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Since Tough Mudder was founded in 2010, 1.3 million people have participated in one of the company's "military style" obstacle courses, which cover 10 to 12 miles of ground and include about 20 different challenges.
The event is part of a growing "obstacle course" trend among fitness enthusiasts and weekend warriors. There is no shortage of similar competitions, including the Spartan Race, the Warrior Dash, the Color Run, and the Superhero Scramble.
All cater to people yearning to do something extraordinary. A common refrain in marketing materials, from employees, and from "Mudders" is to get up off the couch and "overcome your fears." It costs between $125 and $500 to participate in a race.
For first-timers, who make up the majority of Mudders at any event, it's about overcoming a challenge and team-building. Most people participate with a team, some with friends, some with coworkers, and others with random groups of people assembled specifically for the event.
We followed one group — the Brooklyn Fitness Team — from training through the event to see what it takes to prepare and run a Tough Mudder.
We arrived early one Sunday morning in McCarren Park, where the Brooklyn Fitness group was training. The team had been training in the park biweekly since the beginning of summer. One member described the trainings as "too damn early and too damn cold."
The team was put together by Allen Bozeman, a personal trainer with Soma Health Club. Most members of the team train regularly with Bozeman.
To prepare for the Mudder, Bozeman designed a training series that includes multiple exercises and obstacles broken up by long-distance runs. "The goal was to mimic the format [of the event]," Bozeman said.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider