Here’s mud in your eye – and everywhere else
By Pam Hersh, Special Writer
I have one major gripe about breaking my shoulder in a recent accident. I wish people didn’t laugh so hard.
No one laughed at my injury per se, but they did laugh at my response when they inevitably asked “How did you break your shoulder?”
Tripping over my two left feet while doing my morning slog around the neighborhood sounded very lame, so I announced to friends and acquaintances that I fell when chasing my 26-year-old boyfriend. Out of the hundreds of people to whom I mentioned this, not one took me seriously. That was as painful as the injury.
Two weeks ago, however, while in the middle of a physical therapy session, I had an epiphany. From now on when anyone asks, I will blame my sports injury on the Tough Mudder. No one will laugh, they will either say “Wow” or “Huh.”
”Huh” was exactly what I said when my physical therapist, Allison Jackson, mentioned that her husband, a Bristol Myers Squibb research pharmacist ran — with 25,000 other people two weeks ago — the Tough Mudder in Englishtown. William Jackson, a 26-year-old Plainsboro resident, is not the phantom 26-year-old whom I was chasing. Rather he is someone who introduced me to a fabulous sporting event in which I never ever will participate, but which constitutes a great excuse as the cause for whatever ails me now and in the future.
Tough Mudder is an “intense” obstacle course race event, designed by British Special Forces, that tests the participant’s physical and mental mettle, as well as the individual’s ability to work with a team. William, who has run a couple of half marathons and one full marathon, said the race — like a “Raiders of the Lost Ark” adventure — was exhilarating in a way that he never felt when running a regular race. To conquer mud pits, fire, ice-water, 15- foot walls, underground mud tunnels, 10,000 volts of electricity, 25-foot jump/dive platforms, the participant needs teammates to provide mental and physical boosts.
Comprising the exhilarating and so-called fun event was “a variety of extraordinary challenges,” William says. “The electric eel requires you to army crawl in muddy water with electric wires hanging right above you. If you get too high they can shock you (I was shocked in the shoulder and it drove me straight into the water).
The Arctic enema is an ice bath that requires you to duck underneath a wooden plank therefore fully submerging yourself in ice water — you have four more miles of running afterwards. I could go on and on about the obstacles (I am afraid of heights so the 25-foot plank was a real challenge for me). But the best thing to take away is that you need your team members. Your team members are crucial not only to complete obstacles, but cheer you on. All the other running races I’ve finished have always been a solo event. The Mudder was a great team-bonding exercise with my friends, BMS co-worker Nick Bires and Nick’s brother Kris Bires.”
He and his teammates unquestionably will participate again. The finish line is a big celebration of bands, beer, cheers — the emphasis being congratulations on finishing, not speed. During the race participants are at risk for ankle sprains, lower back issues, and shoulder injuries. For training, William and I did a lot of endurance and strength training, in particular focused on stabilizer muscles to gain stronger balance.
His wife Allison, a physical therapist, helped her husband train beforehand and recover afterward. However, her support waned somewhat when William showed up at their Hunters Glen Apartment still very grungy and showered in the bathroom that she had so meticulously scrubbed hours earlier.
The Jackson/Bires team finished the 12-mile course in 2 hours and 45 minutes, excellent time, since the average time is three hours and can go as long as four or five hours. One individual ran the race carrying a life-sized mannequin of a soldier — signifying that the race is not only good for the body and mind, but also the spirit. All proceeds from the registration fees go to support the charity of the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) that helps thousands of injured soldiers returning from the battlefields and their families.
The demographic breakdown appeared to be about 60 percent male, 40 percent female, most people were in their 20s and 30s, but, Will added, “a considerable number of participants were old…in their 40s!” Hmmm.
Even though I have no intention to lead a Grand Tough Mudder contingent, I was thrilled that the race not only provided me a sexy comeback for how I had broken my shoulder, but also provided that all important perspective regarding life’s physical and mental challenges.