Tough Mudder - Toughest Pittsburgh 2023

Race: Toughest Pittsburgh 

Date: September 9th, 2023

Time:  90k in 11:12:10

Place: 1st place team

Pre-Race Conditions:

Naps are done. We are finishing our final packing and getting ready to head out. It’s a 45 minute drive from our Airbnb to the race. 

I had a good shake out run this morning. It took me a little bit to get moving this morning. It’s always hard with these 8pm starts to figure out how much to sleep and when to get a nap in. My run started a little sluggish. After like half a mile I got into the groove and legs were there. 

After the run we found a nice little diner next for breakfast next to an Amish market. A great breakfast and then bought some snacks for later and tomorrow. Everything in there smelled so good. We may have to make a stop for some more snacks on our way out of town. 

Team Strength and Divas is ready. Evan is in Pittsburgh headed toward the venue and me,TJ and Eddie are just getting out the door. 

The plan is that all of us go out then me and Evan do double duty for the first 2 laps. Then we  hand it over to Eddie and TJ for the next one. This race has a fun rule that your first and last lap must be together as a full team. After that 2 of us need to be on course within 30 seconds of each other. We have a good strong team. It should be a fun race. 

Race Recap:

Setup:

We got to the site about 4:45. Check in wasn’t supposed to start until 5 but there was already a nice tent city being built in the pit. I guess they decided to open it early. Or a bunch of runners opened it early and by the time someone figured it out it was too late. 

Eddie headed right to the pit to get us a couple spots. We checked in and got our bibs while Tj registered for the race. He had issues moving his registration to the team and the race director told him to just show up and they would take care of it. I had my doubts about that but it was still pretty smooth for him. 

We had 2 pit spots not far in from the entrance. We got setup right next to our favorite Canadian girls. It took about 20 minutes to get both tents situated and our stuff prepped. I don’t think I’ve ever had this much time before a race to relax. Evan was coming with his dad and was planning on getting there about 6. We pretty much just hung out and relaxed. It was a nice change from the normal hetic prerace I’m used to. 

When Evan got there we hung out for a bit and then started to get our gear on we needed. They started yelling for us to go to the start line. We wandered over and found that it wasn’t far from the race center or finish line. We actually pretty much started under Mudderhorn. 

Lap 1: Strength and Divas

The first lap was all 4 of us. Eddie was our slowest runner so we used him to set the pace. He had his Bluetooth speaker and music going with his EDM. I got into the front of our pack and started leading. The music was nice because I set my pace by how loud it was. If he started to drift back I slowed the pace a bit. We tried to make lap 1 a comfortable fast pace for him. He knew after that 10k he would have an hour break before his second lap. We hit the river crossing about a kilometer in. I saw Stephanie Bland in there. She was the assist at Ode this year with 30 yards I think. We chatted for a minute and then we split up. She would go on to win the female division that night. 

After the river it was nice easy running. The course ended up absolutely beautiful. It was decent rolling hills. Sloppy mud. 2 river sections that got up to about waist deep. That event set the bar for what race terrain should be. 

There was a little concern that we would hit Mudderhorn that opened at 8:30. Only 30 minutes after the start and 2 miles in. We beat the opening of it by about 8-9 minutes. After Mudderhorn was what could only be dryas road runner Mecca. There was about 75 ports potties all in storage in the field. It was hilarious to see and made me think of Erin. 

From there we had about 4 more miles left that we flew through. We ran down the last hill and did the loop and crossed the finish line. My watch had just shy of 6 miles. That’s a little short for a 10k. We just went with it. 

Lap 2: Turn on the Zoomy

Evan and I got lap 2 which meant no break. We crossed the finish line, said goodbye to everyone and turned up the zoomy. We knew we were going to hit a few obstacles this lap. 

Mudderhorn would for sure be open along with the log carry, ladder to hell and the hurdles. Lap 1 was a nice warm up for me. I normally take a while to get into the groove so this was perfect for me. About a mile into this lap we were going through a particularly muddy section I saw Evan take an awkward step and then stop. He had steeped into a deep mud hole and it took his shoe off. We had to stop for a moment for him to put his shoe back on. That gave me a chance to pee and we were back on our way. We made it through all the obstacles pretty easily. 

Our second lap ended up being faster than the first lap. Not bad to negative split with more obstacles open. 

Lap 3: Handing it over 

Finishing the lap was about a 100 to 150 meter run from arctic to the finish line that went right by the pit. I started yelling for Tj and Eddie. Just to make sure they were at the start line waiting for us. I heard JahLisa or Jessica yell back they were there. We cruised over the finish line. They saw us and took off it was their turn for a lap with more obstacles opening. 

We got our first break of the night. Our dads met us with dry robes and clothes but we were both so warm we wanted to cool down a little before getting into dry clothes. Back at the tent I got to eat a little and got my torch out. In Florida at the beginning of the year on vacation with Eddie I bought the Indiana Jones battery powered torch. It was surprisingly bright and another goofy thing for me at toughest. 

After about 20 minutes I walked over to Mudderhorn to see the boys come through. About 4 minutes later they came through still moving good. Eddie in the lead. As I was walking back the race director yelled at me to be careful about crossing the start line with my bib. I yelled back that I didn’t have it on. I think he was a little shocked to know I was thinking. I went back to the tent and relaxed for a bit. We had just about 45 minutes before heading out. 

The worst part was once we had to get ready our bibs were damp and cold. That wasn’t super pleasant to put on. It got me moving fast that first little bit. 

Lap 4: Easier than planned

Tj and Eddie came back and finished lap 3. We yelled at them to get their bypass bands. Part of the race is that after lap 3 as individuals or cumulative as a team you earn bands that are good for bypassing any obstacle. The trick is that on the 2 runners on course get them. And that when you use them it has to be the pair or whole team depending on the lap. One person couldn’t use it while the others did the obstacle. We had talked that our plan was to save our bands and use them strategically. The race wasn’t really grip intensive with only Funky monkey. For sure Evan and I had that for 3 or 4 laps without problems. Everything else might have just been a second attempt if we did slip. 

Evan I I took off expecting to hit most of the obstacles. We got to Devil’s Beard and saw that we didn’t have to do it. I almost ran right through the tape. At that point I realized that if we kept a good pace we wouldn’t have to hit a bunch of obstacles. We kept the speed up and got to skip Cage Crawl and Arctic as well. This lap we did get to do Mineshafted and Funky Monkey. I don’t know if they purposefully put water in Mineshafted or it was just because of the rain. It did make that a little more tricky to keep your hands clean and dry for Funky. We did dry our hands after on Ladder to Hell, the gravel around the obstacle and some of the walls we ran by. Funky was a little slick this first time. I almost slipped on the ladder. Soon as I got to the knurled bar I knew I was fine. Evan made a good point after that if a bunch of people are failing the next laps they will be using bands or taking the penalty directly. That would mean the bars would be dry. He was right. We both completed the obstacle, finished the run and handed it back off to Tj and Eddie for their 3rd lap. 

Evan and I collected our first bands of the night. 

Lap 5: The boys back at it 

This off lap seemed a little more chill than the first one. I think a lot of people were now out on course and the crews. I kept wandering and saw the guys hit Mudderhorn. I also saw people back by the fires warming up their gear. I took this as a good opportunity to dry out my bib a little bit. It did help a little. Luckily we were timing it pretty well to only be in our cold damp bibs for a few minutes before we had to run. 

More food and a little relaxing and we got ready and went to meet TJ and Eddie. 

Lap 6: Open for business 

We had another quick transition. Soon as we were sure they were across the finish line we handed off our dry robes and bolted for the start line. Evan was always a little tight and took a bit to loosen up. The nice thing was that the first kilometer was a straight run until the barbed wire crawl. After that we got the warm creek water to rinse off in. 

This would be our first lap with all the obstacles open. Overall the course wasn’t super grip intensive. That was good for us to be able to move a lot faster. We didn’t have any issues with the obstacles and kept a good pace. The worst obstacle out there had to be Devil’s Beard. Not only was it pretty long. It went over a mucky swamp area that was impossible to stay clean in. It was nasty. I think Evan went in face first. Not by choice. 

About half way through the lap we started doing the math. Overall we had a good lead on 3rd place and lagging behind first just enough that we thought they were going to be out of reach. We came up with the plan to make the 9th lap our last lap. We could secure second place and potentially force first place to go out for a 10th lap. 

This lap was our first time getting to EST when it was open. They did not make it easy this time. It took a while face down in the mud to get through it. We both did it without getting zapped. It was now back to Eddie and TJ for Lap 7. 

Lap 7: The MVP

We finished the lap and met our dads there with our dry gear and towel. I was still warm but now muddy from EST. My dad told us there was a place to rise off just in middle of the pit. We walked over there and found what we named the MVP of the event. Two hose spigots about 2 feet up that actually had warm water. 

I turned my side on and started rinsing off. Evan on the other. I wish there was pictures or videos of us both laid out under that getting clean. 

This lap I decided to do a full change of clothes and get dry and warm. The last few laps we were pretty clean so it wasn’t too horrible to relax in damp clothes. This time with the mud it was nice to get clean. 

After changing I wandered back to mudderhorn to see TJ and Eddie come through and let them know the plan. We would do lap 8 and then all head out on lap 9. They seemed to acknowledge the plan and 

I even changed shoes which almost never happens on a 12 hour event. Once I’m in my gear I’m in it until there is an issue. The problem with changing shoes is I went from Altra Lone Peaks to Superior 5s. The Lone Peaks are more aggressive and grippy. I was going to slide around in the muck more the next couple laps. Oh well. It was what it was. 

