile. You can really screw up your ankle if you aren’t careful. Always look for dry spots and spots with vegetation for stability.
It’s also advantageous to wait for people to clear out of the way before you wade into the Ball Shrinker. Else, you are only prolonging your stay on a rope, chest-​deep in a frigid pond.
Walk the Plank was difficult for me because I can barely swim. I had a long deer-​in-​headlights/​introspective period before the whole jumping 15 ft thing. After jumping in the water, I used Dory from Finding Nemo’s quote as a mantra to help me through, «Just keep swimming».
For a lot of the other obstacles, I was grateful that I had teammates to motivate/​call me names for me to push forward. Some obstacles, like the Berlin Walls and Everest, require group help to tackle.
Tough Mudder is about group effort, camaraderie, and a sense of accomplishment. Dominating Electroshock Therapy, then crossing the finish line and receiving your orange headband/​tattoo/​beer makes all of the time you have committed in training worthwhile.

Tough Mudder! The name says it all. Just completed the New Jersey Mudder this weekend. I say completed instead of ran because my friend blew his knee out and had to walk it. Everyone helped him along. The real spirit of the event.
Only got 4 stars because their website is a total trainwreck. Seriously, it makes no sense.
Have Fun

I just finished the tough mudder course in New Jersey this past weekend. The whole event reeks of awesomeness. From the minute I signed up for the challenge (not a race), I changed up my workouts and my body saw great results. The course was challenging and tough and really pushed you to the limits. But the feeling of accomplishment after running through the 12 miles of hell was unbelievable. I did this with one of my closest friends (who is an animal at these types of events) and the challenges, the team work needed, the beer at the end, made this one of the best weekends of my life. And last but not least, the money raised goes to wounded soldiers and their families. What can be better???
In the end, this event really made me appreciate how nice and thoughtful random people can be and how going through crazy challenges with your friends makes you even closer.

Almost gave it 3 stars. I competed in the Wintergreen, VA Tough Mudder. The event operated as well as any race/​marathon I have competed in the world, but I do have a few issues that others will encounter.
I signed up as an individual because a few of my friends weren’t sure if they were going to commit. Of course, after I signed up, they wanted to be on a team. I created a team account on their website and invited everyone. I had to add myself since I originally signed up as an individual. Well, it’s not that easy. If someone is already signed up as an individual or on another team, they need to pay a $ 30 transfer fee (the entry fee is around $ 100). I argued in opposition of such a fee in my case because it was MY team. The Tough Mudder people didn’t budge.
A team member of mine got orders (some of us deploy), so he wasn’t able to compete this time around. He provided the Tough Mudder people his orders, but they still made him jump through hoops only to get a partial refund. This place is supposed to be military friendly, especially considering they are raising money for the wounded warrior project, but they are difficult and inflexible.
The venue at Wintergreen, VA is a good course, but the resort isn’t able to handle all the people and is in the middle of nowhere. There is one road going up to the resort with overflow parking in the valley. There was an accident the morning of my competition, so there were delays. Lodging is limited and it was full shortly after registration first began, so people had to use the overflow parking lot. The wouldn’t let anyone park at the resort or park overnight/​camp at the resort or in the overflow parking lots. They threatened towing and police presence. I don’t understand the Gestapo tactics, but they may want reconsider the location for the VA event.
Everything went off well except the bag pick-​up after the we completed the course. We and 100s (if not 1,000s) of others waited in line for almost 2 hours, so we didn’t get to enjoy the atmosphere or our hard earned beers. Tough Mudder gave everyone a 20% discount for future events, but it expires some time in November and you won’t be able to register for the same event next year for an undetermined amount of time, which pretty much defeats the purpose of having a discount. I like the effort, though. They do have military and national area discounts… for those of us in the DC area.
If you plan to do a Tough Mudder, make sure you and any teammates get into shape by running a significant amount. You’ll need to be able to do pull-​ups and push-​ups because you have to lift yourself up often. It’s no fun if you have a team member who didn’t get ready for the 10 mile mountainous course.

