MY TOUGH MUDDER EXPERIENCE.

As you guys all know, I've been training and losing weight for about 8 months, with the goal of completing Tough Mudder. Well, yesterday was the day, and I, along with thousands of others, headed down to Philip Island GP track for the event.
I wore my Liptember lipstick, as promised, and I was ready for the challenge. I even had a Tough "Mudda" manicure in my team colours for the occasion.

We all got signed in, and literally with minutes to spare, made it to our start time. We got fired up, took the Mudder Oath and were on our way!
The first bit of jogging was on the actual GP track. How many people (who haven't done Tough Mudder) get to say they've run on the same track as many famous Grand Prix have been held on?

I struggled a little with shin splints while we were on the hard surface, but after about 1km, we were off track, and into the mud of it all. Slippery, stinky mud, sometimes knee-deep, tested whether our shoes were on tightly enough. We powered through it and got to our first obstacle at the 2km mark. Glory Blades is a series of 8-foot walls, angled so that there's no climbing surface. It's a challenge of either teamwork or sheer upper body strength, and I'm super proud to say I got over both walls, with the help of my awesome teammates. I have a big bruise on my arm to prove it!

Another bit of walking and jogging through mud and along some of the most beautiful scenic trails I've ever been on, and we came to a fence jump. All of the fences are electrified, so an A-frame had been constructed for us to climb up and jump off into ankle-deep mud below. My fear of heights didn't stop me, and I sat in and dropped off with a hand from my brother.

Next up was a tyre run. All of the tyres had sticky mud inside them, so it was important to get good footing. I chose to go between the tyres instead of into the middle of each one, and though it was slippery, I didn't get stuck.

taken after the swelling had gone down.

We had a little over 1km to go between that and the next obstacle, Kiss of Mud, in which you crawl through mud under barbed wire...but my journey ended before we got there. Somewhere after the 4km marker, we had walked for a bit through mud, and decided that a nice flat piece of grass was a good place to take up a jog once more. Two steps into the jogging, I lost my footing, heard a big "crack!" and went down hard on my right ankle.

At first, I thought I'd just rolled it and could go on. I even limped along on it for about 100 metres, while talking to my brother about what obstacles I realistically could and couldn't do on a sore ankle. Eventually the endorphins wore off, the pain kicked in and I conceded defeat and called for a medic.

splint and very muddy leg

A lovely young man named Jacob took care of me out on the field while we waited for the transport to come and take me to the official medical area where I could be examined and finally get some pain meds to take the edge off of what was becoming pretty horrendous pain. The buggy arrived about 30-40 minutes later (they had other proper emergencies to take care of first) and we started back towards the base area. I'm sad that I didn't catch my driver's name. He was really caring and awesome. We had to take the mud track all the way back to the base, and he warned me of bumps coming up and was genuinely concerned for me when I yelled out in pain, though I urged him to "just get us there. It'll be ok when we get there".


We got to the base medical area, and I was seen straight away, given medication for the pain, and examined by a doctor. They kept ice on it, and the doctor asked if I had someone driving me. I knew that they couldn't spare an ambulance for what they thought was a broken ankle, in case a life-threatening injury came up, so we decided that it was better for me to wait for my friends who were spectating to come and drive me to the hospital.

Xray machine!

My friends were amazing, and we got a buggy to take me out to the car, then set off for the hospital. My friend,  Brooke, was driving me, and she drove me to the hospital that was out of her way (because I was guaranteed a much shorter wait time) and stayed with me the whole time. I'm so grateful to have such amazing friends. I can't express my gratitude to everyone who was with me, concerned for me, and taking care of my medical needs yesterday.

My temporary cast

I went to Rosebud hospital Emergency Department, and was taken care of very quickly. I was X-rayed, had my broken ankle confirmed, and had a temporary soft cast applied. The doctor has referred me to Orthopedic Surgeons at a larger hospital next week to be assessed and have either a moon boot or a hard cast applied to my leg.

In the meantime, getting around really sucks. I'm in bunches of pain, and the crutches aren't really allowing me to keep it completely weight-free, so today I'm off to hire a wheelchair, just to get around the house in, and enable me to do things like grocery shopping without too much hassle and pain.

All in all, I'm really disappointed that I didn't get to do the obstacles I'd trained for, the ones I had wanted to do to help me get over some fears, and finally earn that orange headband. I'm proud that I had the balls to sign up, the guts to train for it, and actually got there on the day. I'm happy with the changes that have occurred within my body, both aesthetically and in endurance and fitness, and I'm looking forward to continuing that journey once my leg is healed.

For now, all I can do is put my feet up and rest.