Darth Vader talks about his 89 TM events, and his leg amputation.
Darth Vader joins us this episode to talk about his 89 (and counting) Tough Mudder events, his leg amputation, and introducing his daughter to the world of Tough Mudder.
Darth (that's his real name. We talk about it) loves to push himself. He's at a Tough Mudder, a half marathon, or a triathlon almost every weekend.
Darth had his leg amputated this year. He talks about why that had to happen and how he bounced back afterward. He did a triathlon five weeks after the surgery.
If you'd like to join the World’s Toughest Mudder Winner’s List and enter the contest for a free pair of Merrell Agility Peak Flex shoes email WorldsToughestPodcast@gmail.com with Merrell in the subject line and the following in the body: 1) Your Name 2) Your email address 3) Your cell phone number 4) Yes or No to the question "Would you like to receive updates from Merrell and World's Toughest Podcast
What do you think of the podcast? Who in the Tough Mudder community would you like to hear? Let us know on the WTM Community page, the World’s Toughest Podcast Facebook page at Facebook.com/worldstoughestpod, or call the listener voicemail line at (302) 786-9868.
If you would like to help make the show better, leave us a review on iTunes. Go for a looooong run today.
Anke Frederich, a WTM vet from Germany joins us this episode, but first we talk about the Tougher Mudder Championship Series and the money that Tough Mudder has been paying out in race purses this year.
Will Dean has been making the rounds on the morning news shows promoting his new book “It Takes A Tribe” and we’ve got audio from three shows. While Dean was talking to Charlie Rose he let something slip that I had not heard before.
The Colorado Springs Police Department is asking for our help in apprehending a criminal. Listen for more details.
Before we talk with Anke we read some reviews. Have you left a review for the podcast yet?
Anke Frederich lives in Germany, but she flies over to the U.S. regularly to participate in Tough Mudder events. Just this year, among many others she’s done Long Island, Chicago, Whistler, Toughest Mudder L.A. and Toughest Mudder Chicago. She worked pit crew for World’s Toughest Mudder in 2015 and ran in 2016. This November she will be the first German woman and the 2nd german overall to get her 50x headband.
Anke has done more Tough Mudders in more countries than anyone I know. She shares her thoughts on the differences between each country when it comes to Tough Mudder.
Anke loves Tough Mudder because of the community. She talks about how much the community and the people that make it up mean to her.
0:00 Preview and Intro
0:50 Welcome and Thanks.
1:05 Birthday Greetings and asking women their age
2:00 Tougher Mudder Championship Series
11:15 Prize Purse for 2017 races vs previous years.
15:45 Too long, didn’t listen: Prize Purse summary.
16:15 The 2018 Tough Mudder Championship Weekend
19:10 “It Takes A Tribe” Sneak Peek
21:00 Will Dean on “Fox and Friends”
21:50 Will Dean and Jim Campbell on “The Today Show”
22:40 Will Dean on Charlie Rose with a bit of news we have not heard before
24:45 Police need our help. Mad Pooper on the loose.
26:30 Reviews! 5 Starrrrrrrrs!
29:50 Interview with Anke Frederich
If you'd like to join the World’s Toughest Mudder Winner’s List and enter the contest for a free pair of Merrell Agility Peak Flex shoes email WorldsToughestPodcast@gmail.com with Merrell in the subject line and the following in the body: 1) Your Name 2) Your email address 3) Your cell phone number 4) Yes or No to the question "Would you like to receive updates from Merrell and World's Toughest Podcast
What do you think of the podcast? Who in the Tough Mudder community would you like to hear? Let us know on the WTM Community page, the World’s Toughest Podcast Facebook page at Facebook.com/worldstoughestpod, or call the listener voicemail line at (302) 786-9868.
If you would like to hear your writing read on air, leave us a review on iTunes. Don't forget to subscribe and listen for new episodes every week.
Toughest Mudder Chicago Recap Episode!
The sixth and final Toughest Mudder was held this past weekend in Chicago. Winning for the men was Ryan Atkins and for the women was Allison Tai. In addition to winning Toughest Chicago, Atkins and Tai both won the Toughest Series Championship by having the most milage over their three best Toughest races.
