OCD FOR OCR

2017 is a year I am working on some of myself and I am not going to be racing nearly as often, but I made it a priority to make it to at least one of the Toughest Mudder events this year and I am very grateful I did.

• Registration and Festival:

Registration opened around 9:30 PM and considering how many racers were already on-line, the lines moved at a decent pace. The festival was set-up for both the regular Tough Mudder race weekend and Toughest Mudder. We were provided a staging tent with a small, but adequate area to keep our gear.

• Pre-race MC:

As always, Tough Mudder MC Sean Corvelle was amazing and inspired and fired up all of us that were eager to get racing.

• The Course:

The course was about a five-mile loop, unless racers couldn’t complete an obstacle and had to do one of the additional penalty sections of the course, depending on how many of those sections you had to do could make it more like a six-mile course.

The course began with a long sprint and eventually made its way to “Mud Mile 2.0”, which was built with very deep mud pits and high mounds that were very difficult to get either a hand or foot grip and required teamwork to get through the entire obstacle. In my opinion, this obstacle was the one obstacle for some of us slower racers that could stop us from completing five laps, because it took time to get through it while getting help and helping other racers (which some didn’t do and that pissed me off), plus at least for me, this obstacle got me breathing heavy and I needed a few minutes once completing it to recover while I walked up the rolling hill (just after it) and made my way to the next obstacle “Skidmarked”. Skidmarked started out nice and easy, but became more difficult with every lap, I was fortunate to always arrive with other racers and if any of us needed a helping hand, we helped each other get up and over the obstacle.

The course continued on and looped around and down another rolling hill and made its way to “The Block Ness Monster”, which is another obstacle that requires and rewards good teamwork. Most of the night/laps, I was fortunate to arrive to this obstacle with others and we worked as a team and able to get each block rotating and all of us up and over them. The next obstacle was “Pyramid Scheme”, which included hanging ropes that made it much easier to climb up the slippery incline. The course now continued on for a brief sprint and back over to the festival area and up next was “Everest 2.0”, I never seemed to arrive at this obstacle with a lot of other racers, but I had decided prior to the race that I was going to do the penalty section for this one because it made more sense to avoid this obstacle and not risk being injured.

The trail exited the festival area and up next was “Hangtime”, which is the new version of “King of the swingers” that began with a leap to a hanging bar with handle bars and then a Tarzan swing to a hanging cargo net that racers had to grab on to and then traverse across and finished with a rope traverse that racers needed to grab onto and traverse down. This new version really does test both your physical and mental abilities, especially after multiple laps and at 4 am. After a short trail run, up next was “Ladder To Hell”, which was a nice and easy obstacle. The only issue I personally had, was I let my mental guard down while climbing down and my gripped slipped and I almost fell from near the top. After another brief sprint (through more rolling hills) it was time for “Augustus Gloop”, which was the first time I had encountered this obstacle. Per the instructions (provided by the obstacles volunteer) on a white board (he drew a stick figure with instructions), I placed my back on one side of the slotted wood (much like a ladder) and climbed up through the black plastic drainage pipe using the other exact same slotted wood just like it was a ladder. The obstacle was nice and easy all night and also provided a much appreciated chance to have cold water showered on me and cool me down!

The course continued for one of the longer sprints up and down more rolling hills and eventually came to “Artic Enema The Rebirth”, this new version of Artic Enema began with a fun slide down a black plastic drainage pipe into cold (wasn’t as cold as I expected) water that was covered up with what I think was a black tarp and required racers to stay low and just prior to exiting the dark tank, go under a wooded boarded section that required racers to put their entire bodies under the cold water. A short distance ahead was “Funky Monkey The Revolution”, which started with the typical monkey bars section and then a section of rotating round hanging bars to traverse across without falling in the water.

The next obstacle was “Stage 5 Clinger”, which started with a ladder wall climb up and then once at the top, a monkey bars traverse to the edge and then racers had to climb up onto the top of the hanging platform (racers just monkey barred across the underbelly). This obstacle had no padding on the ground and intimidated me because if you lost your grip on the monkey bars section or while trying to climb up on to the ledge, you would fall onto the ground. I feared that a fall could cause me a lot of pain for the rest of the event. One positive regarding this obstacle was that racers could use any of the structures support beams for assistance with completing it.

A short sprint ahead came “Balls To The Wall”, which was a climb up (with the help of a rope and wooden notches attached) a wall and then a climb back down. This wasn’t so bad most of the laps, but the ropes got wet and slippery and between wearing gloves, my hands getting a little cold, and losing some grip strength throughout the night, it became more difficult in the later stages of the night just prior to daybreak. Up next was the always fun and very unique obstacle “Operation”, which is a lot like the game, racers have to stand in ankle deep water and take a long stick and place it through a small round hole that is wrapped with tin and try and remove a little hanging ring from a back wall without dropping it. If the stick touches the outer ring of the circle, racers got a good strong electric zap and risked dropping the ring and failing the obstacle. The next few obstacles included two easy crossings through muddy water “Quagmire” and “Pitfall” and the always fun and squishing “Birth Canal”.

At this point the course made its way up one last rolling hill and to the last obstacle, “Kong”, which was a monkey traverse across hanging monkey rings. Just passed Kong was the finish line and all night and day MC Sean Corvelle was at that finish line to encourage, inspire, and hug racers as we crossed it.

• The Bling:

The bling included a unique Toughest Mudder finisher shirt, a unique Toughest Mudder head band, a patch and depending on how many official miles’ racers completed, a mile’s patch.

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

The course was well designed and as always, all the obstacles were well-built, safe and secure, the staff and volunteers were amazing all night and morning providing smiles and encouraging us. Spending time with Sean Corvelle is always worth the price of admission. I am happy to have added another unique and special Tough Mudder headband to my growing collection.

Was this as hard as the World’s Toughest Mudder, I participated in 2015 in Vegas? In my opinion, no, but it was still an amazing event that challenged and pushed me and I am not embarrassed to admit that I cried tears of joy on the drive home. I do these kinds of races to remind myself that I used to weigh over 400 pounds and was forced to retire (from law enforcement) due to a massive shoulder injury and now I get to spend some of my weekends racing with the best athletes in the world who almost all go out of their way to say hi to me and make me feel like I belong among them. That is a feeling money cannot buy.

I am rating this 5 out of 5 stars and look forward to my next Toughest Mudder and I am even considering doing World’s Toughest again as well.

Article Written by: Walter F Hendrick (OCRSandy)