Mud. Water. Fire. Electricity. A 12 mile course with a few obstacles along the way. The Tough Mudder was billed as a rugged challenge to test even the toughest. So obviously when it was suggested (possibly under the influence) that the Swans should field a team in the Chicago event, that a flock of 20 Swans and Swanettes geared up to brave the challenge.
The day began with the unveiling of the team shirt (A perfectly white tank top emblazoned with the new logos) and a quick drive down to Joliet for our limo (school bus) to the event site. Despite Dougy getting busted for “standees” we managed to survive the wrath of the bus driver and arrive at beautiful Seneca, IL.
One initial test, scaling a 7ft wall (which we would learn to be just a confidence booster) was all that stood between us and the start line. A couple of “hoo-rahs” later and we were off, running through a plume of orange smoke we got a brief taste of what we were up against… a short distance of ankle deep mud.. Only a few hundred feet later we got to test if the new Swans training shirts would stand up to the punishing our shoes just experienced. A face first slide and slither through thick mud, to avoid getting dirty meant getting cut up on barbed wire so that was the official end of the “white” shirts. That was also the end of the “easy bit” of the course.
From there the pain continued. 12 miles, 22 obstacles, from jumping fire pits to swimming through ice water, from climbing up and over 20ft structures to jumping off them, from running through pits of mud to running through pits of mud while being shocked by 10,000 volts of electricity. 12 miles and 22 obstacles designed to test our mental and physical toughness, our teamwork and our laundry machine.
Congratulations to all that participated and our photographers and fans on the day. The beer at the end was worth it.
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