By Jennifer Rice
Managing Editor
I don’t sport a barbed wire tattoo or eat raw eggs for breakfast, but this weekend, I’ll pretend I do.
I’m competing, along with my fiance, in the Tough Mudder, a 10-mile obstacle course set on a ski hill in Wisconsin, known as the toughest event on the planet. You start at the bottom of the ski hill, work your way up, across, then down. It’s an extreme endurance race that will push every participant to the limit, you’re race number is written on your forehead in black Magic Marker.
There are 20-25 obstacles that are either natural or man-made. There is smoke and flames, open water, high-voltage wires hanging over a puddle of water, constrictor tubes to crawl through, monkey bars and 12-foot high walls to scale. And mud. Lots and lots of mud.
I first heard of the Tough Mudder this spring and though it may sound like a crappy way to spend a Saturday, we can’t wait to compete. To appreciate the full effect of the Tough Mudder, we’re dressing up in costumes — as Native Americans.
There is no major award at the end. Instead, you get free beer and a neon-orange sweatband, straight out of an Olivia Newton-John “Physical” video. It’s mandatory to sport the sweatband at work on Monday. You know, to let every one know what a Tough Mudder you really are.
The event is not timed. Instead, it’s a course all about teamwork, true grit and mental determination. On most obstacles, you need help from fellow mudders.
What I also like about the Tough Mudder is it’s partnered with the Wounded Warrior Project, which helps wounded servicemen and women. To date, Tough Mudder participants have raised more than $1.3 million.
Wounded vets also compete in this race. Pictures on Tough Mudder’s website show vets with missing legs or arms, still competing, still giving it all they have and not giving up. They may be physically challenged but they embody the Tough Mudder spirit, which is: To understand this is not a race but a challenge; to put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time; do not whine – kids whine; help my fellow Mudders complete the course and overcome all fears.
I’ve been glued to the TV set for the Discovery Channel’s “Surviving the Cut,” which takes viewers into the intense world of military elite forces training. This show has become part of my CliffsNotes training for the Tough Mudder. For me, this is how I envision the Tough Mudder will be. Deep down, I know they are nothing alike. Elite military training is far more extreme than a Tough Mudder, but it’s all I’ve got.
Our Tough Mudder training consists of three days a week at boot camp, running and weight training. At a local grade school I found monkey bars to practice on. I got across 12 of them before I felt a blister break on my left palm. I opted for no gloves because the ones I was going to use kept slipping. For the past week I’ve been trying to get my hand to heal.
I’ve competed in other mud runs, some with obstacles, some without. I’ve run through mud at night, completed a marathon, played five games of softball in a row and walked 60 miles in three days.
But I don’t think anything will prepare me for what awaits me this weekend at the Tough Mudder. But that’s what I’m looking forward to, and I can’t wait.

Jennifer Rice’s e-mail address is Jen@foxvalleylabornews.com.