What will you do for a beer?

· by · in Uncategorized. ·

A team of 5 current and ex-members of staff from the Glasgow, Braehead store braved Tough Mudder in Scotland last weekend, and Claire found the strength to give us an insight into what it was like……

Tough Mudder – 22 various obstacles designed by ex-special forces held over the course of an 11+ mile off-road run. The ‘obstacles’ leave little to the imagination; ‘Kiss of Mud’, ‘Walk the Plank’, ‘Berlin Walls’, ‘Trench Warfare’ and ‘Electroshock Therapy’ are all aptly named to ensure you’re pre event apprehension escalates to a outright fear before you have even seen the ‘obstacles’! Despite us being in the middle of summer we were greeted with typical Scottish weather in the form of rain showers interspersed with sunny spells. Oh yes, and least we forget the midges!

After finding all members of team L.E.Bees at the castle our first act of the day was to sign our lives away in the form of handing over a ‘Death Waiver’ at the registration desk for which we received our bib numbers and four safety pins. A fair swap? For all the fun that we were about to behold I can honestly say that the answer to that is most definitely a “Yes!”.

After the mass warm up in front of the main stage we moved towards the start line where we were confronted by our first obstacle of the day in the form of an 8ft wall – and this was before we had even started! Having successfully scaled the wall we took our place on the start line and took

the Tough Mudder pledge alongside our fellow Tough Mudder-ers.

The pledge:

I understand that tough-mudder is not a race but a challenge

I put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time

My personal Fav: I do not whine – Kids Whine

I help my fellow Mudders complete the course 

I overcome all fears

Setting off at a steady jog we were in anticipation of what would lay ahead. We didn’t need to wonder for very long because by the end of the first mile we were covered in mud from head to toe before having the joy of ‘Arctic Enema’ cleaning us back down to the bone. At this obstacle we needed to completely submerge ourselves in an ice bath in order to duck underneath the barbed-wire-topped-tree-branch that was in the way. Never before have you seen so many people gasping for breath as they are reintroduced to the world! This process then turned in to a common theme throughout the race where we would be trudging, crawling (or falling – Jenny :-D) into big puddles of mud before crossing rivers, jumping into lakes, and swimming lots to keep us clean.

‘Berlin Walls’, which were a series of 10 and 12ft walls, proved to be one of the many occasions during the course where the camaraderie amongst all Tough Mudder-ers came to the fore as strangers were helped up and over the wall before providing assistance to the next. ‘Everest’ proved to be the pinnacle of this where seemingly the men with the ‘amply developed upper body strength’ lay face down over the lip of the quarter pipe catching whatever limb was thrown their way by a long line of runners giving it their all from the bottom of the pipe.

The final obstacle was called ‘Electroshock Therapy’ which involved running through hundreds of overhead electric wires (some of which carry 10000 volts), clambering through mud, and jumping over strategically placed hay bails…all whilst wet! A fitting end to a thoroughly enjoyable course which you could not complete without your friends, teammates and your fellow Mudder-ers helping you every step of the way. Upon crossing the finish line to cheers as your arrival is announced over the loud speaker you are each greeted with a bright orange headband being slapped over your head, a space blanket wrapped round your shoulders, and a beer thrust in to your hand. Smiles and hugs all around. Job well done.

One day on and talk moves on to next year despite the aches and pains that inevitably follow. All of team L.E.Bees have said how much fun it was and that they’ll do it again. The team has already grown in numbers ready for 2013. There is no doubt the course is tough but what do you expect? Maybe we’ll each do a bit more hill training next year but we finished as a complete unit and that was our goal.

Are you tough enough to tackle Tough Mudder 2013? Give it a go because you may just surprise yourself and if you do, make sure you give us a wave and come say hello.