Okay, so here’s my promised update… post tough mudder. As it turns out, I didn’t end up drunk, tatted up and bald, as I feared I may… I was so damn cold after that race that I could barely get the free Dos Equis to my mouth… my hand was shaking/​shivering so much that the beer was flying out of the cup!
The race was amazing. Great energy throughout the day before, during, and after the race. I think there were 8,000 participants that day. I was on a team of 8… it’s encouraged to do it as a group… but even if you don’t there is always a helping hand along the way. We went up and down Mt. Snow about 6 times… I feel like each time got steeper. It started with a warmup… pretty dry run to the top. Then onto 20+ obstacles on crack… a zig-​zag up and down a million times through 6 inches of mud as you’re sprayed down with water… under a cargo net, through water tunnels (with lots of rocks and pebbles to tear up your knees), through tires, back up the mountain… to the first bit of torture… the «ball shrinker»…a 50 foot tight rope walk over 35 degree water. I don’t have balls… but if I did, they absolutely would shrink. Maybe even implode, because DAMN that water was cold! …then on to the mud mile… followed by crawling under barb wire in mud just to be sure you got muddy enough. So at this point, I’m getting a bit tired as I realize I have to run back up the mountain. Oh, but wait… I get to do it while carrying a huge log! Even better! Feel the burn…
Then over hay bales, through more mud, climb up and rappel down a wall, up and over a cargo net… then on to the mystery obstacle… through maple syrup and wood chips («tarred and feathered»). Okay… finally warming up again after the ball shrinker… WHAAAAT??? Jump off a 15 foot plank into 35 degree water again!!! GAAAW! FRRREEEZZZIIINNGG!!! Back up the mountain to warm up… have to keep moving so your joints don’t lock up… back down the mountain and through a mud trail to the underwater tunnels. After that was scaling the ice wall… not as bad as I though it would be. Then back up the mountain, hurdling hay bales as you are hosed down by a cold fire hose. On to running up the motocross slope, then a quick underwater swim through water filled with ice cubes and blue food coloring, then on monkey bars greased with butter, so you will likely fall into the cold water below. Some friends of mine used football gloves for better traction. The Berlin Walls…4 12 foot walls that you definitely needed teamwork to get over… I think that’s where I got all my bruises. After that was 25 chairlift hurdles, through fire, through cargo netting, down a water slide to soak you up right before running through 10,000 volts of live electric wire. It was definitely an interesting feeling to get jolted in the arm and have it run through your body and out your leg!
The end! Wrap me in that tin foil stuff and give me my banana and beer! Meal of champions. I never thought they would compliment each other, but after the tough mudder, anything is possible.
It was a fun, challenging, 10 mile event. I would definitely do it again… but I think my next tough mudder will be in Southern California instead of Vermont :) If you don’t live nearby, definitely rent a house… they are pretty cheap if you get a group together. Then you don’t have to worry about driving up the same day… and you will definitely appreciate the hot shower right after instead of riding back home muddy and cold!

I ran the Tough Mudder with 8 guys from work. The course was an absolute beast at 10 miles, up and down Mt. Snow countless times. There were 28 obstacles on the course. the hardest ones for me were the ones that involved freezing cold water (I mean freezing — 35 degrees) that literally knocked the wind out of me as soon as I was submerged! Insane event with TONS of camaraderie. Luckily I got through the electric shock therapy unscathed! See you next year!

Honestly, I can’t review their race or event, as I haven’t experienced it yet. This is a big fat tough mud-​covered thumbs down to their no-​refund policy — especially because their reply is that they don’t have enough resources to administer the refund, transfer my registration to somebody else or even credit me for a future event.
As much as I want to run through fire, swim under mud and barrel roll under barbed wire on Bear Mountain on a cold Saturday morning and build the more than necessary camaraderie with my buddies, I can no longer participate because of a family emergency with my 90 year old Grandmother, who is much more important to me than donning their kindly offered headband and t-​shirt swag.
I informed them of this and have received multiple emails from Captain Ron in Customer Service, Sophie Lapoo the Community Manager and Alex Trebek the in-​house Counsel. All of their time together is much more than the time needed to administer a quick refund and policy exception.
They might be a policy monster company not looking out for their customers as people, but rather another NYC-​based money hungry machine, but I’m willing to re-​review or change my rating if they can change their stance. We’ll see…