World's Toughest Podcast

Jesi Stracham is the first person, man or woman, to complete the Tough Mudder Holy Grail in a wheelchair. To earn your Holy Grail you must complete a 10-mile Tougher Mudder, an eight-hour Toughest Mudder, and the 24-hour World's Toughest Mudder in the same calendar year. Jesi was a motorsports athlete when she was injured. She was a passenger on a motorcycle when a car made a U-turn into her. She...

We celebrate Valentine's Day with an extra episode this week starring Carlo Piscitello and Josh Cox.   Carlo Piscitello and Josh Cox were the first people to have a weekly show dedicated to World's Toughest Mudder and the WTM Community. They've both been on our podcast before, and this is their first joint appearance on the show.   Season Four of The Pis n' Cox Show will debut soon. They have rele...

Ian Panter ran 30 miles at World's Toughest Mudder in 2016. The last eight of those miles were on a broken foot. In 2017 after running Tough Mudder, he was a passenger in a car getting a ride back to his hotel. He was planning on running Toughest Mudder Philly that night and wanted to catch a quick nap before start time at midnight. As his car was leaving the venue he was hit by another car. Ian a...

Tough Mudder announced 26 cities will host a Tough Mudder 5k in 2018. We talked with Jay Ruggiero about the first ever Tough Mudder 5k in this bonus ep from last year. --- 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 compl...

Adriane Alvord joins the show to share her story. Adriane finished in 9th Place at her first WTM in 2016. After qualifying as an Elite Contender at Toughest Mudder Philly she had high hopes for 2017. The race didn't end up working out the way she hoped, after a nasty fall from Stage 5 Clinger left her with a concussion and unable to run in a straight line. Adriane has competed in the past two seas...

TMHQ hosts a large brunch the day after World's Toughest Mudder. It's a celebration of the event, the winners, and the community. After brunch Will sat down with Sue Harvey Brown, Kris Mendoza, and Kris' parents, Katie and Danny Mendoza.   As part of her job for Merrell Sue is the liaison to Tough Mudder and the WTM Community. But she's also a part of the community. She ran two Toughest Mudders in...

On today's show, Back to the Phones!    We take calls from Melissa "Sharkbait" Dugan, Ian Richardson, and Molly Kenneth on today's episode. We start by talking about WTM 2017 but each conversation finds its own way.   Before we talk with the callers we talk about some Tough Mudder volunteer news, I messed up with Australia again, and Tough Mudder is rolling out ANOTHER new event series: Puppy Mudd...

Kickoff Week 2018 Continues! The morning after WTM 2017 Will Hicks took his microphone to the hotel lobby to see who he could find. He ended up talking with Zoe Szczepanek, Maria Herrera, Gaspar Vazquez, and Evan Perperis for this episode. Zoe Szczepanek (Scha-pah-neck. You can do it) was the sideline reporter for the Facebook Live coverage of WTM 2017. She shares her thoughts on the event, the co...

Team Fat Boys is four people that Will Hicks has been friends with for over 20 years. Scott Forrester, Joel George, Nate Swanson, and Rachelle Swanson ran WTM 2017 as a National Relay Team, United States #3. They finished in 10th place overall, 3rd in the U.S. 2017 was the second WTM for Nate Swanson and Joel George and the first for Scott Forrester and Rachelle Swanson. All four members of the te...

This is the most obstacle-heavy episode we've ever had. Over 90 minutes of Tough Mudder talk with Jim "Da Goat" Campbell. Jim has been a guest on the show several times before, but we have never talked about his personal brush with death and what brought him to Tough Mudder. After a motorcycle accident nearly killed him on a highway in Texas, Jim was written off by the paramedics on scene, by the...

Welcome back! This is the first episode of Season Two, but it is not a typical episode. MATURE content warning. We sat down with Ryan Woods and Evan Perperis to talk about Ryan's recent failed drug test at OCR World Championships. Ryan has admitted to taking the banned substance DHEA but has said he took it accidentally, mistaking it for the approved substance DHA. Evan has said on his Strength an...

This is our last episode of 2017. Thanks for a great year. World's Toughest Podcast will return in late January or early February 2018. We announce the winners of the Toughest Award presented by World's Toughest Podcast and then we talk with the 3rd and 4th place women of WTM 2017, Michelle Ford and Deanna Blegg. Will wraps up the episode with some thoughts on 2017 and looks forward to 2018. --- F...

Mike Stefano joins us to talk about his experience with Alex Youngworth at World's Toughest 2017. Mike pitted for Alex and did a mini-interview with Alex every time Alex finished a lap. Mike shares the audio from his podcast with us. It's great to hear Alex progress from confident, to tired, to beaten up. If you've ran WTM before you've felt like Alex before. If you haven't ran WTM, you get a litt...

