If you followed our blog last year, you probably know about the Tough Mudder team we sponsored that competed in the World’s Toughest Mudder held in New Jersey in November. However, you probably don’t know the whole story!  Watch this video to learn more about how they decided to do it to begin with, challenges along the way, and how they impacted the lives of 10 young girls.

Imagine yourself eating lunch today at noon.  You continue your work until it’s time to go home at 5:00, eat some dinner with the family, catch a movie at the Linway Plaza (after all… it is Friday.  However, upon further inspection, there really isn’t much worth watching at the movies right now), put the kids to bed, and get 9 hours of sleep.  Now, right about the time you wake up, imagine yourself having spent the entire past 20 hours exercising; from lunch until waking up!  That’s exactly what our Tough Mudders were up to last Friday, except they began their workout at 7:00 rather than noon.

I wanted to grab a little video and some photos this time around, but unfortunately did not have the time available to workout with them on Saturday morning like I had planned.  So, I met them at their first stop; Ox Bow Park.  Basically, their goal was to mimic as best as they could the event they’ll be racing in November.  They’d run to a park, practice some strength, balance, and obstacle exercises, and the continue running on to the next park they had mapped out.  This continued on all the way from the parking lot at Meijer (across from Ox Bow Park) to Crossfit Michiana, and then they worked their way back again.  They even strategically prepared a stop where they could don themselves in wetsuits, and traverse in and out of the Elkhart River to get used to wearing them sopping wet and cold.  They gained some valuable insight by doing this.  They now know to use much more lubrication on the inside of the wetsuits to cut down on chaffing.

All in all, they ended up with about 30 miles of total running, 12 separate park workouts, and a 1.5 hour workout with Crossfit Michiana.  They did have a few guys join them for their workout.  A gentleman from Chicago who will also be competing at the World’s Toughest Mudder event as an individual (whose name happens to escape me), and young man by the name of Jed Garber.  The guys all agreed that their fellow Mudder was a beast, and should be very competitive in the event.  Jed joined the team for two separate workouts, and even brought Gatorade for the guys to enjoy.  I am sure that

(photo provided)

brought much needed encouragement to them in what had to seem like a never ending workout.  Jed also was awarded a free 60 minute massage here at CCWC for being the toughest person to join the guys during their workout (ok,so he was also the only one to do so (Chicago Mudder didn’t count)).

Believe it or not, they plan to better that workout with an even longer one; a “dress rehearsal” sort of speak.  There is a course in Illinois they are hoping to obtain permission from that they can rent for a full 24 hours in which they can do a practice run on actual obstacles, mud, and water similar to what they will be competing in.  If you’d like to get a better idea for what these guys will be experiencing in a couple of months, take a look at this video!  Yes, it’s intense (and keep in mind this video is only showing the obstacles and does not include the miles of running in between them.  It’s also only a single lap.  Our team is hoping to complete 7 laps in 24 hours)

!  As always, we will keep you posted on their progress, training, and eventually their result at the World’s Toughest Mudder.

A short time ago, we introduced you to the Tough Mudder team we are sponsoring who will be competing in the World’s Toughest Mudder competition later this year.  It’s roughly a 10 mile obstacle course they’ll be running as a team in November.  Sounds doable right?  Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you…they aren’t just running this course once, but as many times as they can in 24 hours.

Kevin, Jeremiah, and Jonathon after the race. Jeremiah was there providing support.

So, how do you train for an event like that?  I imagine there is no exact right way to go about preparing your mind/body for 24 hours of pain and endurance.  I will be keeping you posted on how our team is getting on in their training.  Recently, two of the four Mudders participated in the Sunburst Marathon in South Bend (the other two were nursing injuries they acquired through their training).  Now, I myself do some running.  The longest I’ve ever run without stopping is about 9.5 miles.  My legs felt like jello by the end of it.  You can see why this would be a good event to participate in when training for a 24 hour race; Continue Reading »

Last, but certainly not least is Andrew Rumfelt; The Punisher!  Apparently, he concocts some of the most insane workouts you can imagine…for fun.  I’ve met these guys in person, and Andrew can be a little intimidating.  Don’t get me wrong.  He was really nice, but let’s just say you wouldn’t want to do anything to upset him in a dark alley.  Here’s what he has to say about his story…

“Hello, my name is Andrew Rumfelt. I am 35 years old, a husband and father of 3. I am a corporate pilot for Jet Aviation Flight Services; a General Dynamics Company.

I grew up in a Christian home and at the age of 16 decided to follow Christ and was baptized. It was a genuine decision.  I however let the world and my young age influence my decision making process for a few more years. After graduating high school I attended Hesston College in Kansas.  Having grown up in a nondenominational church, my theology and understanding of the Bible were challenged at Hesston College, which required Biblical study classes.  I became confused about the diverse theological stands denominations take on the same issues.  I continued to go to class because I needed the credits and I stopped going to church all together.  I realized the only way to know the truth was to study the Bible on my own. It was slow at first, but each night before I went to bed I would open my Bible and pray; asking the Holy Spirit to guide my understanding and to lead me into truth.  I told God that if He would teach me truth I would study.  It started off with chapters and then books of the Bible each day.  It was a fire that was lit deep inside of me that just kept growing. Continue Reading »

The third member of Team CCWC that will be competing in the World’s Toughest Mudder is Jeremiah Olson, a.k.a. “Dirty Grits”.  Jeremiah and I go back to our college days as floor mates.  At the time, we had similar hair cuts, and people would often get us confused.  That doesn’t happen any more, because as you can see in the photo above, he has hair and I (Aaron Waggoner) do not.  Now, let’s get to know Jeremiah a little better!

“My name is Jeremiah Olson. I’m 35 years old, a husband and a father of 4 kids age 2 through 9. I’m the worship pastor at Grace Community Church in Goshen, IN.

I grew up in a Christian home, and with the best understanding I had at the time, trusted Jesus as my Savior when I was 4 years old.  My faith grew as my understanding did for the next 11 years.  At age 15 I began a short-lived season of rebellion.  It ended abruptly one night in an unexpected moment of clarity, and I chose to follow God with my whole heart and abandon everything else that would lead me away from Him.  That choice was a springboard into a whole new level of adventure with God; one that has led me down the path of finding my calling, my bride, and my purpose as a husband, father, and leader in a local church.

Physical fitness had not been a big part of my life either as a kid or as a young adult.  When I was approaching my 30^th birthday, I decided I wanted to live the next 30 years more “on-purpose” than I had lived the first 30. I made that statement by running my first half-marathon on my 30^th birthday.  Since then, physical fitness has been a constant priority for both me and my wife, keeping us out of the doctor’s office, in the gym and on the road, and down on the floor being active with our kids.

Two years ago, when I was first invited to do a Tough Mudder race (by my Pastor as a staff team-building experience), I took a look at some YouTube videos to see what it was like.  After looking at a few obstacles, I thought to myself, “I’m not sure I could actually do this”.  When I realized that I wasn’t strong Continue Reading »

Today, I introduce to you Jonathan Corbin; aka the Phenom.  Below, is Jonathan’s story.

“My name is Jonathan Corbin.  I am 35 years old.  I am a husband and a father of 4 children; ages 6, 4, 2, and 9 months (as of May 2013).  I live in Goshen, Indiana.  I currently have a tree trimming/removal business called “My Tree Climber”.   I am also a Nutrition and Wellness Coach.  In this role, through healthy habits and the right nutritional supplements, I help people accomplish health goals including weight loss, muscle gain, overcoming issues with digestion, respiratory, migraines, diabetes, and fatigue (just to name a few).

I was privileged to grow up in a home with parents who loved me and provided ways for me to understand that Jesus loved me most of all.  I asked Jesus to be the Savior and Lord of my life at a very young age.  In 9^th grade I began reading my Bible on my own and setting aside time to talk to Jesus about challenging issues and just life in general, just like I would share with a good friend.   During my senior year of high school I came through a very low time in my life, but the good news is that I continued my long walks by myself where I would talk to Jesus.  One night I had a defining moment where I chose to take God at his word and believe the basic things he tells us.  This decision point freed me to overcome the challenges I was facing and take my life and relationship with God to the next level.  Since that time I have learned the importance of continual growth in life through the study of God’s word and seeking input from trusted friends and counselors.  Life is too short to stay stuck in negative beliefs and relationship patterns.  I praise God for the great freedom he has given me, even in the recent years, through work with my counselors and life coaches, pastors and friends.  God wants to bring freedom and joy into our lives, but we must be willing to grow and change in order to experience it.

I have always enjoyed being active.  As a young boy I participated in a local annual 2 mile fun run with my dad.  Growing up in the country gave me much time to enjoy hiking and running up and down the wooded hills of Pennsylvania.  The main school sport I participated in was soccer which I played starting in Continue Reading »

It was about six years ago that I began running.  I had reached my heaviest weight up to that point, and decided that it was time to do something about it.  So, I started running.  I could barely run a single mile, and even at that short of a distance I hated every second of it.  However, I was determined to push through the pain and make exercise more than a brief lapse of wasted effort at getting in shape.  I realized that if I was ever going to get to the point where I didn’t loath running, I’d have to just suck it up and keep doing it until I was in good enough shape that it would seem easy to go out and run 5 miles (research shows that it takes roughly 66 days on average to form a new habit).  It took me six months of running before I somewhat enjoyed going out for a run.

I received some help during that time from my brother-in-law.  He was a cross country and track runner in high school, and is currently coaching both sports at his alma mater; West Noble HS.  He oozes runner.  Anytime someone calls me a runner, I quickly remind them that just because I run, it doesn’t make me a runner.  He’s always trying to get me to sign up for 5k’s or half marathons.  I’ll admit, I have considered it, but only briefly.  I simply have a hard time justifying spending money to do something that I can do for free anytime I want.  $20 to run 3.1 miles?  No thanks.  I’ll pass.  However, over the last several years, there has been a new type of event gaining popularity.  Have you ever heard of the Tough Mudder, The Spartan Run, The Warrior Dash, GoRuck Race (the list goes on.  I told you it was getting popular didn’t I)?  Imagine an off road race, but with varying obstacles thrown in to challenge your strength, endurance, and toughness.  That is what all of these events are about.  They include everything from wall climbs, to ice baths, to mud slides, to electrocution (yep, you read that correctly).  Now that’s what I’m talking about!  I CAN’T do that anytime I want for free.  That’s something I’d pay money to do.  Jump off a Continue Reading »