Part 1 looked at obstacles 1-10.
Boa Constrictor (obstacle 10) really was one of the first times on the course where I was essentially fully submerged in water. The weather was pretty cold that day, as was the water, but my wetsuit was working well to keep me warm. My feet would get quite cold/numb after some of the water obstacles, but as long as I kept moving I didn't fare too badly.
Twinkle Toes
Twinkly Toes was the next obstacle on the course. After just coming from Boa Constrictor, my shoes were wet and muddy, so this was not simply an easy walk across a narrow platform. In typical World's Toughest Mudder fashion, the obstacle was also taken up a notch by adding either a narrower board to walk across, or a few narrow steps in the middle of the plank to walk on. I saw lots of folks falling into the water on this one.
Not only that, but the course looped back to this obstacle as well, so you were forced to complete Twinkly Toes twice each lap.
Walk the Plank
Immediately following Twinkle Toes was Walk the Plank, yet another Tough Mudder staple. Climb up to a 15+ foot high platform and jump into the water below. What makes this so interesting at the World's Toughest Mudder, is how cold the water is. Even with a wetsuit on, your breath gets taken away as soon as you hit that water!
After Walk the Plank, the course looped back around and you got a second crack at Twinkle Toes, then on to the next obstacle.
Kiss of Mud 2
A second bout of Kiss of Mud. I mentioned before at how I prefer the mud on this one. With the wetsuit on, the wetter the better, in my opinion, because you can actually slide along the mud quite easily.
This Kiss of Mud, I felt, had far more large rocks in it when compared to Kiss of Mud 1. Not only that, but the length of time you were crawling under barbed wire was probably double as well. You definitely got a pretty good shoulder burn by the end of this obstacle from pulling yourself through the mud.
Peg Legs (3:58-4:02 in above video)
I found this obstacle fairly basic, although I full admit that I probably worked through it at a slower pace than most. What made this obstacle challenging was the fact that your shoes would be wet/muddy by the time you reached Peg Legs, so you couldn't be certain that you were going to get good traction on the logs.
Smoke Chute (4:03-4:10 in above video)
Shortly after Peg Legs came Smoke Chute. From what I remember in last year's WTM video, this obstacle actually lived up to its name. It had flaps at the entrance and exit to prevent light from entering, and I believe they actually had smoke machines filling the obstacle with smoke.
This year it did not seem to live up to its name. It wasn't really much a smoke chute at all, more like a slide into mud. It consisted of about a 6-foot drop to a slide, where you landed right in mud.
Spider's Web
After Smoke Chute, and about a half mile (muddy) run through the woods, I came to Spider's Web. This is another staple obstacle from Tough Mudder. Nothing too out of the ordinary here. For those of you familiar with this obstacle, the trick is to have a bit of team work. A loose cargo net can be difficult to climb, so if you get the help of some other Mudders to pull down on the net and create tension, it makes climbing much easier.
Hangin' Tough (4:11-4:21 in above video)
Hangin' Tough is one of my favorite Tough Mudder obstacles. At the World's Toughest Mudder, if you fell in the water, you had a 1/8th mile penalty loop to run before proceeding on with the next obstacle.
I was able to get through with no penalty on the first lap (as seen in the video), but fell during the second lap. I chalk that up to not only having muddy gloves, but also virtually no grip strength left after attempting Funky Monkey 4 times by that point.
Dong Dangler (4:22-4:41 in above video)
Immediately following Hangin' Tough, was Dong Dangler. There were many different strategies on this obstacle. Some folks chose to try and slide along the top of the cable, while others (including myself) chose to try and hang from beneath the cable. What I ended up noticing was that if I allowed the lower half of my body to drop into the water, then I could simply just 'skim' across the top of the water and pull myself with the cable. It made for a much quicker and more efficient way of completing this obstacle, in my opinion.
Skidmarked
Following Dong Dangler was a short run over to the back side of the quarter-pipe set up for Everest. For skid-marked, you would simply climb up the back side of the quarter pipe using a rope ladder and then slide down the quarter pipe - Skidmarked!
Following Skidmarked, there was a short run over to the Ladder to Hell again, then off to Everest!
Everest (5:10-5:16 in above video)
Everest is arguable one of the most famous Tough Mudder obstacles. So many folks struggle with the timing and coordination for this one, not to mention the strength needed to not only reach the top of Everest, but to also pull yourself up. This obstacle also exemplifies the Mudder camaraderie as you see so much team work going on here.
I don't mean to brag, but I have never really had any problems with this obstacle whatsoever, it is just one of my strong points. I would say the trick to it is momentum. You want to build up a decent amount of speed, run up the incline as far as you can, and don't jump too early. Allow the momentum your body is carrying to get yourself up majority of the way and the leap from there. Once you grab the ledge, you can either pull yourself up using your own strength or there will most certainly be some other Mudders there to help you out if needed. Once I was up (both laps), I turned around to help a fellow Mudder (or two) out.
It should be noted that if you were unable to make it up Everest, you had to partake in the penalty obstacle which was an Arctic Enema...
Quote of the day:
"Failing ninety-nine times doesn't matter at all if you keep your spirits high and succeed the hundredth time."
~ Unknown
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