After 8 years, I have hit 100 Tough Mudders! To celebrate, I have put together a list of 100 reasons why you should run your first Tough Mudder and become a legionnaire.
“When was the last time, you did something for the first time?”
- Fitness – a great goal to help start you on your fitness journey!
- Challenge – Run, walk, crawl, jump, hang – all combined to be a helluva physical challenge
- Charity – what better way to raise money from others that say “Oh, I could never do that!”
- Friendship – I have built a great circle of friends from people I have met at Tough Mudder
- Motivation – Need motivation to get going? The fear of a race will certainly motivate you
- Tinder – better than a pout, gym selfie or holding a fish
- Work – Something to talk to your work colleague about rather than last night’s East Enders
- New profile pic – what better way to flex than a Funky Monkey picture
- Obstacles – Funky Monkey, Mudderhorn, Arctic Enema, Electroshock Therapy. Need I say more?
- Mud – cheaper than a spare weekend
- Travel – Best way to get to new places across the UK, Europe and across the world
- Love – I know of several people who have fallen in love with people they have met at Tough Mudder
- Community – Tough Mudder legionnaires are the craziest but nicest bunch of people you will ever meet
- Inspiration – and many will inspire you to do more
- Strength – A great way to build muscle and beat Funky Monkey
- Mental wellbeing – being out in the fresh air is great for clarity
- Laugh – You cannot get through a Tough Mudder without laughing at mud being in places you never thought possible
- New friends – Many people I have met a Tough Mudder I hang out with socially outside of the mud and count amongst my closest friends
- Camp – See a different side of Tough Mudder with a weekend of running and camping
- New gear – no better excuse to get some new threads
- T shirt – Flex at the gym or parkrun with your new finisher shirt
- Headband – better than a medal – start a collection towards that 100x gold crown
- Orange – because everyone looks great in orange
- Free beer – there is nothing better than to finish with a beer! (alcohol free beer available too!)
- Something new – more interesting than the local 5km
- Teamwork – Tough Mudder is about running together as a team, taking on obstacles as a team and finishing as a team
- Confidence – Taking on any obstacle means you can take on anything in life!
- Being a child – a Tough Mudder course is a chance to be a kind and play in the mud without being told off
- Adventure – running through the hills, trails and mud is always a adventure
- Comfort zone – take yourself out of your comfort zone, whether its water, heights or the dark!
- Trail running without the running – its ok, you can stop and walk for a bit. Its not a race
- Test your relationships – 10 miles of water, mud, obstacles and running will test any relationship
- Make the family proud – your parents will be talking about the mud for years
- Interesting workout – more fun than legs, bums and tums
- Say goodbye to trainers (hello new gear) – They will get muddy and it’ll be a great excuse for new trainers
- Carb loading – best excuse to eat anything you want the night before and after the race
- Understand the hype – IYKYK
- Help a friend – the obstacles are all about team work; lend a hand
- Help a stranger – not all heroes wear capes
- Dress up – but maybe you will want to
- Something to talk about – more interesting than a runner talking about their marathon
- Start a new tradition – annual outing with friends and family?
- Weekend exhiliration – you will be running on adrenaline for the whole weekend (and week after that too)
- Better than road running – trails, hills, mountains, mud and forests…
- New fitness goal – bored of the gym? Thought you have hit your pinnacle? Never
- Become part of a team on course – running solo? Find your new team and BFFs on course
- Be helped on course – strength is found in teamwork and allowing to be helped
- You have done others – so you know what obstacle running is, but have you taken on BlockNess, August Gloop and Funky Monkey?
- Less competative – It’s not about how fast you finish, its how you go about completing the course
- Face your fears – Not all Tough Mudder obstacles are abou strength – fear of heights? Take on Mudderhorn, fear of the dark? Take on Cry Baby, Fear of confined spaces? Hello Birth Canal…
- Coach others – Once you have completed an obstacle, be a hero and show others how to do it!
