I Survived... (Promised Post About Our Tough Mudder Adventures)

As promised, I am posting about our...*Drumroll* *Confetti* *Mud* *And all of the above*... Tough Mudder adventure! 

About mid-September, me, my mom, sisters, cousins, Auntie, and my older sisters boyfriend and his mom all decided to be a team in a Tough Mudder. Overall, It was a bunch of fun, and I can't with to tell y'all about it! 

Without knowing it, I have kind of made a blog series out of my "I Survive" posts. So, from now on, if I do any crazy, epic, muddy, triathlon, 5k-ish things, I will add to this series! Page coming soon with them all listed. Also, on a side note: Pages coming soon for a Health page and a My Beliefs page, so stay tuned and bare with me. Because they are coming! :)

Read about my first "I Survived" post HERE. 
And the second "I Survived" post HERE.

Lets begin, shall we...

You ask, what exactly is a Tough Mudder? Well, let me tell you, a Tough Mudder is very similar to the Mud Gauntlet, in that it is obstacles in the MUD and it's as long as a 5k. But, instead of the 35 smaller obstacles like the other mud gauntlet we did, this had 10 bigger and more challenging obstacles!!! Throughout the course, some of the obstacles were so hard that their was no choice, you had to work together as a team. Even if that required you to trust some stranger while you dangled into mid-air! 

We decided to make a weekend trip out of it, and drove down the day before. It took us most of the day to get to our hotel, and when we did, we went swimming! 

After sundown, we drove into Nashville and walked up and down broadway! All I can say is WOW and another wow! It was so cool to walk the streets that famous country singers walked, especially when first starting out! There was one girl who played the fiddle and tap danced in her cowboy boots, she was really good! 

And yet, on the other hand, it was sad. I have never seen such a crowded city! Shoulder to shoulder, and stuck in the middle of a sea of people. Lots and lots of people. Homeless people, drunk people, all kinds of people. I felt sorry for them, and wondered if they were happy with where they were at. I just don't understand it. I especially felt bad for the homeless people with dogs.

I hope someday, those people will find that God can fill the holes and emptiness a whole lot better than when they try to fill them with worldly things. (Romans 12:2) (John 16:33) 

The next morning, we got up bright and early. For breakfast, I ate half of a waffle at the hotel. We got to the place where they had the Tough Mudder, and parked in a big field. Once we got "checked in" we wrote our number on our arms with a sharpie. Our team name was "The young and the rest of us!" Our start time was at 9:30!

We stood in the start line, crowded with participants. They did the National Anthem then they revved the crowd up. We started out at a slow jog. We went through this big field until finally rounding the corner to a MUD PIT! :) Following that first mud pit, there were hay bales to climb, a obstacle called that was 0.2 miles of smaller mud pits in a row, a 300 yard hero carry, a slanted wall (maybe 6'), "Everest 2.0" Which is a very tall sloped wall you run up and grab people at the top to pull you up, and lots more! (Note: everything was super slippery!)

The one at the end was, by far, the hardest obstacle.

It was called "happy ending," and was a steep, slightly slanted, slippery wall. You had two choices to conquer this last test of strength, you could just use the provided rope, or make a "rope" out of your team. And can you guess what we chose to do?? 

Yes, our team, with the help of three others, chose the hard way! How you made a "rope" was basically we stood onto of each other to make a tower of bodies up the wall, so that others could crawl up. 

Auntie was on the bottom, and for some reason, I got up next (at that time, I really could not comprehend what my job would entail!) So, I stood on my Auntie's shoulders and leaned up against the wall. My younger cousin went next, standing on my shoulders. Then, my older cousins crawled up us to the top, and helped those who climbed up next.

There was a point when my knees were buckling. The weight on my shoulders from people climbing up was so heavy, that "very heavy" was a understatement. I wanted to give up, to give in. And I felt so sorry for my Auntie, who had to carry more weight than I! I don't know how we did it, but our whole team finally made it to the very top! What an accomplishment! We were so happy to have made it. And at the top, we slid down a slide into muddy water! 

Guys, it took a lot of self-talk and and encouragement to make it through that last obstacle. 

Mud runs aren't the only places we experience obstacles in our paths. Every day, we encounter obstacles that tower over us. They are intimidating and scary. And sometimes, we just can't overcome those obstacles on our own, we need encouragement from those around us. We also need to realize that we need Someone bigger to help us through. God is that Someone, and He already knows the paths you will take and the obstacles you will overcome! Let Him be your steady hand when you feel yourself falling. 

After we crossed the finish line, we picked up our t-shirts and showered off! Overall it was a blast! It was challenging, but it was so so so fun! 

The drive home was filled with LOTS of country music singing! Hours and hours! Our overall favorite to sing together was Champion by Carrie Underwood! :)

10 things we all can learn from a Tough Mudder:
1. Teamwork is a must!
2. Go for it! Commit and just do it!
3. Cheer each other on.
4. Give it all you got, and do the best you can!
5. Stay positive.
6. It is ok to need help.
7. The muddier the better!
8. When you feel like caving, don't.
9. YOU can do it! 
10. God will bring you through! 

Here's some pictures...!

Before the fun began!

Starting off! Look at all those people!

 After floating in the mud under that fence! 

Best friends forever! 

 After showering off...

Standing on a mound of mud! 

End of "Happy ending!"

Yay! The finish line!

Have you ever done anything like this? Are you a good team player? What are some way's that we can encourage each other through the obstacles they face in their day to day lives? I hope y'all have a awesome October!!! 

Lets talk in the comments below!