Mud races hone my mental fortitude

Posted On July 23, 2019

Last year I ran 6 mud races. I’ve run a total of 11 in my life (including one in Singapore and one in Kuala Lumpur). I originally was aiming for 10 last year alone, but overtrained mid-year and was out for about 3 months with a knee injury. I learned the hard way how important it is to recover, stretch, and roll out.

[Side note: I’m the type of person who gets really into something, then jumps around to the next, and sometimes comes back. Case in point, it’s July and I’ve done exactly ZERO mud races this year]

Mud races, the most common being Spartan Race and Tough Mudder, are 8-12 mile obstacles course runs on a trail course usually involving lots of mud. The obstacles range from army crawls to crazy monkey bars to jumping into a dumpster filled with ice water to carrying logs to trudging through the mud to throwing a spear at a target in Spartan Race.

There’s usually about 5,000 to 6,000 people who run these races each weekend. Most people do mud races with friends for fun. I did that for the first two I ran with a few fratenity buddies. I wanted something that was challenging and more interesting than running just a half marathon or marathon.

Now I do these races to compete and push my limits. I run in the first heat of the day (usually around 7am) which is 300 or so of the top athletes in the race. My goal is to crack the top 20. I’ve done this a couple of times and got 4th place* in one!

These races can be a brutal test of physical aptitude and grit. Honestly it’s an accomplishment for anyone who completes the courses at all. One that I ran was 12.5 miles and 3,500 ft in elevation gain. That’s no joke!

I said this in my original post on blogging, but one of my favorite feelings, if not my favorite, is staring back at a barrier you overcame.

Mud races do that for me.

When you push yourself that hard to compete you really figure out your limits. And they’re usually greater than you expect.

10 times out of 10 I’m halfway through the race thinking “I’ve got 5 more miles of this shit that I have to go through. What was I thinking paying $150 and waking up at the crack of dawn to submit myself to corporal punishment. I don’t have to be here. This sucks. I’m an idiot.”

But there’s another part of me that knows I’m not going to quit. Knows that I’d never let that person who’s behind me come and pass me. So, begrudgingly, I keep chugging along.

You get some nice highs when you beat an obstacle (like those twisting monkey bars that always drove me crazy) and avoid the 30 burpee penalty. But the real high is when you realize there’s only 1 mile left. It’s such a good feeling and gets the adrenaline pumping. You’re almost done with this misery.

When I cross that finish line I automatically go back to that little moment of doubt I had halfway through and a little smile cracks across my face.

That feelings extendes even further than the finish of my race though. It translates into other aspects of my life too.

Knowing that I’ve already pushed through barriers in these mud races makes me more confident I can push through uncomfortable tasks in other parts of my life too.

I know I can get through grinding on a long list of to dos, getting delayed while traveling, sitting in on a lecture I lose interest in 5 mins in, fighting fires at work, anything that comes my way.

Because I’ve built up that reseliance and the more barriers you overcome the more you’re likely to look the next one staright in the face and say “I’ve got this. Mind over matter.”

In addition to the competition and pushing limits, I also love the comraderie of mud races. Even though I’ve signed up for most of the races I compete in alone, I always make friends with others at the end and share war stories. The top competitors are such a supportive and driven group of people.