Tough Mudder Exposed

Hopefully xfit the real guy attends

Mudder Focker wrote:

As you can tell, I'm a defender of this event.

Even if the whole this was a scam, it was worth this image.

http://toughmudder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110724-ToughMudderWI-Gudkov-1240.jpg

Oh my God.

I now have this strange urge to complete Tough Mudder.

Which would be why that image in on their website.

I love you, internet.

dumbest race ever wrote:

Yeah, after reading about the race in this link, we have officially found the dumbest race ever.

Mudder Focker wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzfRgz-q3KY

This is the World's Toughest Mudder, the season ending championship race. This looks like serious event for the top competitors. Over 24 hours. And both the men's and women's winner look like...well...runners.

Loved how the one guy held his nose as he jumped into the water. Tough indeed.

I will admit that it does look fun.

Cole Trickle wrote:

It will be interesting to see if Tough Mudder eventually becomes a victim of its own success. I know several people at work who are recreational runners who also have done Tough Mudder for a couple of years now. Last year they were really fired up about it, this year not as much. They say the crowds are too big now and lines form at obstacles too quickly. They don't seem to have it as a priority for next year right now.

WTF? My favorite restaurant is so crowded people don't go there anymore.

Crowds too big? You said it right there. That's called success.

As for the no timing issue...do you really think that 90% of the people doing local 5/10Ks care or even know what their time is? No.

letskeepitreal wrote:

Looks like 21st century gay male bonding if you ask me, seriously stupid little boys are tougher and a whole lot smarter than these demasculinated american males.

Actually, great post! Having been a very serious runner myself for over 43 years, I am often puzzled by the infatuation that many newbies have with these silly, "sideshow" events. Clearly, there are hucksters who are capitalizing this tendency for people "to want to belong" by shelling out lots of money in exchange for some notion that finishing these events is comparable to an authentic running race. Per your reference to your potential "bitterness", I would encourage you to not get caught up in that, but rather realize that on a positive note, many of these folks will evolve to real running and the satisfaction of progressively bettering one's performances can bring. As a now sixty year old, I still enjoy how I stack up against a predominately younger field, but also how I like to see how I compare to others in my age group. Though I race only occasionally, I ALWAYS enjoy my regular training runs with my friends (virtually all of whom are younger than myself). Ultimately, that is what running is all about! Cheers.

Hmmmmmmmmmm wrote:...As for the no timing issue...do you really think that 90% of the people doing local 5/10Ks care or even know what their time is? No.

To my surprise, I think you would be wrong about that. I direct a New Years Day 5k. Generally we produce races that we try to keep on the serious/competitive side of the sport, but our New Years 5k is the one we produce that we have always tried to promote as our one-and-only "all comers" race. By that I mean we allow you to run with your dog, push your baby jogger, and we encourage you to run in costume. I'm happy to get runners who want to run fast, but it's New Years Day and given the way training cycles work (or should work) January 1 is probably not where I'd target to run my best race of the year.

This race has grown from under 250 to almost 1000 in 6 years. We don't give performance awards (well, not your traditional age group setup, we only give awards to the male and female winners and male and female masters winners). We've always timed it with a pulltag system but at 1000 (plus cold hands, this is Vermont), we can't do a good job with manual timing any more. Normally I'd just add more chutes to handle the volume, but we are finishing on a 1-lane road and don't have the option of adding width at the chutes.

After last year's race I surveyed our entrants asking if timing/results mattered to them at this race and if so what direction should we take:

1) Bring in a company to do chip timing at an added cost to entrants.

2) Go to an "open" finish line...no timing just a big clock to see your finish time.

3) Do a "modified open" finish line with times/results for the first 250+/- finishers, then when our chutes back up steer all additional finishers to an open finish area with the big clock.

I figured option 3 would be the most popular, because I thought the slower runners didn't care as much about their times and that option would still get us times for the faster runners. We got over 200 responses and over 50% said go to chip timing. I got a lot of passionate responses from beginners or slower runners that an open finish line was not attractive to them. Surprising to me, what I would call the "better runners" (finished in sub 7:00 pace) were most interested in going to an open finish line and keeping the entry cost down.

I also don't have any interest in Tough Mudder. It's non-competitive (which I dislike) and it seems like the focus is playing in the mud just to play in the mud. I can see why it's interesting to more "recreational" athletes (runners who don't care about their time, even in timed races) because as the article says, it's something to post to Facebook (a pic of you hurdling fire) and it's something to talk about with people where you can say "yeah, i crawled through mud under barbed wire" and they can go "oh man, that's crazy, I'd never do that". It's dumb, plain and simple. It's not "athletic" nor is it the "toughest race on the planet".

Also, I know someone who worked for TM. She said that the guys that run it are total pricks who are just out to get everyone's money. They are planning to sell pretty soon as they could care less about the "race" but rather just want to sell to something like Ironman. I get it, it's a business, but you'd hope that the owners of something you participate in actually have their clients' best interest in mind. Their support of Wounded Warrior is also questionable at best. Read the article before supporting people like them.