Lap 8: The Penultimate

Off we went again. We’d hit every obstacle and were content with our second place status. It would give us the same prize. Which a free race is a free race. We hammered through the lap. THe only fun happened sometime after mile 4. On a particularly slick section I was leading as we passed a couple other runners and managed to slip and take the softest fall ever. I ended up turned 90 degrees to the course half sitting / half laying on my back. The guys behind me were a little concerned. Besides getting a little muddy I was fine. It didn’t slow us down much. 

Evan and I also tried to figure out our plan for the bands. Lap 9 would give us all 3 bands each. That meant the whole team could skip 3 obstacles. We decided to skip Devil’s Beard because who needs that muck, Funky Monkey because that sack hop penalty would suck, and EST so we could be clean at the finish. We’d run it by TJ and Eddie but we pretty much had our plan. 

Another time through EST and some mud. No shocks and we finished the lap to meet everyone waiting for us. We knew it would be a quick turn around so we had our dads meet us with fuel and some towels to clean up quick. This was the longest pit we had as a team at over 2 minutes. After we were almost ready I looked over and saw Eddie start to shiver. That was the sign to get moving. 

Lap 9: Got the band back together

We took off. Eddie went hard right off the line and set the pace. We were going faster than I expected us to be. We shared the plan with Eddie and TJ for the bands. There was a little pushback to possibly use a band for arctic but after explaining that finishing clean and a little cold would be better than being wet and muddy everyone was on board. The lap cruised as we paired up in different combinations chatting through the lap. We got through the obstacles still having fun. None of us had that normal miserable suffering alone feeling. We passed a group when we bypassed Devil’s beard. We wondered if it was first place but didn’t think much of it. It could have been any other team out for their last lap together or just a group of runners going through it together. 

Everything was going smooth until we got to Well Swung. This obstacle is fun. You step up onto a platform and then jump out over a water pit to a t T-bar and swing and hit a bell. Evan and Eddie went to the left lanes. I went to my normal lane on the far right. TJ was ahead of me in that lane. Eddie and Evan went though, hit there bells and got out. TJ went up slipped off the bar and came down on his back into the water. After seeing he was alright and getting out I went and hit the bell. We told him to try a different lane that may have been dryer. He tried again but completely missed even grabbing the bar. That meant we all had to do the penalty. All 4 of us walked over to the fire pits and grabbed a marshmallow and stick and began the process of roasting a marshmallow to golden brown without burning it. After a couple minutes we were done. Evan said something like that was the best marshmallow he ever tasted. I didn’t eat mine. No need to risk any issues with only like 2 miles to go. 

We finished the last few obstacles. Bypasses Funky Monkey where Sandy Rhee was volunteering. Hugs from everyone and then we continued on. Over Lumberjacked, up and over Everest, through a not so cold arctic and towards the finish line. 

We crossed the finish line and my dad was there telling us that we just won. We were all shocked at made our way right to the race center to check. They had taken down the computer to use for checking people out. I was wondering if the results were just delayed. There was a couple minutes where we weren’t 100% sure we won. Once Evan got a phone and I got Cali to check that showed the former 1st place was still on course. We had just won. 

Consistency over speed won. 

The Bad:

Not much bad happened this race. I was calm before the race and not in normal panic mode. 

We all ran great. 

No obstacle failures. 

The worst thing I can think of was my struggle on Funky the first time. That early into the race I should have been a little stronger. It just gives me something to work on for November. 

Second minor thing would have been only having 1 pair of Lone Peaks on a sloppy course. I could have gotten by in Superiors but it would have been a lot harder on me. 

The Good:

We won!

The race we were in second place the whole night and just stayed consistent and it gave us the win. You can’t be a surprise at the end of the race like that. 

The next thing that wasn’t even me was Wddie completely crushing that course. He got his first OCR podium and it was even a first place. Whatever his training has been, it's been working. Can’t wait to see him devastate the course in November.  

Moral of the Story:

Stay consistent. Run your race. Good things happen.

Best Moment:

I’ve never thought that this race would have ended this way. We were always chasing first. 

Coming across the finish line and hearing we just won was an amazing feeling. It was a complete surprise to us. 

Worst Moment:

Worst moment I remember is having to put on the cold damp bibs before heading out for the next lap. It wasn’t that bad but I definitely didn’t like having to do that. Maybe next time roasting it over the fire longer would be a good idea. 

Funniest Moment:

The funniest moment had to be on lap 2. The sound of his shoe coming off and him hopping back to get it. 

Map:

Results: 

Gear:

• Altra Lone Peak 

• White Altra Superior 5

• Dirty Girl Gaiters

• Smart Wool crew socks

• Virus compression tights

• Virus ¾ race toghtea

• Gurney Goo

• Trail Toes

• Black Diamond Storm headlamp 

Nutrition:

• Kion EAAs

• Applesauce 

• FitAid

• Coke

• Water

• Bananas

• Chicken Soup

• Maple syrup 

• Salt stick caffeine