It’s a fascinating concept. The though of entering a grueling competition which involves a 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your resolve to finish, and your spirit of camraderie.

And these are no ordinary obstacle courses.

This past weekend’s Tough Mudder event brought 25 thousand people out to Raceway Park to take on dumpsters filled with ice water, mud swamp obstacle courses, and live electrical wires…just to give the “not so faint of heart” a chance to say, “I did it!”

But would you…..is this the type of thing you’d like to have on your bucket list?

Therese Zuch spends her days hawking bonds for a financial services company while dreaming of a way to combat mild mid-life malaise.

Nothing too drastic, like a tattoo or a piercing, she says. "Just something a little different."

What Zuch came up with to battle ennui: Plunges into Dumpsters of ice, slogs through mud and sprints through flames and live wires.

Zuch was one of about 25,000 people who descended on Raceway Park over the weekend to conquer the Tough Mudder, an extreme obstacle course dubbed "11-and-a-half miles of total Hell" by one of the event’s MCs today.

There are many people who can’t, with a course featuring heart-stopping obstacles such as "Electroshock Therapy," which forces runners to plow through electrified wires, and "Arctic Enema," which sends the runners into Dumpsters filled with several feet of ice.

A Tough Mudder spokeswoman said only about 80 percent of participants are able to complete the course, a boot camp for civilians that takes most people about three hours to complete.

There is no time limit, and there are no winners. There’s not even a guarantee anyone will finish or stay uninjured — as evidenced by banners reminding the runners they have signed "death waivers" absolving the organizers of any liability.
What’s more, the runners pay $95 or more to try their luck on the 22-obstacle course, designed by the British Special Forces.

Anyone actually able to complete it earns an orange headband, a cup of beer and the knowledge that they pushed themselves farther than many had dared.
It might seem like punishment, but it’s actually big business.

Tough Mudder, the brainchild of a Harvard business graduate student named Will Dean, began three years ago with stops in only three locations in the United States. The event expanded to 14 U.S. locations in its second year, and went worldwide this year with 35 stops in the U.S., the United Kingdom and Australia.
So far this year, more than 500,000 people have participated.

Just for the hell of it! Just to prove you can do it…not a bad way to spend a mid autumn afternoon…is it?

But is this the type of activity you’d have on your bucket list…sort of like bungee jumping or skydiving?

And what activities would you like to have accomplished before you leave this mortal coil...as it were?

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