Tough Mudder Colorado

On the drive up to Beaver Creek on Friday night, before the Tough Mudder, Amanda asked me "If you could give your excitement level and nerves values that add up to 10, how would they be distributed?" To put it simply, more excited than nervous, I think I said I'd give excitement a 7  and nerves a 3. We arrived at the Vail Marriott around 8:45, and walked around Vail Village for a while.  Neither of us had been to Vail Village before, so it was really cool to check it out.  We were both pretty pooped from the week, and were ready to crash, so we went back to our room.  When I say room, I actually mean Presidential Suite!  The room was amazing! Vail Marriott was amazing!  Working in hotels, I have seemed to become hyper-critical of every nuance when I stay somewhere, but Vail Marriott was top notch in my opinion.

Sweet view from the deck waking up...

In the morning, we got going, got coffee, got our act together and drove the 10 minutes over to Beaver Creek.  The town was crawling with Mudders.  We hopped the shuttle from the Rodeo lot which brought us into the heart of Beaver Creek to the registration/bag check.  From the shuttle to the registration lines, it seemed everyone was talking about all of these stories from previous events.  Some of them seemed wild and inconceivable.  Tall tales were flying left and right.  I think it is how some people deal with the unknown that lies ahead.  We were in the first wave of Tough Mudder Colorado 2012.  How is it possible to read up on it or go based on previous experiences?  All we needed to know was there.  10 miles, 4,000 feet of elevation gain, 25 obstacles.  To me, it seemed silly to speculate about the course...sometimes it's best to just go in and do the damn thing. I tried to drown out the speculation and get into my own state of mind.  I was confident going in.  I felt conditioned enough with the hiking and running.  I wasn't worried about the elevation gain, or anything that they would throw at us.  Honestly, the biggest fears I had were around the Wall Climbs and the Monkey Bars.  In the back of my head, I kept telling myself  'it's been done before, and you will do it today.'  I have come to appreciate the unknown.  I prefer it.  Whether it's hiking, snowboarding, running, or doing something like the Tough Mudder, the unknown gives me a state of calm.  It's just me and the challenge.  The brain gets wiped clean, and the only thing out there to think about is getting through the task at hand.  All of the worries and stresses of daily life are no longer an issue, and you just focus, focus, focus on getting through something without hurting yourself!  I know it's weird, but I find it relaxing.

Do not mess with dueling Supermans

After the bag check, I met up with my teammates before we headed over to the starting line.  There were 9 of us all together on our team, we all work together at the Hyatt in Denver.  We all had sweet shirts made up.  Superman t-shirts for the fellas and the ladies were sporting the Wonder Woman tanks.  One of the guys had an entire Superman costume on!

Hyatt Ryatt Squad in full effect!

Before we got to the start, they made you climb over a huge wall.  When I hopped off of the wall, I landed wrong on my left foot, and wasn't able to put too much pressure on it without it feeling weird.  That feeling in my foot really worried me.  I tried to work on it stretching it here, there, shaking it out, nothing helped....#sadface.  Once in the start corral, we sat down and got a pep talk from the organizer.  He announced among other things, that the course has been extended an additional 2 miles!  Oh boy, 12 miles.  Our team was amped, and ready to go.  They played the national anthem, and we were on our way...

Crawling thru the mudd

Run and jump up the quarter pipe

Last obstacle...running through live wires.

There was so much going on in the race, it would be a disservice to try to write about it and capture it all.  A little snapshot: The first 7 miles were uphill for the most part with obstacles after every hill.  Winding through Aspen groves and up some of the black diamond trails of Beaver Creek with obstacles every so often.  There were a few parts running where I saw Amanda!  She was everywhere, it was great to see her...gave me an extra charge!  Once we reached the top of the mountain, the family, friends, and support at the top was amazing.  Little kids in orange mohawks (traditional Mudder haircut), families cheering you on, fellow Mudders cheering you on.  We even had a flyby from some F-14 fighter jets who tipped their wings to everyone below.  The crowd cheered wildly, and we were all in awe of how low these guys were flying!! So cool.

Swamp Thing finds a Panda Bear.

We were at the top of Beaver Creek, and now for the descent...about 5 miles to go, and this was going to be the toughest time for me.  My foot was killing me, and my stride had been altered to the point where I was running incorrectly to compensate for the left foot.  The pain in both knees followed as a result.  It was starting to hurt everywhere below the waist.  Our team was awesome.  We ran together, we did the whole thing as a team, and encouraged each other the entire way. It went beyond our team and extended to fellow Mudders and the crowd.  Everyone comes together to make running this gauntlet a possibility.  I don't think I would have finished without everyone else supporting me.  In the end, I fell off the monkey bars, got shocked 3 times, made it over the walls, and had a blast!  I was in so much pain crossing the finish line, and was in such a daze.  The crowd was yelling and screaming for us the entire way.  I found Amanda in the crowd (actually Walter found her for me), and went over to her, and just lost it, and let it all go for a few minutes.  I was so happy to see her at the finish line.  It was such a relief to be done, and I think everyone else running the race felt the same.  I'm not sure how long it took us, and I don't think any of us cared.  We were glad to be done and have our signature headbands, shirts, and beers!

Got tha headband.

This is a race that lived up to the hype.  A lot of races tout themselves as being pretty extreme, and demanding.  Speaking from experience, I can vouch that this one is for sure.  You won't have much in the tank once you cross the finish line, just a lot of great memories and great people to celebrate with!