This blog was written in collaboration with Nexcare™.
This seasons TMHQ pushed tough to its limits. We launched Tough Mudder X, which was the most insane race of Summer, if not, ever. We got down and dirty during the Nashville 5k for a new breed of fun-run. We’re challenging Legionnaires to take on a Tougher, Toughest, and World’s Toughest competition in a single seasons to fight for the Holy Grail. And we just announced a team relay format for World’s Toughest Mudder to test Mudder’s strategy and put group toughness to the test.
While we hold-fast to the belief that anyone can complete a Tough Mudder event, the mud can make any First-Timer or Legionnaire toughen up faster than Coach can get a group of Mudders going on event day. When it comes to miles of mud, there are some tough love real lessons to be learned. Check out these 7 and be convinced of what we already know: real life is lived outside your comfort zone.
1. Every Moment Matters
A lot can happen in mere seconds – from slipping off the bars of Funky Monkey and landing in a pile of muck, to losing a split-second lead when your gear gets stuck in a mud pit.
In the mud, every second is a chance to test and prove your speed, power, agility, adaptability, and full-body strength by getting back up when you fall and feel like can’t continue. Slowing down to catch your breath between obstacles, or wipe the mud from your hands before Kong is a chance for another athlete to prove themselves as tougher.
While life doesn’t require the shimmying under literal barbed wire like Kiss of Mud 2.0 does… every moment is a chance to overcome an obstacle, and Nexcare™ will be there through every obstacle to help keep you moving. So Mudder, when it’s between doing and not doing, DO because every moment and second is a chance to prove your toughness.
2. Pain Faces Are Inevitable, Embrace Them
Scrolling through the professional photographs that are sure to become our next profile picture after our latest Tough Mudder, Legionnaires know that pain faces are inevitable. Pain faces are like Mud Mile 2.0, you can we can either embrace them now or lose out on the opportunity for the Instagram post of a lifetime later.
Dear Mudder, whether it’s conquering Ladder to Hell, a tough workout from the Tough Mudder Training Guide, or your new boss or step-Mom, remember: pain-faces are inevitable, but keep pushing through, because they make for great stories. Plus, at TMHQ there’s nothing we love more than a Mudder proving that they are tough enough to push through the pain and do what they love.
3. Tough Times Don’t Last, Mudder Friends Do
One only needs to watch the athletes cross the finish line and immediately congratulate the other now-Legionnaires to see that the Mudder’s are there for eachother throughout every obstacle.
But Mudder athletes aren’t just there for eachother on course and in the mud: they’re your team in life too. Ever make eye-contact with a Mudder rocking their finisher Tee in public? That look says everything. Ever hopped on the subway only to catch another Legionnaire embracing #HeadbandMonday? It only takes one to realize that the friend you make in (and around) the mud are the friends you want in life. Life can be tough, but so long as you have a team of friends who make you tougher, you’ll get through.
4. Rub Some Mud In It
The old saying “throw some dirt in it” is all about dealing with literal wounds, because dirt (or mud) would generally help stop the bleeding of a cut or scrape. Now, we use the expression on and off the Mudder course literally and figuratively to mean, “”Tough it out”. Athletes use dirt like chalk to keep their hands from slipping during Funky Monkey, while others simply embrace the mud that paints their hair, hands, and chests.
At the end of the day, competitive and noncompetitive Mudders learn the same lesson: there’s nothing a little mud can’t fix.
5. Mental Toughness Will Get You Further Than Physical Strength
When it comes to mud pits, monkey bars, and Tough Mudder’s version of Mount Everest, you need more than physical strength and a team of Mudder spectators cheering you on… you need mental toughness. Mudders fighting for the Holy Grail know that it takes work to get your brain to a point where it is willing to push longer, harder, further than it ever has before. It takes mental burpees. It takes mind hurdles. It takes conquering Balls to the Wall and Stage 5 Clinger in your brain before stepping foot on course.
The mental toughness you learn for your Tough Mudder event and use mid-Snot-Rocket will come back and get you through life’s muck: death, divorce, job loss, sickness. Simply put, the hard stuff that happens in life are the cuts and scrapes, but mental toughness is the bandage and dressing that are designed to better care for our wounds while we take on everything life throws our way.
6. The More You Escape The Ordinary, The More You’ll Learn
When was the last time you did something for the first time? Sean “The Mirrorman” Corvelle asks this questions to First-Time Mudders at the start of every heat. The importance of the implicit message cannot be overstated: you’ll learn more when you escape the ordinary and beat monotony than you will doing the same old, same old.
So whether you’re training to step foot on course for your first Full Tough Mudder or you’ve just decided to do register for a Tough Mudder Half, push yourself to step outside your comfort zone. That’s where life gets lived fully, afterall.
7. Put a Nexcare™ Bandage On It And Get Back Out There
Every now and then, the course will surely best you. Whether it be the Kiss of Mud 2.0’s barbed wire, Arctic Enema’s ice-cold water, or Balls to The Wall’s rope, you’re bound to get a little scrape or two. With Nexcare™, you can simply put a bandage on it and get back to living your life, knowing that your bandage will stay on in any kind of conditions. Mud, water, and dust are no match for you, and the same should be true for your bandage.
Life’s too short to sit out, so when you get knocked down, pick yourself up, get back out there, and finish what you started.
