a beautiful blog: Are You Tough Enough

15' jump

Now that I have slowly started recovering from Saturday, and can somewhat begin to comprehend what I actually endured in the 3 hours and 7 minutes, I will share my thoughts.
I have never in my 24 years of living been tested like I was Saturday. Even now, looking back I wonder, how in the hell did I do that? I feel a sense of accomplishment. I sense of pride, and even a little stupid. My pants almost came off during the first obstacle. Not a thing I could do about it. Mud was all over the place. Luckily, the next obstacle was a ditch full of water. ICE WATER. I thought I was gonna die. I starting making noises I had never heard before. I had to be pulled out of the ditch by Taylor. My pants almost came off again. GREAT. Not even 2 miles in and I've shown my hiney to 100's of people. I recover and jog a mile or so, only to be greeted by a rope and a 15' platform to jump from. On my way up the rope? Almost loose my pants for the 3rd time. At this point, I'm really starting to reconsider my apparel. I jump from the platform while whaling my limbs around like a crazy person, land in the freezing cold water, and begin making the weird hyperventilating noises again, climb over a mud wall, and then have to swim 50 yards to safety. WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO?

over the wall thanks to Taylor

We jogged for a while after this, and I had time to pull my pants up, and compose myself. I will say, after this, I had no more trouble with my pants-I pulled those suckers up good. The next 3 miles we crawled under nets, swam through more water, maneuvered over 20' tall hay-bales, and climbed a mud hill while a fire hose was being pointed at us. Berlin wall? Sure. I'll climb that 3x's. There was a mile of mud. We had to carry logs on our backs, and Taylor decided he was going to be lumberjack man on this obstacle and carry the biggest log in the pile. More water, but this time, we had to swim under barrels. I drank a lot of mud water. More climbing up nets, jumping down into water, and of course lots of mud. Instead of running through fire, they built a smokehouse because of a burn ban in the area. Off the hook? Not so fast. Taylor enters first and 2 steps in he vanishes. Ditch full of water with barrels floating in it greets him on the way down. Gotta do it. Taylor helps me out and then we help other teammates out of the hole.

pause for picture after smokehouse

More running, but only 2 miles left! Electric shock therapy was next and thankfully, last. Out of our group, I was one of the last to run through. Scoping out the "best" route to take. Definitely not doing what Taylor did, and that's face plant.
After 19 obstacles and 10+ miles, we couldn't wait to be finished. The Dos Equis we got for finishing was quite the refreshment.
Almost 3 days later, I am bruised from head to toe and still in disbelief. I couldn't have done it without Taylor. He was a beast and really had my back the whole time. Made me love the kid even more than I already do. Go Team!