The Race That Rewired My Mind
“What color is grass?” “Green…”
“What kind of animal is Disney’s Mickey?” “A mouse…”
Whew, passed!
It was 3 a.m. in the desert on the outskirts of Las Vegas and medics were checking on me to make sure I was okay to keep going. I could barely answer over my chattering teeth. I swore that hypothermia had to be setting in.
After what felt like an eternity, the medics took one more look at my disheveled body and waved me through. I had just run 45 miles in the World’s Toughest Mudder and I had nine more hours between me and the finish line. I could barely walk, it felt like I dislocated my shoulder, and the buzz from electric shocks reverberated throughout my body. How was I supposed to survive another 9 hours?
***
Never underestimate the power of YouTube’s suggested videos. One suggestion changed my entire life.
A 2015 highlight video for the World’s Toughest Mudder, a 24-hour obstacle race, popped up and I was intrigued. The video started: “Life at its best is in the moment. You’re not thinking about the future. You’re not thinking about the past. But everything you’ve ever done in your life, you’re using right then.”
I wanted to experience that feeling.
The video showed the race happening in the desert outside of Las Vegas with scorching sun during the day and frigid air at night. I saw 1,000 crazy people and their support crews excited to run for 24 hours…
The race was a 5-mile loop with around 20 obstacles in each lap. The goal was to complete as many laps as possible in 24 hours. There was a pit area, as they have in NASCAR races, at the end of the loop where runners could stop for food, supplies, and words of encouragement. Obstacles included crawling through mud under barbed wire, running up slick quarter pipes, monkey bars over water, cargo nets, a 35-foot cliff jump, and a challenge like the board game operation, it will shock you if the metal pole you’re using to retrieve a wristband touches the edge of a circle cutout. With all the water on the course, runners wore wetsuits just to stay warm.
One of the runners said, “This is hands down, the most amazing group of human beings you’ll ever find in the world.”
The video showed people from all walks of life taking on this epic challenge, helping each other out along the way.
Completing that race would be awesome, I thought to myself. The only problem?
I had never run more than a 5k in my life. It made me wonder if I could do it.
***
I was a shy, quiet kid in high school. I never smiled showing my teeth. I liked to stay home and play video games, and I often doubted myself.
As a sophomore in high school, my friend Ben finally persuaded me to go to the local gym after months of me finding excuses not to go.
I had no idea what I was doing. I couldn’t do a push-up. I felt self-conscious about being there.
Despite my protests, Ben had me trying all sorts of exercises. They were so challenging my arms shook awkwardly. I made it through the hour-long workout and I had the strangest feeling. I felt confident — something I’d rarely felt before.
All of a sudden, I believed in myself. I felt strong and capable of anything.
In that single hour, I didn’t gain any muscle, I didn’t change my body composition, and I didn’t have a six-pack, but I did change my mind.
I never wanted that feeling to go away. That fateful day my sophomore year would change the trajectory of my life.
There I was, just five years later, on a plane destined for Las Vegas and the World’s Toughest Mudder.
Ultra marathons, triathlons, and ninja warrior courses are all challenging, but not quite like World’s Toughest Mudder. I would be running on uneven rocky terrain, jumping in freezing water, climbing over obstacles, and pushing my muscles and mind to the limit for 24-hours straight. This was the most epic obstacle course race in the world.
And I was about to take it on.
***
Running the World’s Toughest Mudder was a major step for me in discovering the power of the mind and how rewiring my mind can transform my life.
Over the next weeks, I’m going to be sharing excerpts and stories from my book, Hard Wired in this blog series. Hard Wired launched on July 28th on Amazon, here is the link to buy it on Amazon! If you want to connect, you can reach me here via email brandonlgustafson@gmail.com or connect with me on social: LinkedIn or Instagram.
