{"id":1288,"date":"2025-01-07T04:37:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T04:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nocrappyexcuses.com\/?p=1288"},"modified":"2025-01-07T04:37:55","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T04:37:55","slug":"into-the-mud-iii-worlds-toughest-mudder-11-9-11-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nocrappyexcuses.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/07\/into-the-mud-iii-worlds-toughest-mudder-11-9-11-24\/","title":{"rendered":"Into the Mud III (World’s Toughest Mudder) (11\/9-11\/24)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cOne day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.\u201d \u2015 Jack Kerouac  The simple words are “Thank you”.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Chicago and Pittsburgh, I thought I was ready for Tampa (WTM).  While I was right in some regards, I was wrong in others.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going in, I believed that I had a solid plan to hit both an initial goal (30 miles) and a stetch goal (50 miles).  This included having access to a Pit crew, guides, and support crew.  It also included having what I thought was the proper nutrition in place for 24 hours on course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After going through registration, talking through the Adaptive Athlete parts with Evert, and getting everything set up, we were ready to go.  Sean did his normal and amazing pump up intro, and then we were off.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of my vision, I relied on my guides for footing on the terrain.  As I learned during the first lap, this was not a course that I would be able to run.  This was because of multiple roots and holes, along with sand and other pitfalls.  So before we even finished the first 5 mile loop, I knew the stretch goal of 50 most likely would not happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While most of the obstacles were closed on the first loop, I did have to tackle Mudderhorn.  With the help of the Men of Mudderhorn, I made it up onto the cargo part of the net and then over.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After about 15 minutes in the Pits, we headed out for the second lap.  By this point, it had become overcast, which made it harder for me to see.  Also during this lap, a lot more obstacles had opened.  Prior to it, we had agreed to do the lap without the harness and see how it went.  While it wasn’t always “comfortable”, I made it over all of them with help from the team and others.  Pyramid Squeeze was probably the hardest of these, as the cargo net kept you low (instead of being able to get leverage from standing).  And getting my shorts caught in the knot anchor at the top was a lot concerning — thankfully one of the team was able to get me disconnected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it was definitely the most scary obstacle for me, Shawshanked was also one of the most fun obstacles of the lap.  As a brief description, you’re crawling under barbed wire and then into a tube, from which you dive out of into water.  Being a bigger guy, I wasn’t able to get the right positioning within the tube to jump out forward.  So having to trust that I would clear the tube and hit the water properly was a lot.  The night platform diving from 5 years ago when I couldn’t see the water helped with the fear though, and I made it through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sun set during this lap, which made some of the later obstacles (including the second trip on Mudderhorn) more difficult.  But after 20-30 minutes in the Pit, we haded out for the 3rd lap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By this point, all of the obstacles were open.  There were some that I was able to do (like the longer Kiss of Mud, the improved Cry Baby, Cage Crawl, Arctic Enema, Sand Jacked, and others).  But there were a few I had to bypass or take the penalty at for safety reasons.  It was during this lap that “Energizer Bunny 2.0” (aka Kali) started to emerge.  That will come into play later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After finishing the third lap, we made a substantial pit for real food.  This was where I made a mistake with nutrition.  I thought that Raumen would be great on several levels.  However, as I found out on Kiss of Mud, it was not.  I spent most of the obstacle burping up the meal.  Once I made it through and was OK, the rest of the lap was similar to lap 3.  The main differences were that the gator didn’t check in on us (I guess 1 AM was after its bedtime), Energizer Bunny 2.0 did work, my left knee became very painful, and Ian dumped between one and two full pallates of ice into Arctic Enema.  As in Pittsburgh, I slipped at the exit and fell back in because of all the ice.  But a big difference between 75 to 80 in the sun during the day (Pittsburgh) and 69 in the dark (Tampa).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After completing lap 4, I was cold and disheartened.  The crew helped me to get to the fire and I also put on my jacket.  It still took a good 30 – 40 minutes to get the core temperature back.  My left leg was hurting so badly that I didn’t know how I would get lap #5 in.  It was at that point someone from the Orphan Tent (sorry that I’ve forgotten their name) offered a massage.  They said ‘this is going to hurt, but it will help’, and they were right.  Also, one of the team helped to fix the insole, which was slightly bunched up (and may have contributed).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after sunrise, we headed out for lap 5.  It was extremely painful, especially as both legs started hurting by mile 23.  I know that lap 5 would not have been completed without EB 2.0. \ud83d\ude42  When I crossed the finish line, Sean was there to greet me.  Brittany, who was one of my guides at Pittsburgh, was also there.  You can see the finish video here.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it wasn’t perfect or even as intended, I did complete 25 miles.  I am extremely grateful to everyone who helped me to make it to that point.  Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next day at the awards brunch, I was presented with the Accomplishment Community Award.  I am grateful to those who nominated me and supported me for it.  You can see the full awards ceremony on The OCR Report’s YouTube channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there were challenges throughout it, I believe I had a successful year.  Between 2 hour crab walks, an extra loop, and on course struggles, there was a lot that went “wrong”.  But there was also a lot that went right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the course of these races, I went from needing to have the harness to even try a climbing obstacle to being relatively OK doing them without it.  And I know that I’ll continue to get more comfortable the more obstacles I do.  I also found a way to work through the mental challenges of the courses.  These races may start as physical, but they turn mental the further you get into them.  As I mentioned above, 18+ hours in (around mile 23) became a mental game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because Pittsburgh has been scratched, and WTM is in the UK, Chicago will be my only Tough Mudder weekend in 2025.  But I hope to see a lot of you out there!  If you want to save on your race entry as you join me in Chicago, or you do any other 2025 race, check my IG bio for the current discount code!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOne day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.\u201d \u2015 Jack Kerouac  The simple words are “Thank you”.   After Chicago and Pittsburgh, I thought I was ready for Tampa (WTM).  While I was right in some regards, I was wrong in others.   Going in, I believed that I had … Continue reading Into the Mud III (World’s Toughest Mudder) (11\/9-11\/24)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nocrappyexcuses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nocrappyexcuses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nocrappyexcuses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nocrappyexcuses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nocrappyexcuses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1288"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nocrappyexcuses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1290,"href":"https:\/\/nocrappyexcuses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1288\/revisions\/1290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nocrappyexcuses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nocrappyexcuses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nocrappyexcuses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}