More than 900 take part in 'One Tough Cookie' inaugural mud run

Wisconsin National Guard Public Affairs Office

More than 60 service members and veterans joined approximately 900 women and girls to prove they are "One Tough Cookie" Saturday (Sept. 15) in a 5K mud run adventure at Oakwood Knoll Girl Scout Camp in East Troy, Wis.

The Wisconsin National Guard Recruiting and Retention Command co-sponsored the event with the Girl Scouts of Wisconsin-Badgerland Council, with the goal of promoting physical activity. Race Director LaShell Lentz said the inaugural event went extremely well.

"There will definitely be a next year," she said. "We had double or triple the spectators we were expecting. I think we'll easily double our participants for next year. We've gotten tons of really great feedback."

Warrant Officer 1 Kari Wagner, who has led Girl Scout Troop 2651 in McFarland, Wis., for the past year, also led six Girl Scout moms and two other women through the course.

"We did awesome," she said. "We started together and we all finished together."

Wagner said they tackled the course to show the girls in Troop 2651 that fitness is important.

Lentz described the difficulty level of the obstacle-filled course - designed by two Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans from the Wisconsin Army National Guard's 1158th Transportation Company - as beginner to intermediate, but said it still challenged many of the participants.

"The course is as hard as you make it," she said.

Obstacles included jumping through tires, climbing walls, low-crawling through mud and swimming in icy, murky water. Wagner recounted part of the course where one participant was reluctant to scale the wall, but overcame the challenge with help and encouragement from others.

"She was out of her element," Wagner observed. "She was crying afterward, but she was happy that she did it."

The "One Tough Cookie" was the first such race for Col. Joane Mathews, deputy chief of staff for personnel with the Wisconsin Army National Guard, and her 15-year-old daughter Shannon.

"We really enjoyed it," Mathews said. "It was a good time for us to connect while exercising and having fun. It also gave us both the urge to do more of these because it was so fun."

Lentz said that an age-appropriate course will be offered next year for girls 14 and under.

Proceeds from the run benefited the Girl Scouts of Wisconsin-Badgerland Council.