* I understand that Tough Mudder is not a race but a challenge.
* I put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time.
* I do not whine – kids whine.
* I help my fellow Mudders complete the course.
* I overcome all fears.
You guys! I know this post is long overdue, but here it is now 
The tough mudder pledge proved to be quite true for me. Some of the obstacles would not have been possible without the help of others. The great thing about the mudder was that regardless of whether you were in a team or not, everyone still extended an arm when you needed it.
Although some stamina and endurance is required, when it comes to facing many of the obstacles, I really and truly believe it’s a mental game you play with yourself. You can tell yourself one of four things, “I can, I won’t, I’ll try, or I will” and this will determine whether you accomplish an obstacle or not.
I take great pride in saying that I completed all but one of the obstacles (I couldn’t do walk the plank bc I don’t know how to swim =[ ). It really was a testament to myself proving that I am a lot more able bodied than I believed to be. It was by no means easy, especially climbing those wretched slope again, and again, and again…
but there was no greater sense of accomplishment than when I passed that finish line, received my mudder headband and could say “Damn, I actually did it!”
I won’t go into detail of each of the obstacles, but these are the ones I found to be most memorable:
1). Arctic Enema.
There are no words to accurately describe this obstacle, without experiencing it firsthand.
For me personally, before I could psych myself out and reconsider doing it, I already found myself in the water.
You would think that because you’re entire body is essentially in a huge pool of ice, that it would sting immensely.
All I felt was my body go into instant shock. That wasn’t even the worst part. To get to the other end, you had to submerge yourself to get over a barrier, and it was once I came back up that I found it even harder to breathe and move.
But I somehow made it out! I don’t recall being particularly cold afterwards as I continued trekking onto the next obstacle.
2). Shock Therapy
For Mudder Toronto, there were two obstacles that involved electrical wires. The first one was the electric eel where you had to crawl in water and “try” to avoid the wires. Getting shocked was inevitable, but I didn’t find this one too difficult as I really took my time manoeuvring my body to minimize the amount of shocks I received. The very last obstacle before the finish line was Shock Therapy. I held my boyfriends hand ever so tightly as I was incredibly reluctant and nervous to go through this one. When we finally started running through the wires towards our victory, I got zapped right in the jaw which sent me face down into the mud. At that point the announcer yelled “Pull her out pull her out!”, so my boyfriend and a fellow mudder pulled me out and helped me cross the finish line. Definitely not the way I wanted to finish the race, but regardless, I finished it.
For those of you who haven’t done the mudder and are concerned about the obstacles with electrical wires, I won’t sugar coat and say it was pleasant, because really, who enjoys getting zapped? However, I didn’t find it to be painful at all. It simply stuns you for a second.
My suggestion for you people getting ready for the mudder is:
Don’t over think it. You’re doing the tough mudder to test your personal boundaries. Just do it. Some of it will be fun, some of it won’t, but I promise you that at the end of the day you won’t regret it
The aftermath:
The cuts and bruises were painful for a few days, and I’ve got permanent scars on my hips and legs, but you best believe that I’ll be doing it again next year!