Allison Tai returns to the show to talk about her 2nd Place finish at World's Toughest Mudder 2017. Tai ran 85 miles in 24:40. Here's how that stacks up against some of the top female performances over the years. 2017: Rea Kolbl, 90 miles in 23:47 2012: Amelia Boone, 90 miles in 25:30 2017: ALLISON TAI, 85 MILES IN 24:40 2013: Deanna Blegg, 85 miles in 24:58 2016: Stefanie Bishop, 85 miles in 25:0...

Allison Tai returns to the show to talk about her 2nd Place finish at World's Toughest Mudder 2017. Tai ran 85 miles in 24:40. Here's how that stacks up against some of the top female performances over the years. 2017: Rea Kolbl, 90 miles in 23:47 2012: Amelia Boone, 90 miles in 25:30 2017: ALLISON TAI, 85 MILES IN 24:40 2013: Deanna Blegg, 85 miles in 24:58 2016: Stefanie Bishop, 85 miles in 25:0...

Matt B. Davis and Will Hicks got together the morning after World's Toughest 2017 and talked about the race. Matt and Will follow the sport of OCR as closely as any two men on the planet. They share their thoughts on the athletes and the race.   This is the first interview in the 50-something episodes of the podcast that has not been edited. It gives it a different feel than most of the other inte...

World's Toughest Mudder 2017 is in the books. We talk about the elite podium finishers with audio from the finish line and talk with the Women's winner, Rea Kolbl. Rea told us one of the reasons she decided to run World's Toughest Mudder was because she was listening to our podcast and she thought, "Yeah, I could do that". And she did. And she won. Also, why is no one else talking about this? Tayl...

A short recap of the winners from WTM 2017. Congratulations to the winners and to everyone who ran World's Toughest Mudder 2017. The podium winners: Men: Ryan Atkins with 110 miles Robert Killian with 105 miles Trevor Cichosz with 95 miles Women: Rea Koebl with 90 miles Allison Tai with 85 miles Michelle Ford with 80 miles Relay Teams: Chad Trammell's US #7 with 120 miles Kris Mendoza's US #8 with...

Elite Week continues with Ryan Atkins   If Atkins had to apply for a job as King of WTM, here's what his resume would look like.   2013: 1st Place, 100 miles. First athlete to complete 100 miles 2014: 1st Place. 95 miles. The fastest 95 in WTM history. 2015: 1st Place, Team. 80 miles. 2016: 1st Place, Team. 105 miles. Winners of $100,000 bonus prize.   In 2017 Atkins will return to the solo catego...

Elite Week continues with Lindsay Webster. Lindsay Webster has dominated Obstacle Course Racing this year. She won the Spartan Race World Championship. She won the Spartan Race US Series Championship. She won the 15k OCR World Championship. She won all three Toughest Mudder races she entered. She finished second in the Toughest Mudder Series Championship. She finished second in the 3k OCR World Ch...

With less than a week until World's Toughest Mudder, Will opened the phone lines for a night. This is what happened.   03:40 Mike Stefano of MStefano Running 10:45 Alex Youngworth 15:30 Matt B. Davis of Obstacle Racing Media 47:10 Melissa "Sharkbait" Dugan 01:16:45 Zach Redin and Fred Howcroft 01:41:45 Phoebe Brimer of Mud Run Guide 01:53:35 Jon Hobson 02:13:05 Hayley Goodstein 02:45:45 Shawn Meye...

Team Goat Tough will be one of the contenders in the new National Team Relay category at WTM 2017. Team Goat Tough is Kris Mendoza, Austin Azar, Miguel Medina, and Mark Jones. Between them they have over 750 miles at World's Toughest Mudder dating back to the very first race in 2011. Relay Teams must complete the first and last lap together. All other laps must be completed by 50% or more of their...

Deanna Blegg won World's Toughest Mudder in 2013. She is one of the most decorated women in WTM history. Here is her WTM resume: 2012, 80 miles, 2nd place 2013, 85 miles, 1st place 2014, 75 miles 2nd place 2015, 70 miles, 3rd place 2016, Invented BleggMits That's four straight years on the podium AND she invented the best gloves you can buy for World's Toughest Mudder. We talk about her plan for W...

Ken Roberts is a member of the World's Toughest Mudder community who is also a dietitian. We take a deep dive into the world of endurance racing fueling and nutrition. We talk calories per hour and water volume and the high level topics, but we also get into some practical easily applied advice: What should you eat the day before WTM? What should eat the morning of the race? What should you eat du...

Elite Week continues with two time WTM Champion Jon Albon. Jon Albon stops by the show to discuss running 110 miles against his former teammate, four time champion Ryan Atkins. --- Remember to save the date: We will have our first call-in show on November 6th, the Monday before WTM from 9:00pm to Midnight. Call (619) 378-4369 with your questions, comments, or anything else you want to share with t...