Tough Mudder

Weekly Therapy: deine Katzen sind wilkommen

- Mel

the week:
My sister had major surgery this week to remove a tumor (the size of a football o_O). Thankfully, it wasn’t cancer, but she still has 4-6 weeks of recovery (she had one ovary and tube removed because of this). Please send good healing (virtual) wishes her way!

duolingo german iphone app

Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer (and I guess I can get rid of those white shoes and bottoms that I never wore this season). It’s a little surreal to think that my favorite season is around the corner (fall-flavored beers and pumpkin lattes and Halloween candy). It’s also a super-slow time at work, which… boring.

Because I donated my well-loved tennis shoes to the Tough Mudder’s foundation, I am on the hunt for a new pair. I’m no marathoner, but I can DEFINITELY get behind stomping around in the woods and mud again for fun, so trail running shoes specifically. I hope this will not be a tortuous process (but if so, THERE ARE MACAROONS TO BE HAD). See also: where did all my bandanas go, and why can’t I find the old school 100% cotton ones anywhere?

weekend:
My boyfriend is away for the weekend on a bachelor party somewhere on a farm in Pennsyltucky-nowhere. I don’t know. I heard there would be skeet shooting. His (our) friends are weird.

For me, a ladies-only neighborhood happy hour Friday night, an extra Saturday afternoon practice and work Sunday.

seven things, seven days:
1. You know I lost my driver’s license TWICE last weekend at Tough Mudder? Seriously, found it in the grass the first time I realized it was dropped from my hands (thankfully I found it!); and somehow my boyfriend ended up with it the second time.
2. Skating outdoors is fun!
3. Remember that guy who came to seal up the chimney? Yeah, it’s basically raining into our living room now when it’s raining outside. And of course he hasn’t returned our calls to fix it. FML.
4. Am I crazy to sign up for a 6am Crossfit class? Probably. But it’s about the only time I can fit it in.
5. I started brushing up on my German again via Duolingo. It’s really fun to see what I can remember and laugh at some of the verbs that I still misinterpret.
6. With all this talk about road trips, here is Seventeenth & Irving’s Road Trip Essentials
7. Now I’m obsessed with this Weekender bag from Everlane.

Got any road trips planned for this last weekend of summer?

oh nothing, just finished the tough mudder

- Mel

Mel_ToughMudder2013

What is the Tough Mudder? Well, it’s a lot of freaking mud. Ten miles of it. Of course that’s why we called ourselves Team F*cking Mud! It’s not really a race, but a challenge — both physically and mentally. If you look up any of the obstacles and videos, you’ll know why. These things test every fear.
Team_ToughMudder

There was a little of this:
MudTunnel_ToughMudder

A lot of this:
MelMud_ToughMudder

And some of this:
MelElectric_ToughMudder

THOSE ARE ELECTRIC WIRES AND I’M IN WATERY MUD. Yeah, that was the one obstacle that I almost walked away from. I’m so proud that I finished it.

MelShannon_ToughMudder

And this girl — one of my oldest friendships. We’ve known one another since elementary school, and she’s the tough cookie behind why I do stuff like this in the first place.

MelMile10_ToughMudder

I dove under barbed wire, crawled on my elbows through mud (under said barbed wire), jumped in ice cold freezing water (seriously, my heart stopped), jumped off a 15-foot plank, got electrocuted, jumped over fire, climbed through tunnels, pulled myself over walls, ran up a greased-up halfpipe… ran/climbed/swam/trudged through more miles of mud than I could even keep track.

My team finished in around 5 hours (whew). It was really fun to train for and accomplish an endurance-type event. I’m kind of still in shock that TM is already over AND that I actually finished that course and got my orange headband! And I think I might actually be back on a runners kick.

OrangeHeadbandsBeer_ToughMudder