Tough Mudder is by far the toughest competition I have ever attended.

What`s Tough Mudder? It is a 10-12 mile hardcore obstacle game, designed by British Special Forces to test participants` overall strength, stamina, coordination, and teamwork. In each half mile, there is one obstacle. Most of the time, you need to cooperate with your teammates to get through the obstacle. 

Here are what those obstacles look like: http://toughmudder.com/obstacles/

It was April 20^th, 2013. A team full of 16 fearless people, mostly Robert Smith MBA students, decided to challenge their physical limits. It was a beautiful 60-degree sunny day, but a little chilly to run. I ran without shirt and marked Smith on my chest.

After I finished the first couple obstacles with cold water, my body temperature dropped drastically. But I understood it was just the beginning. The most difficult challenge, Walk The Plank, was waiting ahead. For Walk The Plank, you need to jump into freezing water from 15+ feet high. I have acrophobia and pondered my leap for a while. While seeing couple crazy people doing belly-flops in front of me, I followed their lead and jumped immediately. Later on, The Arctic Enema brought me into ice bath, where my body was immersed with ices and I could not feel my hands afterward.

As our team ran forward, I saw many other contenders stopped and rested. Some looked pale, others looked painful, and ten more people were sent out by ambulance.

To my impression, one handicapped guy with special wheel chair conquered Trench Warfare, and everybody gave him a huge applaud when he came out of the warfare.

In the last two miles, I could feel that my right leg was about to cramp, so I used my left leg to run instead. My body was in a lot of pain. At that point, it was about all about will. I saw people giving up and surpass obstacles, but I refused to do the same. In the last second obstacle, one of the our remaining teammates hurt his arm. The number of our team member decreased from 16 to 3, including Kagan, Yoichiro, and I.

The last obstacle was Electroshock Therapy. I got shocks numerous times and got multiple cramps all over my body. My body was bruised and scraped, and I only had one leg to support my whole body weight.

I forgot how I passed the finish line. My body kept trembling, and I could barely stand.

After the competition, I understood one thing, that is, if you try to get out of your comfort zone and do your very best, you will be surprised by how much you will be capable of doing. People often limit themselves for various reasons, and Tough Mudder taught me to face it, take it, and conquer it. I looked around, my teammates, Kagan and Yoichiro are ten years older than I. Lily and Katie, two girls ran with us in the same pace entirely. I thought about my father, who was able to complete triathlon at 60 year-old. I felt tiny and I was humble as a human being.

All in all, I needed to thank Wade Swanson for leading us through the whole event. As a former Marine and Tough Mudder veteran, he did an excellent job in leading our smith MBA team. We were just like a troop, and he was the corporal in charge of the team, making sure no one was left behind. Without his leadership, we would not be able to enjoy our fruitful success.

It was all about teamwork! Tough Mudder Smith MBA team, success!

Official video for Mid-Atlantic Event on April 20th

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VRaimWQYBA&feature=youtu.be

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Tough Mudder是我參加過最困難的比賽，沒有之一。

比賽是12英哩，約19公里的障礙賽。由專門替特種部隊設計路線的人所規劃。 每0.5英哩左右，就有一個障礙。由於是障礙賽，很多障礙都需要隊友幫忙。

障礙包含以下：http://toughmudder.com/obstacles/

全程都是上下坡，一堆泥土，小山丘，泥巴團，甚至小溪。

我上半身赤裸跑步，一開始體溫很正常，隨著跑步距離加長，體溫越發上升，但幾道在冷水匍匐前進的障礙，讓我體溫極速下降。天氣亦非常冷，約莫10~15度左右。印象最深的就是一關要從4樓高的地方跳水，有點懼高症的我在那邊停留超久，不敢跳，還看到旁邊的人在空中旋轉一圈落水，後來硬著頭皮給他跳下去。之後又有一關要跳冰水 http://toughmudder.com/obstacles/arctic-enema/ 起來我整個體溫失調，手幾乎失去知覺。

途中看到不少人停頓後停在原地，有些人寒冷抽搐，有些人體力不支，有十多個人被救護車送走。印象很深的，是看到一個坐著比賽用輪椅的人，靠著意志力及隊友的幫忙通過一個管道，他爬出管後全場給予鼓勵！

比到最後剩兩英哩左右，我的右小腿似乎要抽筋了，之後就用左小腿使力，放慢速度跑。後來感覺大腿也要抽筋，加上體溫失調，非常的痛苦，臉的表情很掙扎，在最後倒數第二關，我的一個隊友拉傷右臂，從原先的九人，僅剩我跟Yoichiro，Robert以及Kagan四人。

最後一關要匍匐前進過電極區，我被電了好幾次，最後一下身體彈出去左腳整個大抽，此時我僅剩一條右腿在支撐全身。

看到終點線的時候，沒有言語能夠形容我的感覺，全身氣力放盡，身體嚴重失溫。後來是跟Kagan及Yoichiro一起通過終點的。

比完這個比賽的感想就是，覺得人的淺能是無限的，當生命受到極大的挑戰，恐懼跟克服只有一線之隔。我感到自己很渺小，身邊的Yoichiro及Kagan都大我十歲，還能夠一起完成。且Lily跟Katie兩個女生也從頭到尾跟著我們的步調前進，非常的不容易。我也想到，林義捷橫越撒哈拉沙漠壯舉的壯舉，以及老爸年紀60完成鐵人三項的意志力。

最後最後，這次我們能夠完成，Wade Swanson的領軍功不可沒，身為前海軍及Tough Mudder的老將(比過四次)，他一直帶領著大家前進，時不時確認隊員的狀況，我們好像是一支部隊，他是隊長，掌管全局，沒有他的領導，我們不會如此順利的完成這項賽事。

It is all about teamwork! Tough Mudder Smith MBA team，成功！

當天比賽影片