Vegas Tough Mudder

Finally...after almost eight months since Danny signed up for his first Tough Mudder...it was finally here! And Danny was ready!! We were both really excited, though I was a bit nervous about navigating the spectator route by myself. I wanted to see every bit of Danny conquering this race that I could, but I had NO idea what I was doing! But if Danny could run the thing, surely I could figure out how to spectate it! :)

 Danny had a start time of 9:30 am, but we were sure to get there in plenty of time. I wanted him to help me figure out the spectator route, and we needed time for pictures and the like. We also met up with the rest of the group. The morning started out chilly, with a stiff breeze, but it quickly warmed up. It was going to be the perfect day to get muddy!

Each wave got to have a little pep talk from the emcee. I guess he's been doing this forever, and he's got his little speech down pat. ;) He was upbeat and positive though, and reminded everyone that this was a challenge...and to challenge themselves to do what they didn't think they could do. It was silly, but it was also kind of awesome. It made me wish I was running, too! Even though I was a ways away, I could tell Danny was totally pumped and just dying to get started! And then finally...they were off!

Luckily for me, there were two others from the work groups that were there supporting their significant other, so I wasn't alone in trying to figure out the spectator route. Though honestly, it was still too hard for us to figure out! We stumbled around for a while, not able to find the first obstacle that we were supposed to be able to watch. So we went on to the second one, and waited about a half hour or so before I saw Danny and Ben coming up the hill. Danny knew that the rest of the group wouldn't be able to keep up with him and Ben, and as it turned out it was only about a mile into the race that they pulled ahead. It made me so happy to see the big smile on Danny's face! He was having the time of his life. :)

The first obstacle I was able to see Danny do was the "Pyramid Scheme". Luckily for Danny and Ben, I had been sitting there for a while watching groups struggle with getting everyone up over the slippery incline. But there was one group that did it with ease, so I took note. The way to do it was to built the human chain...but instead of the person at the top going over and then pulling the person beneath them, the person on the very bottom needed to come up first! I clued Danny in as they approached, and they got themselves (plus a few others!) over with not problem. It was so fun to watch!

Next he was on to the "Hero Carry". Danny and Ben moved WAY quicker than I did, so I wasn't able to get there to take pictures. But the good crew at Tough Mudder got a good one for me. :) I broke away from the other two spectators I was with and struck out on my own, trying to get to the next obstacle after the "Hero Carry" before Danny and Ben got there. 

BUT...I missed it! I still couldn't figure out where the heck I was supposed to be! By the time Danny got to where I was, he had already done "Everest 2.0". I was so bummed. But he and Ben were having such a good time, they walked back with me and did it again!! Danny ran up that wall like it was nothing, doing by himself what most others needed help with. Yup. That's my man! :)

With "Everest 2.0" done, that was the end of the first half of the spectator route. Danny had a few miles to run to get to the next place I could meet up with him, and I had quite the walk to get there too. I was feeling a bit more confident in my ability to figure this out on my own, especially when I realized that nobody was bothering with the spectator route. They just walked wherever they wanted! And I decided to swallow my pride and start asking people to help me. That helped immensely! :) And everyone was so nice. Seriously, the atmosphere was amazing!

I actually got to the next obstacle before Danny got there...though it was really nerve-wracking to wait! I had no idea if Danny had already been there or not, and if for some reason I missed him I'd just get farther behind him. I was so relieved when I saw him and Ben come up over the hill! Next up for them was "Kiss of Mud"...

Danny rocked it! Ben wished he'd worn a shirt. :) Being in the desert, it really wasn't mud as much as it was gravel with water. Danny's knees got a little scraped up, but otherwise he was no worse for the wear. And he was still having an absolute ball! And I can't describe how happy it made me to see him loving this experience so much. 

I hustled to the next set of obstacles, and luckily these three were rather close together. First up was "Funky Monkey". The run between "Kiss of Mud" and "Funky Monkey" was pretty intense, but I have to say that the little bit of walking Danny and Ben from that last hill to the obstacle was just about the only walking they did. 

Now, the next set of obstacles was a lot of upper body and grip strength. Danny knew he didn't train for this part...he's always so conscientious about his shoulder and not wanting to re-injure it. So it wasn't all-together surprising when he dropped into the green drink. But nonetheless rather frustrating for Danny. He felt like the gloves we got him actually hampered his ability to grip the bars on this particular obstacle, so he decided to try again without them. He got farther, but unfortunately his arms were already fatigued and he just didn't get all the way across. Next race though, he'll be ready for the "Funky Monkey"!

Next up was "Shawshanked", and Danny was still running! I couldn't believe it, but he still had a smile on his face!

After "Shawshanked" was "Kong", which unfortunately Danny wasn't able to finish. Again, next time he'll be ready!

And there were only two more obstacles after "Kong" before the race was over! The next obstacle had a spectator area, but there was no way I was going to be able to beat Danny and Ben to the finish line (and the last obstacle) if I stopped...not with how much quicker they were moving than me! So I high tailed it to the finish line...and the obstacle of all obstacles..."Electroshock Therapy"! It was this obstacle that kept me from being on board with this whole crazy idea to begin with. I just hated the thought of Danny running through live wires! But he assured me that it wouldn't be that bad. Well...turns out it was that bad!! And what's worse is that I didn't get the camera set up in time to get it filmed for the kids. So I made Danny run it twice! In my defense, I didn't know how painful it was until AFTER he ran it the second time. Oops. :) But that's how amazing Danny is that he willing ran it again! And can I just say that I'm so glad we got Danny's race pictures for free from Tough Mudder?! They got WAY better pictures of "Electroshock Therapy" than I did!

At that was that! Danny finished the Tough Mudder, and did so easily. He was so happy to get his official Tough Mudder sweatband, but was bugged that the people that had ran at least one Mudder before got a different color. He wants that other color now. :) All said and done, Danny ran 12 miles of obstacles and complete the race in 3 hours...and did a few obstacles more than once! It was a better experience than either of us expected, and Danny is hooked. I'm sure we'll be doing another Mudder soon!

After the race, Danny found the water station where he could hose off. Somehow I lost my phone, so we ended up looking for that for a few minutes before finally making our way to the car. We were both pretty hungry, and there was really only once place we wanted to go. Shake Shack! So we drove back into town for a delicious and indulgent lunch before starting our drive home. It was an uneventful drive, and we made it home at about 10:30 pm. I'm so so glad that Danny talked me into this whole race idea, and that we decided to make a weekend of it. We needed the time together, Danny needed that race, and I needed some time away from the monotony of daily life. Best. Weekend. Ever!