We spend some time talking about the men's and women's podiums and finally lock down where World's Toughest Mudder 2018 will be held. Spoiler Alert: We're not sure, but we're pretty sure.
Allison Tai joins us to talk about her win in Chicago and her Toughest Series win. She breaks down the race and talks about her plan and strategy as the race progressed. She also talks about her favorite type of mid-race fuel and why she needs to get sponsored by Kozy Shack.
If you'd like to join the World’s Toughest Mudder Winner’s List and enter the contest for a free pair of Merrell Agility Peak Flex shoes email WorldsToughestPodcast@gmail.com with Merrell in the subject line and the following in the body: 1) Your Name 2) Your email address 3) Your cell phone number 4) Yes or No to the question "Would you like to receive updates from Merrell and World's Toughest Podcast
What do you think of the podcast? Who in the Tough Mudder community would you like to hear? Let us know on the WTM Community page, the World’s Toughest Podcast Facebook page at Facebook.com/worldstoughestpod, or call the listener voicemail line at (302) 786-9868.
If you would like to hear Will read your words on air, leave us a review on iTunes. Don't forget to subscribe and listen for new episodes every week.
Will is back from his family vacation and has a lot of news to get caught up on before he talks Tough Mudder 5k with Jay Ruggiero.
Big items in the news we talk about are the new Toughest Mudder TV shows on CBS, the location of WTM 2018 and the new category this year at WTM: National Team. Will also does a little speculation on the future of co-ed teams at World's Toughest Mudder.
Jay Ruggerio is running this weekend in the first ever Tough Mudder 5k. We talk through the 3.1 miles and the 10 obstacles that many people will be facing for the first time ever.
Jay ran WTM for the first time in 2016 and completed 20 miles. He feels like he has unfinished business with the course and is looking to complete 50 miles in 2017. To help him and a small group of friends reach that goal of 50 miles he started a Facebook group called WTM 2017 50-Mile Team. The group now has over 200 members.
If you'd like to join the World's Toughest Podcast Winner's List and enter the contest for a free pair of Merrell Agility Peak Flex shoes email WorldsToughestPodcast@gmail.com with Merrell in the subject line and the following in the body: 1) Your Name 2) Your email address 3) Your cell phone number
Who would you like to hear on the podcast? Let us know in a comment on the World’s Toughest Podcast Facebook page, or leave us a review on iTunes. Don't forget to subscribe and listen for new episodes every week.
Yancy Culp stops by to talk about training for World's Toughest Mudder. Yancy trains many of the top athletes in OCR and Tough Mudder, including Morgan Mckay, Allison Tai, Glenn Racz, Matt Novakovich, and Rose Wetzel.
Yancy has reached 50 miles both times he ran World's Toughest Mudder and talks about how to train to reach that goal for yourself.
This is the first part of our conversation. The second half will get into the nitty-gritty details of training. It will air later this week.
Also big news: The first ever Tough Mudder X was this past weekend. We will have our official recap episode when the TV show airs on CBS. Tough Mudder X will air August 27 and September 3 on CBS.
If you'd like to join the World's Toughest Podcast Winner's List and enter the contest for a free pair of Merrell Agility Peak Flex shoes email WorldsToughestPodcast@gmail.com with Merrell in the subject line and the following in the body: 1) Your Name 2) Your email address 3) Your cell phone number
Who would you like to hear on the podcast? Let us know in a comment on the World’s Toughest Podcast Facebook page, or leave us a review on iTunes. Don't forget to subscribe and listen for new episodes every week.
Tough Mudder X preview with Morgan Mckay!
Morgan Mckay is competing this weekend at Tough Mudder X, the inaugural One Mile Tough Mudder course. Tough Mudder X is what would happen if Tough Mudder and CrossFit got together and had an adorable little competitive baby. And if that baby had a $25,000 prize for first place.
Morgan talks us through the course and tells us what to expect, and how she expects to do. Spoiler alert: She expects to do awesome. Or terrible. No in-between.
If you'd like to join the World's Toughest Podcast Winner's List and enter the contest for a free pair of Merrell Agility Peak Flex shoes email WorldsToughestPodcast@gmail.com with Merrell in the subject line and the following in the body: 1) Your Name 2) Your email address 3) Your cell phone number
Who would you like to hear on the podcast? Let us know in a comment on the World’s Toughest Podcast Facebook page, or leave us a review on iTunes. Don't forget to subscribe and listen for new episodes every week.
