It’s Mental Health Awareness Week, and we’re thrilled to share Debbie’s incredible story with you.
Join us as we follow Debbie’s fearless journey as she confronts her fears head-on.
Ready to be inspired? Let’s dive in 🤩
How was your first experience with Tough Mudder?
Before my first Tough Mudder I did my research and looked at what we would be doing and I kept panicking over the months running up to race day about being electrocuted on Electroshock Therapy. This was the only obstacle that kept playing in my mind of what could happen. Would it hurt me? What will it feel like? It actually took over me being able to sleep some nights.
When the event day came and I was onto the 3 or 4th obstacle in which was Arctic Enema at Yorkshire and I jumped into it without thinking twice, emerged from the water and had a complete panic attack. The water safety team could see me panic and dragged me out of the water.
This knocked my confidence a bit and made me more fearful of what was to come. For my first event I managed to work my way through Electric Eel and never felt pain like it on my shoulder. It was a throbbing pain for about 5 minutes and then it was forgotten about…. until I made it to the last obstacle. My thoughts took over and I froze and again panicked about what could happen to me. In the moment I decided to walk round the finish obstacle and cross the finish line.
Did you sign up again for another event after this?
In my head I hadn’t completed the course to my full potential as I felt I could of tried more. I swore blind to every person that asked me if I would do another that I wouldn’t. Within a week after thinking about the race overall I had signed up for round 2 for the following year. In the back of my mind were the thoughts of how I got on and how I had performed during the race. This time my mental health suffered with nightmares of not surfacing from Arctic Enema after my first experience. Everyone in my team could see how nervous as I was and how it was taking over my thoughts.
Did you complete Arctic Enema 2nd time around?
I had a bigger team of about 13 people this time and again Arctic Enema was the 5th obstacle on course and they just said ‘Debbie, we are going to pull you through and get you through this’ After some encouraging words I slid down the tube and emerged from the water and felt the panic.
My team from the other side reached out and grabbed my hand and just said ‘hold your breath’ and it was over and done with. Having that accomplishment made me feel amazing and I did battle through Electroshock Therapy with some pretty badass photos to prove it.
I overcome all fears
After my second Tough Mudder (which was when I was at my fittest throughout the journey) life then got in the way and I started to put lots of weight on. The constant that has stayed with me throughout the 10 years is that you can do anything when you put your mind to it but you need to put yourself in those uncomfortable situations so you can prove to people you can do it.
After my second race I did lose lots of confidence and the awful thoughts of what could happen took over again which is what keeps bringing me back ‘I will overcome all fears’. Turning the negative into a positive is something I strive for and like to show people that anyone can be a part of this community no matter your fitness level or size.
All you need is to take the first step and register and just do your best.
You will usually find you will surprise yourself.
