One Tough Mudder

When Keane first told me he'd be running in the Tough Mudder, I wasn't thrilled. A 12 mile course up the side of a mountain with navy seal-style obstacles to potentially hurt himself on didn't seem like a good idea to this cautious mama. With obstacle names like Arctic Enema, Electric Shock Therapy and Berlin Walls, I made it clear early on that I wasn't interested in taking care of both Liv AND him if he blew out his knee or broke an ankle so he'd better be careful.

Although he had high hopes of training for the event, having a new baby and working 60 hour weeks didn't exactly leave a ton of extra time for tire flipping and rope climbing. It wasn't until three weeks before the race that he figured he should probably start getting in shape so he began riding his bike to and from work and running each night with the dogs.

Keane's company paid for him and 25 other employees to participate, as well as lodging for all the families. Liv and I jumped at the opportunity to get some fresh mountain air and headed up to Beaver Creek to support our papa.

Mid 70's and a cool breeze made for perfect spectator conditions. Liv snoozed in the trusty Ergo while I watched racers army crawl through the mud under barbed wire, climb steep walls and run through electric wires to get to the finish line. 

Keane has always been an athlete and is the most coordinated person I know so I had no doubt he would do well, but I'll admit, I was a little nervous about him getting hurt along the way. It didn't help that while I was standing in line for the bathroom during the race, I overheard two women chatting about their husbands' injuries from last year's Tough Mudder. One broke his leg and the other tore his calf muscle in half. 

Awesome!

Luckily, Keane made it out alive, completing the entire course in a little over 3 hours with just a few sore ribs and some scraped up elbows and knees to show for it all.  

His girls were so proud of him!

The event was so inspiring to watch. I had permanent goosebumps seeing people, dirtied and bloodied, crossing the finish line just before collapsing, grown men carrying their injured friends through the mud and married couples completing the race hand in hand. Keane even saw a war vet who had lost his legs being pushed up the mountain in his wheelchair by a group of friends. He completed every event, including the swimming obstacles, as his teammates and spectators cheered him on. 

I was so moved and motivated after the race that I even told Keane I might want to train with him and do the Tough Mudder next year. That was until I attempted to cross the monkey bars at our local playground and promptly fell off. Turns out I have no upper body strength.

This little chicken, though! She's in training for the Tough 

Mudder 2031. She's pretty tough so I think she'll do well.