Toughest Mudder Canada Recap.
We're going guest free today. We're going to talk with the elites and the regular joes of Toughest Mudder Whistler in the next few episodes, but today is all about the stats, the results, and the numbers behind Canada's Toughest Mudder.
Here are your Canada's Toughest Mudder winners:
If you'd like to join the World's Toughest Podcast Winner's List and enter the contest for a free pair of Merrell Agility Peak Flex shoes email WorldsToughestPodcast@gmail.com with Merrell in the subject line and the following in the body: 1) Your Name 2) Your email address 3) Your cell phone number
Who would you like to hear on the podcast? Let us know in a comment on the World’s Toughest Podcast Facebook page, or leave us a review on iTunes. Don't forget to subscribe and listen for new episodes every week.
Toughest Mudder Whistler Preview with PJ Catalano
Toughest Canada weather report is at 14:10.
If you want to get straight to PJ, skip to 20:35.
PJ and Will talk about Toughest Whistler at 47:55
Will opens the episode with news from the world of Tough Mudder including the release of the Holy Grail Leaderboard. All of your milage from the Tough Mudder competitive series is logged and you are ranked based on miles completed. Right now Sara Knight leads all people with 120 miles.
TMHQ announced a new obstacle exlusively for Toughest Mudder Canada: Bears. That is a true story. They’re concerned about bears on or near the course so they’re taking some safely precautions. We talk about them as we preview Whistler.
Of all the guys that run multiple laps at Tough Mudder courses, PJ Catalano is the multi-lappingingest. He’s the only guy Will knows that has run three laps in one day at a course.
PJ has run WTM three times, in 2014, 15, and 16. He’s hit 50 miles or more twice but still feels like those years weren’t completely successful races for him.
One of the things PJ and Will talk about is the emotional side of running World’s Toughest Mudder. You won't hear many people talk about it, but WTM will provide you with some highs and some LOWS.
If you'd like to join the World's Toughest Podcast Winner's List and enter the contest for a free pair of Merrell Agility Peak Flex shoes email WorldsToughestPodcast@gmail.com with Merrell in the subject line and the following in the body: 1) Your Name 2) Your email address 3) Your cell phone number. WE'RE GIVING AWAY SHOES NEXT WEEK! Tell your friends.
Who would you like to hear on the podcast? Let us know in a comment on the World’s Toughest Podcast Facebook page, or leave us a review on iTunes. Don't forget to subscribe and listen for new episodes every week.
Heads up: Grown up language. Hide the kids.
Will Hicks talks about the big Tough Mudder X news and who he expects to see compete and who he does NOT expect to see out there. Do you realize 18 months ago you had two choices for a Tough Mudder event? You could run Tough Mudder or you could run World’s Toughest Mudder. Will talks about all seven of the current Tough Mudder events.
Then Keith Allen and Will Hicks talk about Toughest Mudder Philly, Matt B. Davis, and all these other people.
Matty Gregg
Kris Mendoza
Cassie Harris
Jay Bode
Melissa Dugan
Pis and Cox Ambassador Program
Jason Rulo
The Toughest Philly volunteer at Stage 5 Clinger
The Toughest Philly volunteer at Skidmarked
Ryan Atkins
Jon Albon
Chad Trammell
Phineas and Ferb
The nice british lady at the beginning of the ORM Podcast
Keith’s boy Pat
Dr. Red Tights (Wesley Kerr)
Hunter McIntyre
Garfield Griffiths
Kelly Allen
Keith’s kids
Joshua Grant
Junyong Pak
Yancy Culp
Jeff the video guy
Gina Estrada
Keith and Will talk about Stage 5 clinger and the volunteer who was not allowing runners to help each other on the obstacle. Keith and Will talked before Will talked with Nolan and Eli of TMHQ last week. TMHQ told us that was a misunderstanding on the part of the volunteer and should not have been the case. They always want participants to help each other. It shouldn’t happen again.
