Tough Guy!

Well, I managed to survive the moderately absurd Tough Guy competition on Sunday, the annual run / obstacle course through the English countryside. Upon arrival at the farm, we were greeted by a circus - thousands of people dressed up in crazy costumes and/or carrying ridiculous props. Our group of 20 included 'Athena' with shield and spear, an '80s rocker with blond wig, and a guy in a muscle outfit. (These were pretty tame by comparison, and I ran part of the race next to a guy in a thong).

After signing our 'death warrants' aka liability waivers, we were off. We ran a few miles, climbed up and down hills, catapulted ourselves over bales of hay, crawled underneath nets, and leapt into and climbed out of pits of mud and water. And then we got to the 'killing fields'. 20-some obstacles lay in front of us, involving 30-foot rope climbs, mud, barbed wire, tire tunnels, more mud, concrete tunnels, electrically-charged wires, even more mud, a 12-foot leap into freezing muddy water, slippery climbs up muddy slopes, still more mud, burning hay bales, tightrope walks, a swim in freezing muddy water, and yes, lots more mud. Now, you would think that after you're wet and covered in mud once, the next couple of dozen times wouldn't be so bad, right? Not so much: each time was just as miserable as the time before. The worst by far were the tasks that required complete submergence - everything just kind of froze in place for a few moments before I could register just how painful it was. Here's a video from last year's competition to give you an idea of the mayhem.



Enough belly aching: we were lucky to have a good year, comparatively speaking. The course was a bit shorter than expected, and it was in the low '50s. The ordeal would have been downright barbaric if it had actually been winter-like weather. As it was, roughly 50 people or so were taken from the course to the 'hospital tent' to be treated for hypothermia.

All of this misery begs the question: why? Why subject yourself to hours of pain and misery all for the sake of a rather hideous golden medal? For one thing, I think it's marketed well, and the race capitalizes on its appeal to machismo. The vast majority of participants are men (maybe about 80%), and there is a strong military contingent. If the event were called 'Run through mud on a horse farm' I have a weird feeling it wouldn't be quite as successful. More importantly though, I think people relish the suffering. There's something empowering about suffering - it throws into greater relief small comforts, like the absence of freezing muddy water, that we take for granted. Experiences that expand our comfort zones make us stronger. I'll always think twice before complaining about being cold, reflecting back to the 'walk the plank' obstacle in the killing fields. Our lives are pretty tame, and the opportunity to run through this absurd scene is an escape of sorts, a way to prove to ourselves that we can handle extreme circumstances, however manufactured they may be.