Tampa Tough Mudder - 1 Smelly Mudder

Christ on a pony if i saw this i would have walked off the course

Marcia.. Marcia.. Marcia.. is what they should have named the 2011 Tampa Tough Mudder. This run consisted of nothing but wetland, marsh and swamps..and god knows what else was lurking out there ready to trounce us. From rattlesnakes to gators to cow shit there were all kinds of goodies awaiting us out there.

Barb wire

This was my second Tough Mudder. The first mudder i ran in PA last April. (read about it here). It was my first mudder and i was super happy with myself for my accomplishment of finishing it. After doing that mud run i got addicted to these races challenging myself further each time. I have done mostly small 5k "mud" runs; 2 Rugged Maniacs and 10k MS run through Liberty State Park. In these 3 runs, i ran with my buddy Anthony and we killed each time outdoing our previous time with each race. So going into this race our goal was just to KILL it and see how close we can get to finishing in the top 5%. We didnt just take the top 5% but finished in the top 12!! Our time was 1:59. Anthony as always beat me my about 5 seconds. He just hassss to finish before me in every race we run together. As we finished my buddy Pete kept yelling 11 12. I had no idea what he meant at the time. Then i realized he was saying we were the 11th and 12th finishers. I then looked around and realized that the few people who were hanging out in the finish line area were the ONLY people to cross the line at that time. I was in awe. We ran about a 10 min pace. Not bad considering all the shit we had to go through to get there..literally speaking.

There was shit in this water.. i swear it!!

I really enjoy running in the first wave. After seeing video of the PA mudder i did and seeing how many lines there were at the obstacles i made a commitment to never be that guy waiting. We did the PA mudder at 9am (first wave) and the Tampa mudder at 8am (first wave). I highly recommend doing this. Otherwise you will wait at the obstacles... which isnt a bad thing. But keep in mind, you are running a long distance and constantly using your entire body to get through teh obstacles. Stopping can cause your body to cool down which in turn can cause cramping which you DONT want.

shimmy your way through these narrow pipes only to get surprised by a large puddle of swamp ass shit in the middle

Just got out of the fire. Basically you run through a narrow path and both sides have hay bales on fire. You can certainly feel the heat. The problem is the smoke. You cant see anything and breathing it in will just cause immediate muscle cramps. So you gotta take a big breathe and go for it.

This was the hardest thing for me in PA. The water was soooo cold. Never experienced anything like that before. The water here was actually very refreshing.

Make your way across the infested water.

To compare the 2 mudders is like comparing peanut butter to sex. Both incredible but different in sooo many ways. The PA mudder's difficulty was due to the fact that you were running on a ski slope. There were constant hills and slopes you were running up and down. The weather played a huge factor as well. It was early April and there was still snow on the mountain. We had a shit load of snow last year and the weather stayed cold for an extended period of time. Tampa was the complete opposite. There were no hills.. just man-made mud hills. The weather was PERFECT.. about 58 degrees at the start of the run with not a cloud in the sky. The most difficult thing about this course was the fact that you were trekking through marsh and wet grass a majority of the time. Slowed you down alot and was just annoying. Hamstrings played a major role when sloshing and wading through the many swamps they thew at you as oppose to the tired quads that played a role in PA with the constant slopes you had to "run" up.

Bullshitting with other mudders in the water. The water was not ice cold like in PA

This obstacle consisted of carrying a log through water. Im not gonna lie i wimped out and grabbed a light log. In PA, this was my downfall having picked a very heavy log to run up a hill with.

You had to climb into this hole and through an underground tunnel. Pretty bad ass. I banged my head pretty hard on a piece of wood.. polack

I wish i had a pic of me doing this. When we got here we were one of a few people. Nobody waited to help like in this picture as it was very competitive the first wave. My buddy Ant sprinted and ran up and jumpred to grab the ledge. He made it. I tried to follow and failed. All you heard in the crowd was 'Ahhhhhhh'. I walked back away from teh ramp. Picked up some dirt. Turned around and stared at the ramp. The crowd started cheering as i began sprinting. I ran up the hill and jumped and threw out my hands. I grabbed the ledge and pulled myself up. The crowd went nuts.. it was awesome!

Getting hit with up to 10,000 volts of electric

Before, during and after we met lots of people. When they would ask where we are from we'd tell them. The first thing they would say is "you came all the way to Florida for this?". YES!
Let's see.. was it worth it? The estimated 500 bux i spent for the race, travel and food and drinks not including the 300 bux i lost the night before in AC :-(. The 4 days spent with some very very close friends. The cool peeps i met while running. The swampy mess i ran through that had algae floating on the water. The cow shit that was just almost impossible to avoid and was probably in some marsh that i had to get on my hands and knees in. The many scratches i got from those dam thorn bushes strategically placed EVERYWHERE. The bulldozer making a HUGE deposit of fresh ice into the huge water tank that we are about to jump into. The spider web net that destroyed my BANAL (area between balls and ass..come on people!!) when climbing over. The monkey bars that i DESTROYED. The 50 yard swamp run that we had to go through which came up to our chest. The flies swarming around "something" in the ground while crawling on my stomach to get underneath a 30 yard net. The signs that say "Do not touch the wildlife" posted throughout the course. The man wearing the Borat costume. The 15 foot plunge into actually very refreshing water. The climb out of the lake up a cliff of soft dirt. The feel of Ant's ass as i pushed it up the hill in front of me. The feeling of failure as i fall in the water not making the balance beam obstacle. The man-made mud slopes that destroyed my quads. The half pipe that required you to sprint, run up the ramp and jump to try to reach the ledge that i falied on my first time. The hundreds of people cheering you on while you finish an event. The 10,000 volts of electricity piercing your body as you try to jump over a bale of hay perfectly placed in the middle of the wires. The finish line. The accomplishment of winning!! The hours and hours of non-stop laughs and good times with some great friends. The 100+ howtotrainfortoughmudder.com stickers we ambushed EVERYWHERE in Florida with. The fancy victory cigar and many celebratory beers. So was it worth it.. FUCK YEA!!!!! Cant wait for the next one!!

DAM YOU MEDICS!!!!!

Just wanted to thank as always Pete Isip for everything he has done for me. Krank Systems is where its at. Check out their website www.kranksystems.com and much love for his tough mudder training website howtotrainfortoughmudder.com