For any of you out there who is interested in an obstacle "race" check out the Urbanathlon. I ran it last year and it was really fun and super competitive. Yes, there were lines at some obstacles if you're in the way back, but if you're in the front few waves then the obstacles are so spaced out that you don't have to wait. If you don't want to be competitive you can just do it for fun, but it's more for serious runners. You can't skip obstacles without a penalty, everyone is timed, and results are posted right after the race. I'm doing it again in NYC in a couple of weeks - definitely one of the most fun races of my season.

d2xccoach wrote:

I figured option 3 would be the most popular, because I thought the slower runners didn't care as much about their times and that option would still get us times for the faster runners. We got over 200 responses and over 50% said go to chip timing. I got a lot of passionate responses from beginners or slower runners that an open finish line was not attractive to them. Surprising to me, what I would call the "better runners" (finished in sub 7:00 pace) were most interested in going to an open finish line and keeping the entry cost down.

I have a facebook friend that runs races and she posts a "picture" of the result page with her time on it. She's never broke 30:00 in a 5K and most are 32-34 range, but she always makes a note of say, 200th out of 400 overall, 100th female out of 200, 25th in her age group, etc.

(She also doesn't run much between races, so obviously participation, which is usually with friends, is more important than actually running faster or training).

As a "better runner", I hate big fees for races, and prefer volunteer races. Chip timing is not important, I like 5K races that are $15 and under (longer races obviously cost more) and will not pay over $25 for a 5K (and only then if it comes with a technical shirt).

I did a number of races this summer under $15 with no shirt, volunteer water stop and some donated food at the end. Perfect.

If that smokin'-hot chick in the red top won't turn a gay guy straight, nothing will.

its wrote:

I'll call it the blue ball challenge.

^Intense[/quote]You could use that name to describe high school boys cross country.

You asked them a loaded question. If you had just done away with timing for this year's race instead of asking people'e opinion, most people would not care. Of course, if you ask them which one they prefer, you'll get a different answer.

Mudder Focker wrote:

As you can tell, I'm a defender of this event.

Even if the whole this was a scam, it was worth this image.

http://toughmudder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110724-ToughMudderWI-Gudkov-1240.jpg

I believe I broght that picture to LRC from StyleForum about a year ago. I love that picture. You might have found it elsewhere, but I like to give myself credit for it.

Best tits ever, right? Damn.

Anyway, I think the event looks fun, but some of the obstacles annoy me. I am not anti-social, but I don't really like the camaraderie thing. I enjoy testing myself and I don't really want to have to rely on some dude to get over a half-pipe wall.

Thorny Toad wrote:

So what do people think about races like Ragnar

http://www.ragnarrelay.com/

waste of time and money or worth it?

Ragnar is a good time and there are some very competitive teams out there. I've done 12 person male, 6 person male ultra and 12 person mixed teams and I'd only recommend doing it with people you like and/or people you want to see naked. It can get expensive if you have to rent vans.

#YOBRO wrote:

Thorny Toad wrote:

So what do people think about races like Ragnar

http://www.ragnarrelay.com/

waste of time and money or worth it?

Ragnar is a good time and there are some very competitive teams out there. I've done 12 person male, 6 person male ultra and 12 person mixed teams and I'd only recommend doing it with people you like and/or people you want to see naked. It can get expensive if you have to rent vans.

Agreed. I've run a Ragner relay and a couple of others. I have been on teams that were just a group of friends out having fun. I've also been on teams filled with competitive runners trying to win a division.

I always have fun when I do these relays but I always run each leg as fast as I can (knowing I have other legs to run later) and I keep my times.

These relays do not compare to the Color Run or Tough Mudder where time is deemed not important.

nuh uh wrote:

Upside down world wrote:

Tough mudder is to masturbation as racing is to self-improvement.

I'm pretty sure that's not what you meant..

I think he meant to say "Tough Mudder is to racing as masturbation is to self-improvement."

Outside Reigns Them In... wrote:

Should be quite a popular read around these parts:

http://www.outsideonline.com/featured-videos/film-and-trailer-videos/Tough-Mudder-Exposed.html

so i just watched the trailer but where's the whole video? when will it be out?

Mudderd wrote:

Mudder Focker wrote:

As you can tell, I'm a defender of this event.

Even if the whole this was a scam, it was worth this image.

http://toughmudder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110724-ToughMudderWI-Gudkov-1240.jpg

I believe I broght that picture to LRC from StyleForum about a year ago. I love that picture. You might have found it elsewhere, but I like to give myself credit for it.

Best tits ever, right? Damn.

Anyway, I think the event looks fun, but some of the obstacles annoy me. I am not anti-social, but I don't really like the camaraderie thing. I enjoy testing myself and I don't really want to have to rely on some dude to get over a half-pipe wall.

A decent runner:

,

You can find more photos, and or beer bellies if you wish:

Looks like her dad ran the race to so keep it respectful.