plank,’ which is jumping off a fourteen-foot platform into a lake.
I remember being scared out of my mind. This military guy was up
there, and he said, ‘I’m going to count to three. When I get to three
I’m going to push you, so you should probably jump.’ I don’t know if
he was serious or not, but I jumped, hit the water, came up, and
I didn’t die. I let out a yell, because I felt alive like I had never felt
before. I thought, ‘Now I can do anything.’ I ran twelve miles.
I survived a freezing day. Then I jumped off a fourteen-foot platform
into a lake. I felt invincible!”
After the Warrior Dash came the Tough Mudder Extreme
Trail, then the Spartan Death Race; he was hooked. “I think it
happens to a lot of people. I felt a sense of accomplishment
I hadn’t felt before. I felt re-engaged with fitness, re-engaged with
my youth, and I was looking to sign up for the next one.” His life
started to change and he felt inspired by the people doing the races
and the employees and volunteers setting them up. He started
a podcast, a website, and wrote a book: Down and Dirty: The
Essential Training Guide for Obstacle Races and Mud Runs.^1 He’s now
the cofounder of Obstacle Course Media, a company that produces
and promotes obstacle course races, and his weekly podcast is the
most popular OCR podcast out there. Matt lives and breathes OCRs.
Many OCRs like Tough Mudder aren’t actually races in the
traditional sense. No one is timed and there’s no winner. Those who
complete the races are awarded medals, turkey legs, beer, bananas,
and bragging rights. The lack of competition encourages camarad-
erie; helping others complete the course is a huge part of the
experience. The source of pride is crossing the finish line.
It’s difficult to estimate when OCRs started. Some might say
that gladiators were the original tough mudders. Modern obstacle
course races probably started back in 1987 with the Tough Guy Race
near Wolverhampton, England, according to Matt.^2 Since then, it’s
mushroomed into a multi-million dollar industry with over
4.5 million participants worldwide in 2015.^3 There’s little wonder
why. People who complete OCRs report being fundamentally chan-
ged by the experience. As Matt put it, “I think it changed me so that
my DNA is different. I act differently now. I’ve jumped off that
fourteen-foot cliff a ton of times. Of course, I’m always scared, but
it’s not as scary as it was the first time.”
I knew what he meant, kind of. One of the reasons high
sensation-seekers are attracted to events like Tough Mudder is due
to theirarousal potential– a concept that describes the ability of68 / Buzz!Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Access paid by the UCSF Library, on 11 Nov 2019 at 14:19:03, subject to the Cambridge