If you haven't heard of "Tough Mudder" yet, you soon will. They started out with a handful of events in the Fall of 2010 and are now up to about a dozen in 2011. Come 2012, they will have about two dozen different events all over the country (and a few in CAN, UK, AUS, and Japan). 

I say "events" rather than "races" because of their philosophy:

Since Tough Mudder is an event, not a race, we don’t post finish times on our site. We’re not into people obsessing over time. A) It detracts from some of the most important parts of the day, namely camaraderie. B) It’s lame. However, we do email them out to people who submit their times after event day.

The "Tough Mudder" brand is all about the hype and they are damn good at it. It has great appeal because it is a fun alternative to standard, long distance road races. This event is perfect for the average person looking for a date to circle on their calendar to use as motivation in their workouts. Tough Mudder has potential and nearly delivers on the hype. However, there are still a number of glaring issues that need to be addressed, especially if they want to attract the elite-type athletes in large numbers.

FACT – Marathon running is simply boring. And the only thing more boring than doing a marathon is watching a marathon. 

This is true, but it is all relative.

myFACT - I spent over an hour of my run standing in lines.

Standing in line is not only boring, but also frustrating. There's nothing tough about standing in line for 30 minutes with hundreds of other annoyed racers. 

Top 3 Tough Mudder Safety Concerns: (Please read these if you plan to compete in the event, they could help you avoid serious injury. Learn from others misfortune!)

• Obstacle #15 "Mud Mile" - This consisted of a number of muddy pools you are expected to charge through. The pools are of various depths. Some drop off, get narrower, muddier, etc. One in particular was about 3 feet deep and had a huge boulder just under the water level. If this were at the bottom, to trip over this would have been fair game, but it was right at shin level. The guy in front of me charged in and cracked his shin open. Blood was everywhere and he had a large flap of skin hanging down. This does not even include the bruising he must have experienced. Needless to say, his day was done. It was disappointing to witness someone's run end in a way that could have been avoided.  Lesson learned. I ran the rest of the race much more cautious. The only explanation for this is the Tough Mudder staff was too lazy to move the rock when they dug the hole or they somehow thought it was a good idea.

I coudn't find an exact picture of this, but imagine the girl below in speeding though this shallow water obstacle then having her shin/knee hit a huge rock (read: boulder) and fall to the ground grabbing her shin and screaming in pain. Not fun. In addition to hitting your shit, you could potentially to wreak havoc on ankles, knees, skulls, etc. when something that size is so close to the surface.

• #17 "Funky Monkey" - Right after a long stretch of 4 miles of steep (line free!) trail running, I saw this obstacle. After noting how high the monkey bars were and just seeing someone's run come to an abrupt end, I figured if I got tired I would probably play it safe and jump in to the pool below. I was in almost the exact position as the guy in the foreground (below) when I decided it would be safer for me to just release evenly and fall, rather than risk slipping and landing awkwardly, thereby hurting myself. As you can see from the picture, your feet are at least 6 feet off the water and a few more at the peak height. I released as planned and landed in ONLY 2 feet of water! There wasn't even any mud to soften the fall. My first thought upon landing so abrupt and so hard was "uh-oh". My second thought was "I can't move my knee, I can't move my ankle, I wonder what I just broke/tore." After having crawling out of the "puddle," I furiously asked the guy how that small amount of water was expected that to break someones fall and why was there no warning. His only response was, "I know, I'm trying to fill it up." Needless to say, I was furious.

UPDATE 4/20/11: I went to have X-rays on my ankle at the Rothman Institute's Novacare Facility (where a number of Professional teams take their players). My doctor told me I was his third Tough Mudder injury of the morning! And the second from the monkey bars! Mind you this is 10 days after the race, and my appointment was at 11 in the morning. The other monkey bar injury that morning was a shattered foot. Apparently after I was injured on this, at least 2 more people broke their legs on Saturday on the same bars. This prompted Tough Mudder staff to cover over the shallow puddle they had to break runners falls bones, with a thick rubber mat instead for the Sunday runners. As you can imagine, injuries continued.

• #21 "Hold Your Wood" -  Rounding out the Top 3 Tough Mudder safety issues that really stuck with me was this obstacle. Basically, you grab a piece of wood or a log from a large pile. You carry your chosen piece of wood ~1/4 mile up a steep hill. At the peak of the hill is a turnaround, followed by a "slide" made of snow and ice.  The only way to the bottom of the hill is to slide down the ice, with your log, to the bottom. The point was to hold on to your log on your way back down to the bottom, but this was not always the case. This obstacle is fairly late in the course so I'm not sure if people were tired, they had just carried a log up a double black diamond, or they were just lazy, but A LOT of people were losing a grip on their wood. Some of these pieces were 30-50 lbs. Others were well over 100 lbs due to the fact that groups of people were carrying one single trunk. Add to the mix that some of the pieces were round and you have a Glouchestershire Cheese Rolling type situation (except the log is chasing you, not the other way around). While standing in line, I saw numerous people hit by runaway wood and some people even taken away on stretchers. 

