Schlachter, commonly referred to as "the most connected person in the sport of OCR" or "center of the OCR universe" takes on the role of Supreme Editor-in-Chief of Mud Run Guide (mudrunguide.com) on top of her duties as host & producer of Obstacle and Adventure Weekly, co-host on OCR Warrior, founder of Dirt in Your Skirt, subject matter expert & columnist for obstacleracing.About.com, and writer for Mud & Obstacle Magazine.
We ran slow. We took a lot of time. We were afraid that we’d miss the cutoff and be removed from the course, but the folks from Tough Mudder assured us that they were there with us until the triumphant end. As we worked our way toward Electroshock Therapy we were dumbfounded to see a vast array of Staff people, volunteers, and fellow racers who hung around and waited on us so that they could cheer us on and encourage us as we crossed that Finish Line. It was a beautiful and moving experience.
Shortly after my 21st birthday, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus. This blow was hard to handle as I had been very sick for some time and being diagnosed with both at such a young age was a hard pill to swallow. For the next eight years of my life I became very ill and spent a lot of time at the hospital. Lupus and RA were controlling my life. I had numerous surgeries, blood clots, and a detached retina.
I arrived excited but after talking to these seasoned Tough Mudder's (those that have completed two or more are known as Legionnaires) I was now even more ready to rock and roll. Time passed pretty fast and before I knew it I was at the first starting line and ready to go. At this point we had someone really pumping up the group and getting us to stretch. We were then allowed to begin and I started to get myself in gear and noticed the group was stopping a short distance ahead as we had not actually started the course yet. The group was now being pumped up by Tough Mudder Motivator Sean Corvelle and he is very good at his job.
“Tough Mudder participants have been sharing their photos in record numbers on social media,” said Gameface Media CEO David Lavallee. “For brands like MET-Rx, this engagement allows participants to promote their involvement with the brand in a very authentic and legitimate way. They sample terrific MET-Rx products at the event and then extend their engagement with the brand on social media once they get home.”
I know there have been lots of articles this year about Tough Mudder getting easy. I won’t say that Tough Mudder as a whole is getting easy, TMHQ has some new awesome obstacles, both for everyone and legion members, but this is about a single event right now so let’s focus on Tough Mudder Nashville. Let me begin be saying that this article does contain a spoiler alert, I will flag it well so you can skip over it if you want to, not that I think anyone will, but someone might not want to know more about the TM Legionnaires Loop.
Tough Mudder is one of the major names in obstacle course racing, but it’s not a race, it’s a *challenge*. It is 10-12 miles, untimed and group focused. Obstacles are designed to be conquered together, by helping one another through. My best friend has been inviting me to do the Tough Mudder for several years now, and I have declined all opportunities to participate. This year I caved and signed up. The sheer distance had been the major factor in my decision, but also unnerving were two of the legendary obstacles: “Walk the Plank”, a 15 foot jump into water, and “Electroshock Therapy”, where you run through active electrical wires and risk a jolt of electricity that is enough to make your knees buckle beneath you.
When I was 18 months old, I was accidentally shot by a .22 caliber round. When I was 12 years old, my father and I almost drowned in the Gulf of Mexico (he was resuscitated on the beach). When I was 16, I was involved in a head on collision at 50 mph and walked away from the wreckage with just a scratch on my knee.
I always have a blast and look forward to what Tough Mudder is going to bring to the table. I was scheduled to go off in the first heat at 10 AM on Saturday and the weather was perfect. I arrived there between 8-8:15am and it’s always exciting to see people already waiting in line to get their bib # and getting fired up!! Parking was well marked and all the volunteers were in their places and racers were checking in smoothly.
We were lucky again to have the legion himself Sean Covelle to do our start. Sean did a great job as always motivating the crowd. The start speak is a little heavy on the Mudder Legion stuff, but still great. I was standing at the back of the starting area when Sean asked for the 10+ Legionnaires to stand, all 3 of us stood up, me at the back and the other 2 right up front. Sean asked me to crowd surf to the front and do the countdown. Which of course I did with a huge smile on my face, a quick countdown from 10 and we were off.
