Cheering Boyfriend and friends on their strong finish! This is in the middle of nowhere. In Wisconsin. It's really pretty. We went with our best friends on a road trip: Two men- both running, two beagles, two ladies (cheering them on) and one three year old. There is camping. We didn't camp. I am so not dealing with tents and ground along with two sore men, rambunctious dogs and a cute three year old. Hence, the picturesque bluffs that hold charming B&Bs. If you are running, I suppose you know what to wear and pack. As a supporter- pack: Ice Packs, Ace Bandage, topical neosporin, painkillers, snacks, bottled water, any kind of muscle rubs (Sombra on Amazon is miraculous relief!) or Epsom Salts will be a comfort. Trust. So ease back and enjoy the party. read more

This last Saturday I participated in the 1st annual Tough Mudder Wisconsin. I thought this was a very fun event that I would do again next year without question. There were however some improvements that could be made to make this a 5-Star event. We were slated to start at 12:20 even though we requested a start time 3 hours prior to that. Not a big deal we didn't get our time, I assume it was a 1st come 1st serve basis. Reading the suggestion on their website we decided to show up 2 hours prior to our start time to pick up our race packets. Unfortunately the parking situation was very unorganized and we waited for over an hour to drive the final 5 miles and park. Thankfully the registration process was very quick and we had ~10 minutes to spare before the start. Waves of "Mudders" take off every 20 minutes to help spread people throughout the course and to try and prevent backups. This worked well for the first 1.5 miles, but at the first true obstacle (Berlin Wall - Climbing over a 12 ft wall) there was a backlog of at least a hundred people. We (I was with my two brothers, and we had lost and could not locate the rest of our group) waited for at least 20 minutes to complete this obstacle. It was at this point that we realized why this is not a timed event. If they did time it people would be pushy and only look our for #1. Later in the race we had to wait 20-30 minutes for the balance beam obstacle, but most of the other ones had no or little wait. Per their website, this event was dubbed to be "Probably the Toughest Event on the Planet". To me that's going a little far. I've run many races before and to me a full marathon and even a half marathon are harder. If the clientele of this race was made up of more competitive people who trained, it would have been much harder. To me it was hard to get tired when you would run 1/2 mile increments and then take a break to do relatively easy obstacles. We were not passed the whole race by anybody and 80% of the people we did pass were walking. In other words, there were a lot of unauthentic people doing and completing the course. Running 1 mile and completing easy obstacles while walking another 9 miles does not make you athlete. Just like Tap Out gear and a UFC trailer hitch cover doesen't make you a fighter...... it clarifies to others you are a d-bag. Anyway. It was fun to get with friends and family to do an event out of the ordinary. I would definitely do it again, but hope they can work to limit the lines both in parking and at obstacles. read more