LEXINGTON, Ohio — As the finish line approached, I felt a surge of adrenaline.
This was different, though.
My Tough Mudder experience had ended five hours earlier when my teammates and I tumbled across the finish line shortly before 10:30 Saturday morning. My calf muscles, which had been balled up in knots for the final two miles of the 10-mile obstacle course challenge at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, were still burning. I could barely lift my arms above my head and both knees were scratched and bruised.
But as my son, Cruz, charged toward the finish line of the Fruit Shoot Mini-Mudder course, all that discomfort melted away.
In its place was a feeling of unbridled excitement.
Judging by the toothless grin on my son’s face as the finish line attendant slipped the baby blue headband over the tussle of jet black hair and onto his forehead, he felt it, too.
The Fruit Shoot Mini-Mudder was new to Tough Mudder Ohio this year. Kids age 7 to 12 ran a three-lap, mile-long course that included eight obstacles per lap. Mini-mudders climbed walls and slithered through tunnels. They pulled weighted sleds and crossed balance beams. They belly-crawled through water and mud and swung hand-over-hand across monkey bars.
But mostly, they had fun.
“We had 194 kids participate in Fruit Shoot Mini-Mudder this weekend at Tough Mudder Ohio,” marketing and communications associate Jodi Kovacs said. “Nationwide, we’ve had 1,831 participants for Fruit Shoot Mini-Mudder so far this year. This includes our events in Gulf Coast, Arizona, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Central Texas, Ohio and Chicago.”
Like his father, my 8-year-old son had a hard time navigating the monkey bars. He slipped off his first two attempts but crossed them on the third trip around the course.
“It was hard to hold on, but I kept trying,” he told me afterward, much to my delight.
He and his friend, Emma, worked together to cross the tandem balance beams while holding a shallow pan of water. The object was to prevent the water from sloshing over the edges.
“That was my favorite one,” Cruz said. “We had to work as a team.”
That is one of the Fruit Shoot Mini-Mudder tenets. Before they hit the course, the participants recited the Mini-Mudder pledge:
“Mini-Mudders like getting muddy.”
“Mini-Mudders are tough and strong.”
“Mini-Mudders always work together.”
“Mini-Mudders do not whine. Babies whine.”
“Mini-Mudders are up for adventure.”
“Mini-Mudders can do anything.”
And like his dad, my Mini-Mudder is hooked.
“I want to do it again next year,” Cruz told me on his way to school the other day. “I can’t wait.”
Neither can I.