- Spectacular views – based in some of the worl’s most beautiful locations, you will get views for days – hint – TM Yorkshire and TM Scotland are definitely the most beautiful
- Embrace the weather – Come rain or shine, a Tough Mudder course will bring the be(a)st out of you
- Hen / stag dos – more interesting than a weekend in Magaluf
- Test your limits – can you hang on and complete Funky Monkey? Hit the bell on Well Swung?
- Be part of a legion – Tough Mudder Legionnaires are the best community on the planet
- That finish line feel – There is no emotion compared to completing 10 miles and flying through Electroshock Therapy
- Start line feels – The warm up, the pledge, the shivers!
- Village atmosphere – the event village with music pumping is something to behold
- Cold showers – Good news – theres a rinse station. Bad news – its cold water only
- Finding mud in places you didn’t know exisited – for days…
- Gateway drug – want to do more? Infinity is 8 hours in the day, Toughest Mudder is 12 hours through the night and Worlds Toughest Mudder is 24 hours of epic craziness
- Obstacles at night – the cold and dark brings a whole new dimension to all the obstacles
- Day break – but when you get through the night and dawn breaks – its a joy to behold
- Time away from phones – Get that screen time down
- Time for chatting – lots of time to chat with friends across 2 – 3 hours of Tough Mudder
- Competativeness – its about you and the team against the course. But if you want a different challenge – take on Infinity or Toughest with chip timing and a leadboard
- Take the shocks – Electric Eel and Electroshock therapy for that extra zapp!
- Watch the shocks – what better way to drink your finisher beer than to watch others get zapped on EST
- Party – finished the course, start the celebrations
- Find yourself – the start of a new you?
- Find your limits – one and done or hungry for more?
- Be inspired by others – inspiration is always on course – those running for a charity, running for someone, youngest, oldest, first timers, last timers…
- Find out what the fuss is about – be honest, you have heard about it. Now its time to try it
- Cheers – the finish-line drink or just chatting away over beer reliving the race
- The next test is just around the corner – obstacles on average every 500m, there’ll be another test soon
- No pressure – It’s not about finishing with a time, it’s about you and your team against the course
- Speed doesn’t matter – forward is forward (and down and over, and under and around)
- Knowing nods at parkrun – wear your finisher T shirt at the next parkrun and be part of a knowing community
- Accomplishment – there is nothing better than that feeling of accomplishment
- Tired legs, arms and body – DOMs for days – but memories for a life-time
- Across the country – 9 locations in the UK and many more across the world
- Legionnaires – theres always a community behind you
- Headbands – are the new medal – useful
- Nervousness & excitement & exhiliration – all in one day
- ICE cold – Not just for your gin and tonic, but full submersion thanks to Arctic Enema
- Heights – scared of heights? Face your fear at the top of Mudderhorn
- Try, try again – you dont have just one opportunity to beat an obstacle, you can have another go
- Blockness – the best obstacle in any obstacle course – EVER
- Accomplishment – that feeling of completing the obstacle is immense – imagine getting that feeling 30 times in a day!
- Meet and help celebrities – been there, done that. Felt like a hero
- Cameraderie – its EVERYONE against the course – make new friends and team-mates
- Reason to update your wardrobe – new threads for Tough Mudder, or throw away the muddy ones after it – whichever excuse you need….
- Summer – No better feeling than any water obstacles when the sun is blazing down
- Equality – The course doesnt care if you are short, tall, black, white, young or old.
- Vitamin D – three hours in the sun is all the vitamin D you will need for the day (dont forget the suntan lotion!)
- Tenacity – you can do anything if you have beaten a Tough Mudder course
- Endorphins – that boost you get when you have conquered your fears
- Mental clarity – sometimes some big problems you have been facing, don’t seem so big any more and you have the mind space to think it through
- Do it for yourself – whatever your reason, go and do it for you!
One bonus reason –
Get 20% discount with my Tough Mudder discount code on your first event: TMBA24-WIL
Only valid in the UK for your first Tough Mudder event. Applies to 2024 events only.
