The Durbs Blurbs: 11.09.2013: The Toughest Tough Mudder

So, Alisa, Olivia and the kids headed out to the beach cities to visit her Gramma...and the rest of us loaded up in the truck to head to the Tough Mudder. Traffic was TERRIBLE getting there...literally one road in & one out...and tons, and tons, of people all trying to get to the same place. Good thing they aren't strict with the starting times...most people missed theirs!

Once we finally got there, it was a pretty good hike from the parking lot to the race village. So, no one told me we would basically be running this race with the guys...however, just on the walk from the car to the village, I blew my flop. Yup, go figure. I had no backups (of course)....so what to do, what to do!? Well, Vince went to the medic tent and got some duct tape. He basically duct taped my flop to my foot. It was the ONLY option, really. And it sucked! It was crazy painful and my foot was so dirty and dusty and rocks were all up in it rubbing around. But, oh well....I still walked this whole course taking pics & capturing all the moments for the crew. And this was some course. There were mountains, valleys, shrubbery, lakes, mud...you name it!

Brent started this team as a tribute to and in honor of Lt. Michael Murphy, the Navy Seal who was killed in action, and whom the book Lone Survivor is based. If you have not read the book, read it. If you have not seen the movie, see it. I guarantee you will not get away with dry eyes. If you do, you are not an American. It is an amazing story, that was someone's life, who sacrificed his life for his brothers and his country. It makes you proud to be an American, and it makes me proud that my husband, brother, brother-in-laws, grandparents, friends, etc...have served in the military and have sacrificed for our freedom. Everyone on the team has a Team Murphy shirt...this is the 2nd Mudder race they have done. (I think next year us spectators should get some honorary ones, esp after what I went thru in this race just to get some pics!).

Anyways, the race is made of up 12 miles of running to & from obstacles strategically placed throughout the course. Some of the obstacles are just ridiculous...electrocution, ice baths, monkey bars, jumping off a plank into a pool, crawling in holes, crawling in mud, balance beams, warrior carries, etc...I think I made it to all the obstacles except 2 of them...and I didn't run up the mountain either!

How I started the day....

Drake & a cool truck

Runner village

Team Murphy warming up

The male spectators...Scott, Vince and Drake.

We were essential parts of the team!

Starting the run together

Oh, you have to climb over this wall just to get to the starting line...

Nice little warm-up obstacle! Amazing how many people struggled with this one (not from our team tho!!).

Smiling now...just the beginning though!

All the guys had their "names" on the back of the shirts

Off they go....

Monkey bars

CLimb to the top of the stairs & jump into a pool of water. MANY people were so freaked out at the top, it took forever to get them to jump. The water was muddy and you couldn't tell how deep it was. There were a few divers in the water to pull people up & fish them out if for some reason they didn't come up. That alone was kinda scary...more scary than the heights thing. Oh, and some lady jumped in...then said she couldn't swim as she bobbed to the surface. So they pulled her out. Really??!!