Keith’s pit food for Toughest Philly? 3 water bottle filled with Tailwind, Strawberries, Blueberries, and Pretzel M&M’s.
If you'd like to join the World's Toughest Podcast Winner's List and enter the contest for a free pair of Merrell Agility Peak Flex shoes email WorldsToughestPodcast@gmail.com with Merrell in the subject line and the following in the body: 1) Your Name 2) Your email address 3) Your cell phone number
Who would you like to hear on the podcast? Let us know in a comment on the World’s Toughest Podcast Facebook page, or leave us a review on iTunes. Don't forget to subscribe and listen for new episodes every week.
On this episode, news of Amelia Boone’s return to racing (Don’t call it a comeback) along with her rare beef jerky audio, and three different interviews.
First, Sandy Rhee, of the NE Spahtens Podcast joins us to talk Toughest Mudder Philly and give her take on the race from the “non-elite” side of things. Then we get a view of the race from the top of the podium as we talk to Trevor Cichosz. Trevor won Toughest Philly, as well as World’s Toughest Mudder 2016. We talk to him about both races.
Finally we check in with Nolan Kombol and Eli Hutchison of TMHQ. Nolan and Eli are the brains behind Toughest Mudder. They’re the ones to thank for that Mud Mile in Atlanta. We talk about that obstacle specifically. We also talk about Stage 5 Clinger in Philly, as well as lots of other Toughest and World’s Toughest information.
If you'd like to join the World's Toughest Podcast Winner's List and enter the contest for a free pair of Merrell Agility Peak Flex shoes email WorldsToughestPodcast@gmail.com with Merrell in the subject line and the following in the body: 1) Your Name 2) Your email address 3) Your cell phone number
The Mud Movement YouTube Channel
Amelia Boone for Oberto Beef Jerky
Who would you like to hear on the podcast? Let us know in a comment on the World’s Toughest Podcast Facebook page, or leave us a review on iTunes. Don't forget to subscribe and listen for new episodes every week.
Toughest Mudder Philly Recap!
Toughest Mudder Philly was this past weekend. Trevor Cichosz and Allison Tai came away with the first place wins and 208 runners out of 717 (29%) qualified as contenders.
Before we get into the Toughest Philly recap information Will talks about Ian Panter and the car accident he was in as he was leaving the Saturday morning Tough Mudder course. The local news station where Ian lives did a story on the accident and we listen to a clip from it. If you’d like to help Ian and his family with their medical expenses, a GoFundMe page has been set up. You can find a link to it at facebook.com/worldstoughestpod
Kris Mendoza borrowed the World’s Toughest Microphone and talked to several people in Philly, pre-race. He spends some time talking with Trevor Cichosz, Lou Fisher, Stefanie Bishop, John Fagan, Jim “Da Goat” Campbell, Keith Allen, Joel Forsyth, and Melissa “Sharkbait” Dugan. Da Goat and Sharkbait are on this podcast as often as Will Hicks lately.
As we start talking about Philly, we talk about the Philly results and stats, as well as discussing the Toughest Mudder series as a whole. Philly had 29% of the field qualify as contenders, Europe had 33%, Atlanta had 61%, and LA had 46%. Total contender numbers so far: 2,272 people have run Toughest Mudder. 885 have completed 25 miles. 39% have become contenders.
Will then reads a few iTunes reviews (Have you left your review yet?) and reminds everyone how to enter to win a free pair of Merrell Agility Peak Flex trail running shoes from the World’s Toughest Podcast. If you want better odds, you can also win of a pair of the shoes from Amazon, but the entry fee is about $130.
Once we go to the phones, we don’t come back. We have a conversation with Allison Tai, Kevin Given, Alex “Chikorita” Roudayna, Kevin “Bubbles” Gregory, Sara Knight, Jordan McDougal, and Stefanie Bishop.
Allison Tai won first place at Toughest Philly. If you’d like to hear more from Allison, check out episode 17 of the World’s Toughest Podcast.
Kevin Given ran Toughest Philly this weekend. You’ll recognize him on course in his straw cowboy hat.
Chikorita won third place at Toughest Philly and has qualified as an Elite Contender three times. She will make some noise this year at World’s Toughest Mudder.
Kevin Gregory has the nickname “Bubbles”. If you listen to his whole call with Will you’ll find out why.
