Where do I start?  Three weeks later and although the Tough Mudder High is mostly gone, these memories will last a lifetime!  When we talk mud runs and obstacle races, we think about the physical challenge.  However, the highlights of this weekend were related to mental toughness and camaraderie!  After an 18 week training program, 9 of which were held in snow, theInfamous Neuty Osos, 38 (yes three-eight) strong, absolutely stole the show at Mount Snow!  Here’s a 2 minute recap of the training:

With a group this size, we needed to do a significant amount of strategic planning.  Thanks toSuper Dave for helping me visualize our domination before we even took the course, especially at the Pyramid Scheme.  We also needed to have roles in order to get so many people through the obstacles quickly.  Thanks to our “base men” for powering us over the walls/hurdles and insulating us at Electroshock, thanks to the “flyers” for keeping us safe on the backside of the walls/hurdles, and thanks to the ladies for trusting us and being fabulous!

Here’s how the event went down from my perspective:

It was a perfect day on the mountain!  Temps were in the 60’s with partly cloudy skies.  After taking the oath, our sea of green shirts ran out of the gate.  The first obstacle was Kiss of Mud.  The barbed wire was low and ran uphill which made for a challenge.  Most of us push-pull crawled this but I stuck with the shoulder crawl technique.

We climbed some hills before taking over Glory Blades.

And climbed some more before heading down to Funky Monkey.

Muddersection was anti-climactic but Arctic Enema was cold and shocking as always!

For me, the 2nd greatest moment came at Walk the Plank.  After 3-4 non-jumps, our most FFabulous Oso, Kristen, made the leap!  She overcame a serious fear in front of the huge crowd.  It was one of the defining moments…

After Walk the Plank was “our Tough Mudder” since we climbed for the next 2.5 miles.  We helped many a mudder at Devil’s Beard.  Another defining moment came at Balls to the Wall where two of our Osos overcame their fear of heights to clear the top of the wall and descend safely!  Pressing on, we looked like professionals at the Berlin Walls!  Our strategy of having roles and focusing on safety and efficiency really paid off here as our 38 breezed over them!  The climb continued and peaked at Lumberjacked where again, we breezed right through with the help of the 10-finger hoist technique.

We all knew that once we made it to mile 7 we would be OK.  On our descent we hit Pole Dancer before Pyramid Scheme at the base of the mountain.  This was another area where strategy paid off.  We had 4 basemen, 2 rows of flyers, and a top row of pulleruppers.  It formed and disassembled like a charm:

After the Pyramid we had one final climb (there’s always one more hill!).  After we peaked we did the Warrior Carry before hitting the Legionnaire’s Loop.  Fire in Your Hole was a blast!

The group reunited there and moved on to the pinnacle of the event, staying together at Electroshock Therapy!  We practiced this a couple times in our Training.  From what I heard afterwards, I think I was the only one who believed we could pull this off!  Even “Start-line Sean” was surprised!  This represents what being part of a team is all about!  Against all odds, all 38 of Los Neuty Osos held together as 1!

I’m not sure if we will ever replicate this experience!  Every group is special, but this one wasF*cking Fabulous!  I am so proud to be part of this team!  When I think about how I get to be their leader, I just shake my head and smile!  It is an honor and privilege to train, hang, and mud with an incredible group of individuals!  See you at the next one!