Start: 08:00
Finish: 11:35
Time: 3hrs 35min
Obstacles: 19
Distance: 20km
Steps: 33,038 (thanks to my Fitbit Flex, which didn't die in the mud)
Weather: Overcast and Rainy
I awoke this morning full of energy. Now I'm not a morning person, I usually wake up dead to be honest, but this morning was different. I was jumping out of my skin as soon as my alarm went off at 7am, and I took this to be a good sign! My nerves from the last night had all but disappeared. I had a quick breakfast of avocado on toast, got dressed and ready, bummed around the house for a little bit, then eventually walked out the door.
My plan was to run this morning with two friends of mine, Heather and Andrew. I left my phone at the beach house, so that I wouldn't lose it, and it wasn't until I arrived at the event that I realised how would I contact them? Didn't think that one through too well. After walking around for 20 minutes, taking in the event, and looking for Heath and Andrew, I finally just decided to jump in the starting wave without them; the 8:00am start, and run by myself and make some new friends on the course.
So I ran by myself. Even though we were the first wave of the weekend, I was quite slow - close to the back of the pack, so by the time I came up to the obstacles, they were already getting muddy. As fun as the event is there was some extremely long runs in-between some of the obstacles, some well over a kilometre long. At one point, I was running by myself for over 10 minutes before I passed or someone passed me. This was fine, as the scenery out in Phillip Island is amazing.
For about the first third of the event it rained quite heavily. Compared to last year's extremely hot 30 degree plus Tough Mudder, I was quite happy to dance in the rain. No sunburn for me this year!
Aside from the new obstacles, all the old favourites were still there. Funky Monkey; the 20 metre long set of slippery monkey bars, which in previous events has been my favourite obstacle. Everest; a lot of peoples downfall. The huge quarter pipe which we have to run up and get over the top, with or without someones help up the top (mainly with). Arctic Enema; the freezing ice water bath where you have to duck your head underneath to get to the other side. One of the easier obstacles for myself, even if it does take your breath away the moment you dunk your head. And of course, everyone's favourite, Electroshock therapy. Running through live 10,000 volt wires, 100 metres from the end of the event. Always fun, especially after running the course for the past 3 hours up to this point!
Having basically no training prior to this event, I thought I wouldn't be fit enough to run the whole course. I was right about this, but not to the extent that I thought. I surprised myself by running the first 13 km at a decent click. At around the 13 km both my calves seized up, and became extremely tight. This slowed me down to a slow jog/walk for the next 3 km's. At the 15 km point, three quarters through the event, my hip flexors became extremely painful, especially on the left side. My left hip flexor gradually got so bad that I couldn't lift my leg straight up in front of me further than a foot off the ground. These lower body pains took their toll, and slowed me to a painful shuffle, not much faster than a walk from about 16 km's to the end, with a slow run for the last km or so through the finish line.
My body was a mess when I crossed the finish line, but I still couldn't wipe the stupid grin off my face when I collected my first orange head band of the year. Barely able to walk around, I stumbled over to the stands to collect my finisher's shirt.
There are 5 new coloured head-bands, as you can see in the photo on the left. After completing 2 Mudders, you recieve a Green head-band, after 3 Mudders, a Blue head-band and so on.
As this was my 3rd Mudder, I was able to grab my 2x and 3x Head-Bands. I love this idea Tough Mudder has brought in, as now us Legionnaires have a way of showing how tough we actually are. With the events I am running this year, I will be one of the first in Australia to receive my 10x Head-Band (as far as I know), which I think is pretty cool.
I got back to the house at about 1pm, and it was straight into recovery mode, to best prepare myself to do it all over again tomorrow. Gatorade and protein powder drinks were on the agenda, and lots of carbs for dinner. My running mates for tomorrow's event rocked up at around 5 o'clock, and I let them talk me into heading to the pub for a parma dinner. This was a few hours ago (it's almost 9:30 currently) and I already feel this was a bad idea for dinner. Should have gone with the pasta I was ready to make myself. Hopefully this doesn't bite me in the ass tomorrow!
I think I've pretty much covered today's events. I am extremely sore and unable to walk very fast or pain free, and have an early start in the morning, so I think its bed time for me. Hopefully I am feeling better in the morning, and am able to walk without limping too hard for the 20km tomorrow.
#TMtour2014