UPDATE 4/20/11: I have confirmation that the top section of this event was shut down less then one hour after I witnessed the story described above. After even more stretchers were needed! Nothing "tough" here, just plain negligence by the Tough Mudder staff.

World's Toughest Mudder - http://toughmudder.com/events/worlds-toughest-mudder-series-finals/

This event has a few cool twists:

Note: Once 24 hours has been reached, all competitors will have four additional hours to equal the number of laps completed by the winner. Only by doing so will a competitor be considered a “finisher” of the event.

and

Of those that begin the event, only 10% are expected to finish. 

The thing that I am curious about is the qualifying...

The top 5% of each event gain entry into World’s Toughest Mudder Series Finals at the end of 2011.

There are huge factors that come into play for determining a runners time. Those in the first heat have a huge advantage due to the fact they shouldn't have to sit in line as long, the course is not as torn up yet, and it is easier to fly up the single track trails when you don't have to wait to pass slower people from previous heats.

Also, given the lengths of the lines, a good number of people were cutting the lines or just skipping obstacles altogether. In a way I can't blame them, they didn't sign up for the lines and were pissed. They wanted something extreme and waiting 30 minutes for a balance beam didn't make much sense. 

The Good News: (yes, there is actually a lot of good news)

• Tough Mudder has an ego, and it is appealing. For example, when you pass the 5k mark, you see a huge banner in the middle of the woods explaining that this is where the Warrior Dash finishes. 

WARNING: Tough Mudder is 3-4 times longer and MUCH TOUGHER than a typical mud run such as Warrior Dash. Only 78% of participants at Tri-State 2010 finished. Only those in strong physical condition should enter.

As for the 78% part, I saw very few people not finish, and others I asked noted the same. Just a few that were hurt, but we definitely didn't see one out of 5 or even one out of 20 people dropping out. Perhaps they get this number from the paid runners / finisher, not those who actually lined up at the start line / finishers. 

• The Headband. I like how they do not sell them and you have to earn it.
• Good post race food (Clif Builder Bar, big VitaCoca, banana), live music, and of course a FREE BEER!
• They give a good amount of money to a noble cause (Wounded Warrior Project). I do not know the percentages but I don't think it is a token gesture like some other races. 
• This event has a ton of potential. I realize they are trying to grow as fast as possible in this niche market, and I would too, but hopefully they can find a good balance between growth and improving the product. 

UPDATE 4/20/11: According to their newsletter only 77% finished in Allentown... I stand by my story.

Tougher Races: (off the top of my head, feel free to add links in the comments)

• Peak Adventures Death Race - http://www.peakraces.com/deathrace/ aka http://YouMayDie.com/
• Tough Guy - http://www.toughguy.co.uk/ - The inspiration for Tough Mudder? Google it for the rumor mill.
• Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling (ha, maybe not tougher, but more likely to get injured) - 

Relevant Links:

• NY Times did an article in April 2010 describes how Tough Mudder pitched the first race to Bear Creek Mountain Resort - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/sports/29mudder.html
• Tough Mudder Alternative (from the creators of the above Death Race) - http://www.spartanrace.com/
• GOALS Adventure Racing Association (Philadelphia Area) - http://www.g-o-a-l-s.com/ - Great intro to Adventure Racing

Bottom Line:

1. I think I would do it again. I had fun and those I went with enjoyed it as well. I am more aware of the dangers involved (see examples above) and will compete accordingly. UPDATE 4/20/11: Literally every day since I originally posted this, I have heard more horror stories regarding their incompetence. I would only do one of their events again if they can change their current reputation regarding course saftey.
2. I cannot see the Tough Mudder drawing serious athletes on the level triathlons do based on the well-known, ongoing safety problems. This is a "fun" race, and someone who is competing for a "serious" race wouldn't risk their season running it. 
3. I have spoken to about 30 people in the last week who have run the Tough Mudder and have also done other Adventure Races or "extreme/mud races" and only three said they would do it again. Most didn't regret running it, but going forward would rather do another race instead for a variety of reasons similar to my issues.
4. Tough Mudder isn't the toughest. However, claiming to do is great for marketing and I don't blame them for doing so.
5. If you are signing up, I would recommend doing one of the first 2 heats on the first day. This will help to avoid lines at obstacles and you will be on the course before it is completely torn up. Or run in the "Elite Heat" mentioned on their site if it exists, I was not aware of it until afterward.

Please share questions/comments/opinions. Thanks.