Tough Mudder!!

Some time back in my life I made the resolution that I would learn something new everyday for the rest of my life, no matter how big or small it was or is. So, at the end of the day I take inventory of what I have learned new for that day and I always come up with something. For example, I know that if I carry the groceries up the stairs with too much in a plastic bag the handle will fail and I will drop those groceries. Or, as I have aged I find that if I come into contact with a solid object to my body it will bruise and stay sore longer than when I was younger. Since I played football for 14 years of my life I learned that the oblong ball took many weird bounces and the players who played the game like to hit and get hit using every muscle and speed available to carry out their assignments. I also learned that the athletic mentality of football was a lasting thing, almost like a tattoo but even more so in that it was imbeaded in the sub conscious mind where as the tattoo is just under the skin and can be removed. So, while trying to keep to my creed of learning something new every day most intelligent people would ask, so what if learning about the pain of football is such a big deal or what does it have to do with life. Well, to answer that I would quote one of my early football coaches who said, “everything you learn on the football field will be of value to you for the rest of your life and you will never forget it. The reason being is you learn about pain, fatigue, adversity, teamwork, hard work, dedication, will to win, victory, losing and on and on!” You know, he was right and I think of that guy almost every day of my life.

Now today as I sit here at my desk with a bruised swollen big toe, bruised left hip, bruised swollen left thumb, sore stomache muscles, sore pecks, and a real feeling of fatigue, mud still caked in my finger nails, toe nails and ears I have that really good feeling of “finishing!” As I visit the things my coach had promised would happen if I played football I find all of the things he mentioned, good and bad, even though he didn’t realize I would be competing in some mud race 50 years after his revelations. As I mentioned above that football mentality just seems to stay within the sub-conscious mind no matter what or the age of the ex player. Since I entered this thing called Tough Mudder with the idea of going and “observing” I found the adrenaline and buckets of testosterone flowing freely was just too much to pass up. So, I decided to start the 12 mile journey through mud, ice water, obstacles that challenge the strongest and bravest and stop when I saw fit. Well after going through the first 3 miles I was really disgusted with myself in that this thing was real hard and while I was fit to run the 12 miles with ease I wasn’t fit to climb, lift, pull, crawl, or submerge myself in mud that often was knee deep. As a kid I really never liked to play in the mud but it appeared other entrants there did do that as kids. Of course the average age on the course was some where around 29 or younger and I saw no “white hairs” to speak of, I felt senior lonesome. One of the things I did notice is that everyone did care about the other athletes and they offered to help me more that I really wanted, but I did appreciate it(my thought did wonder if they sensed my age and felt sorry for me until I saw a guy who knew me and said, “your our hero, keep on going”, honestly that was good for my ego to complete another 3 miles). Since this was considered a team event and I was a team of one there was assistance offered on the obstacles that required more than one to get through them.

In the conclusion I spent over 4 hours on the course, completed the full 12 miles and was designated a “Tough Mudder” finisher and have the certificate to prove it. While I have no desire to do this again I will admit I have been thinking of who my team members would be “IF” I decided to tackle this event again. Ummmm!!!, Mark Garland, Mark Livesy, and grand son Cameron Richardson, sounds like a winning team to me!! I wonder??? Hey you Tough Mudders hit the deck with push ups, sit ups, leg lifts, etc., etc., we got a mission to accomplish!!

EA, SH........:)

greerman