The trek to Obstacle Two was all downhill, glorious, beautiful downhill. The wind was blowing but the rain had let up for a spell, so although we were each of us cold, and wet, it wasn’t all that bad. Moving around was helping to keep everyone warm and that hike up the mountain had helped limber and stretch our bodies out. We were all pretty much still high energy and raring to go. Those Glory Blades hadn’t slowed us down all that much and arrogance powered each step, as my brother and husband swaggers their way forwards and I tried hard not to slip and fall the rest of the way down the mountain.
And then we turned the corner to see the Mud Mile. Holy crap. Because it was early in day 1, when we reached the mud mile, it was still in pretty much pristine condition. What that meant for us was that we got 7 trenches that were just FILLED with water, it came up to about my chest, and that the HUGE mud hills we had to try and climb over had absolutely NO HANDHOLDS. It was literally designed so that you had to get help to complete it. Which is part of the reason I love this Challenge so much.
I would give my husband a boost up (I’m a very good anchor it turns out), and once he was on top of the trench he’d turn around and help haul me up. Then he’d move on and I’d turn around and help my brother up, and then a few other Mudders as well, because 1- I love mud and being muddy just makes my inner child squeal with delight 2- I’m a LOT stronger than people assume when they look at me, so it’s fun to see the astonishment in guys’ faces as I literally pull them up on my own.
That was trench one, and for some reason I thought that maybe it would get easier as we went along. But no, there was NO getting easier. Each trench was deep, filled with water and mud and each hill was slickly muddy with not handholds available. But everyone was in good spirits, it was the beginning of the day and this was our first real mud obstacle, so everyone was laughing and having a good time, and then spitting grit out of their mouths because you SPLASHED when you slid into the next trench. Also, I have never in my life manhandled so many butts, nor been so manhandled in return, all very friendly like. Once we were all thoroughly coated in goop, it was onto the next leg.