Sara Knight is one of two women (with Sharkbait) who have run every Toughest Mudder so far. She and Chad Trammell are the only two people to qualify as an Elite Contender in more than one country.
Jordan McDougal won second place at Toughest Mudder Philly. He has a background in ultra-running. This is his first Toughest Mudder event.
Stefanie Bishop is the reigning World’s Toughest Mudder. She needs no introduction. You introduce yourself to her. That’s not her job.
This episode is almost two hours long. What do you think about that? Next time should we split it into two or three different episodes and put out a shorter episode each week? Or would you prefer to get as much information as you can, as soon as you can? Let us know in a review on iTunes. We would sincerely appreciate it.
If you'd like to join the World's Toughest Podcast Winner's List and enter the contest for a free pair of Merrell Agility Peak Flex shoes email WorldsToughestPodcast@gmail.com with Merrell in the subject line and the following in the body: 1) Your Name 2) Your email address 3) Your cell phone number
Who would you like to hear on the podcast? Let us know in a comment on the World’s Toughest Podcast Facebook page, or leave us a review on iTunes. Don't forget to subscribe and listen for new episodes every week.
Toughest Mudder Philly Preview!
Philadelphia is the site of the fourth of six Toughest Mudder races. Races in Whistler and Chicago will take place later this year.
After a bit of Tough Mudder news and a plug for friends-of-the-show Pis n' Cox, we talk to Kris Mendoza.
Kris competed in Toughest L.A. and missed qualifying as an Elite Contender by less than two minutes. He talks about the disappointment he felt in L.A. and his plans for Toughest Mudder Philly.
We also talk about his performance at World's Toughest Mudder. His first year was 2014 where he completed 50 miles. In 2015 he completed 80 miles, and in 2016 he became one of only six people to complete 100 miles at World's Toughest Mudder.
Kris talks about how he went from zero running background to 50 miles, to 75+, all the way up to 100 miles. If you hit 50 miles at WTM last year and are chasing 75 this year you'll want to hear his advice.
If you'd like to join the World's Toughest Podcast Winner's List and enter the contest for a free pair of Merrell Agility Peak Flex shoes email WorldsToughestPodcast@gmail.com with Merrell in the subject line and the following in the body: 1) Your Name 2) Your email address 3) Your cell phone number
Who would you like to hear on the podcast? Let us know in a comment on the World’s Toughest Podcast Facebook page, or leave us a review on iTunes. Don't forget to subscribe and listen for new episodes every week.
Toughest Mudder Europe Recap!
On this episode we talk results, statistics, and interviews from Toughest Mudder Europe. We’ve got audio from the podium and you get a taste of Tough Mudder UK’s start line man, Gil Kolirin.
We talk about the list of all the 13 different men and 11 different women who have qualified as Elite Contenders for World’s Toughest Mudder 2017, as well as how many people have run each of the three Toughest Mudder and how many people completed 25 miles to qualify as a Contender at each location. If you don’t have time to listen right now, you can find this information on the World’s Toughest Podcast Facebook page, facebook.com/worldstoughestpod
Will talks to four different people who ran Toughest Mudder Europe for a few minutes each. Phil Renton, Emma Ray, Robbie Brown, and Nye Davies all had totally different, yet similar experiences at the race this weekend.
The episode wraps up with a talk with the men’s winner of Toughest Mudder Europe, Jon Albon. Jon talks about how the race went for him and gets into the mental side of long endurance racing.
If you'd like to join the World’s Toughest Podcast Winner’s List and enter the contest for a free pair of Merrell Agility Peak Flex shoes email WorldsToughestPodcast@gmail.com with Merrell in the subject line and the following in the body: 1) Your Name 2) Your email address 3) Your cell phone number
Who would you like to hear on the podcast? Let us know on the World’s Toughest Podcast Facebook page, or leave us a review on iTunes. Don't forget to subscribe and listen for new episodes every week.
LAST MINUTE NEWS: After the audio was locked for this episode we saw a video on MudRunGuide.com with Tough Mudder CEO Will Dean talking about the plans for Toughest Europe next year. Current plans are to hold a Toughest Mudder in both the UK and Germany in 2018.