2018 has been a year of firsts for me: ran my first marathon, published my first book and last weekend ran my first Tough Mudder! A Tough Mudder is basically an obstacle course for adults scattered throughout a cross-country course. After I ran the Boston Marathon in April, I was so proud and excited that I had completed such a huge athletic task that I wanted to take on another one. A friend recommended the Tough Mudder and I just had to see what it was like. Lets find out how it went!

What is a Tough Mudder

There are 3 variations of the Tough Mudder: 10-mile, 5-mile and 5K. As this was our first time, we decided on the 5K course as a team. For the 5K option there are 10 obstacles spread throughout ranging from climbing over a wall to crawling underneath barbed wire through the mud.

They are all physically challenging, but most of all they all test and promote teamwork. You need your teammates’ support to make it past each challenge.

How to Prepare

For the 5K course, you are technically not required to do any particular training. That being said, we always prefer to be prepared after all it’s a 3 mile race with 10 obstacles (mud pits, walls, and obstacles) sprinkled throughout. Luckily having just trained for the Boston Marathon, so I wasn’t too worried about the running portion. But this was a whole other beast, so I knew I needed the best gear to get the job done. I went to my friends at New Balance and got some amazing Course En Sentier trail shoes for my team. Everyone loved them, the grip and fit were just perfect for a race through the woods and mud.

What is the Race Like

Tough Mudder has a huge following, and after attending one, it’s not hard to see why. They make it fun. It feels like an adult field day. There is a huge athletes villages with sponsors handing out snacks and drinks before and after the race, when you get up to the starting line, there is a whole ceremony that each start time participates in including the national anthem and a pep talk by the regional head. And of course don’t forget the hype up music. After all that, you are on your way. During my 5K race, they got us muddy right away, the first obstacle was literally just a mud pit you had to run through. Next up was another mud pit, except this one had barbed wire about 2 feet off the ground that you had to scramble underneath.

Then after some trail running, we got to several other mud pits and walls to climb over.

Tough Mudder wants people to get over their fears and the obstacles definitely do that! You instantly have to rely on your teammates to succeed and I think that’s why so many companies and groups use Tough Mudders as corporate outings and team building activities.

Lessons Learned

I learned that for some, it is worth wearing long sleeves and leggings.  Although our team uniform was awesome, you can easily pick up some scrapes and bruises. Think about it, most of the obstacles involve crawling on the ground. There are so many rocks, so be prepared for little scrapes all over your knees and elbows, just like when you were a kid.

But it’s totally worth it, for an afternoon outside with your friends, a few little scrapes are totally worth it! Especially when you have New Balance trail running Course En Sentier’s on your feet, you’ll be just fine!