Crazy Tough Mudders

Tough Mudder hit New Jersey this weekend and made quite the muddy splash. Thousands participated, including my own crazy fiancee. She's done things like this before. Anything for a challenge. I ask her why. She doesn't really know.

If you're not familiar with Tough Mudder, it's a competition so tough many don't even finish. (Yes, she finished in case you're wondering.) 10 to 12 miles of a mud filled course that you have to run, and think about how hard it is running on sand at the beach. Now imagine mud. Along all those miles are many, many ridiculously challenging often dangerous obstacles. For example, one is where you're crawling boot camp style beneath barbed wire. She watched as one competitor in her heat forgot himself and sliced open a huge gash on his forehead. Another is a 20 foot wall scaled with only the help of a rope, both up, then oven, and down. A drop high enough to break bones and mind you this is done after already being covered in slippery mud. Mud so thick many people lost their athletic shoes in the muck. Also great fun (not) is the dangling electrocution wires you must go through. People were dropping face first from the Taser-like jolts. Then there's this slide I have this picture of. You slide right through a wall of fire and into a muddy water lake.

You can learn more about Tough Mudder here.

I have a world of respect for anyone who takes on these crazy competitions. Many who think they're badasses find out otherwise when they enter. Money raised goes to Wounded Warriors which is a noble cause.

By the time she was done, she had bruises everywhere, at least a dozen bad cuts, and mud in her mouth, nose, eyes, even deep in her inner ears which can't be good. She was quite proud as I'm sure everyone is who finishes this monster. People came from many states away just to partake. Congrats to them and all our Jersey born, Jersey Strong Tough Mudders!

Aubree, on right, with her sister-in-law, both shivering under thermal blankets after completing the Tough Mudder. No, that's not a Bruce Springsteen style soul patch on her chin; just more mud.