Right after school ended our family joined Grandma & Grandpa, Bryce & Ariel, Lindsay, Jason and Fox in Truckee. The boys had been preparing for months to participate in the Tough Mudder at Northstar.
Thursday evening we had dinner at the country club near the cabin we were staying at and the girls had a riot playing on the grass and exploring while the adults sneaked peaks at the NBA Finals. It was survivable becasue the Warriors were up by ten for much of the time we were there:)
The next morning we went to the Log Cabin in Kings Beach before going to the beach.
That afternoon we went to Northstar to register our mudders and get our spectator passes. Afterward we went up the gondola to get an idea of where the spectators would go and what some of the obstacles looked like.
We all went to bed super early and had anxiety dreams about how the next day would go. The boys' start time was 7:45-the first of the day and we (the spectators) want to get there as they left so we would be sure to see them at the first obstacle and then hopefully be able to catch their other obstacles along the way.
After running (walking:) over a thousand vertical feet in the first mile they reached this obstacle they had to climb over. We had ridden the gondola up and made it just in time to see them.
The Mudder Brudder Spectators!
The second obstacle was Shawshanked. They rolled under barbed wire in the dirt then pulled themselves up this chute before falling into cold, muddy water.
Nearby was the Beached Whale-they hauled themselves up a giant inflatable and jumped down.
At that point the boys took off up the hill and ran five miles and did several obstacles we couldn't see. The Blodgett spectators don't accept no for an answer and forged their own path up the mountain to see some of the obstacles:) Glad I got the pictures of this big jump!
While they were racing we walked down to the next obstacle and rested in the shade while we waited about an hour for them. By the gondola we were able to snack, go potty etc so it was the perfect break for us.
Before we knew it they were running down the mountain, much muddier than when we'd seen them before:)
The next obstacle was called the Arctic Enema. It was a slide with a grill over you that forced you down and into ice water. Seriously-we watched them pour bags and bags of ice in this water all morning. The boys need a bit to recover from that one:)
They didn't go far before they had to climb this pyramid.
Next we walked back up the hill while the boys ran a mile around and made it to Funky Monkey. Our team did so well-everyone liked this one.
Next we all made it to Cry Baby. They go through covered tunnels filled with tear gas. This was everyones LEASt favorite. By the end of the tunnel most people panicked and couldn't figure out how to get out. Steve was the last one out and his boys were freaking out that they couldn't find him!
Then came Everest.
Another short walk away was the Birth Canal. They had to crawl through with heavy water weighing them down. Needless to say many jokes were thrown around over this one.
After the Birth Canal the boys ran over a mile down the hill and we walked down the hill. At this point we were all pretty hot and tired-but the girls were SO good and not whiny at all. I was so proud of what good spectators they were.
The last obstacle was Electroshock Therapy. They say not to go through it if you have any metal in your body...so I was worried when Danny chose to do it (he has a stint in a very sensitive area!), but he wanted to do everything and he was fine. This one was fun to watch:) Poor Chase's glove got caught on a wire and he was stuck on his knees being electrocuted before he finally realized and yanked the glove off!
The Finishers sporting their orange headbands!
It was such a fun day. After so much worry over it the boys were all surprised how much fun it was and no one had too hard a time completely everything. 20 obstacles, 10.3 miles, 2,000 vertical feet climb--they did it!
Everyone we talked to said that Tough Mudder changed their life. I don't know if I'd go that far, but we are already looking forward to next year:)
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