What’s up Crew,

World's Toughest Mudder is almost here.
If you're not familiar with it, WTM is one of the most ridiculous events in OCR.

24+ hours.
One course.
Keep going until your body, mind, or both decide they're done.

So instead of doing an athlete spotlight this week, I wanted to try something a little different.

I messaged 15 Athletes heading to WTM and 11 of them got back to me in time for pushing this week’s newsletter out.

It’s a mixed group.
~2/3 are high-level Athletes that have a good chance of standing on that Podium! 🏆
And ~1/3 are that mixed bag of Age Group podium contenders, seniors in the sport who’ve been doing Tough Mudders forever, and one guy who’s going out for the very first time!

The responses were everything I hoped for.

Some were serious.
Some were funny.
Some made me question whether these people are actually okay.

Let's get into it.

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Nikki Caromba (@nikkicaromba)
The 2025 WTM Women’s Champion with 95 miles.

"100 miles! But Morning Glory may mess that up!"

Joe Rucco (@joe_rucco)
The 2025 WTM Men’s Champion with 110 miles.

"Back-to-back wins, 110+ miles"

Jillian (Heller) Joyce (@jillheller)
A 3rd place Podium at last year’s WTM with 85 miles.

"My goal is to keep moving for the full 24 hours!"

Jeff Lippert (@jefferey_lippert)
5x at WTM with a 95mile PR & not afraid of going long with a 300mile trail race buckle.

"100+ Miles and The Orange Jacket"

AJ Golik (@alexandergolikk)
Hyrox Athlete who jumps into ultras. Got 110 miles at WTM last year in a 2man Team.

"This will be my first WTM competing as an individual. I would like to push for some huge mileage!”

Kris Mendoza (@doza_da_dentist)
Was a top name at WTM in the past (3x at 100miles) & making a comeback in 2026!

"To hit 100 miles for the 4th time!"

Nadine Wendt (@running.ocr.nadine)
Hyrox/OCR/Running - she does it all & got 80 miles at WTM last year.

"90 Miles!"

Hans Lofdahl (@theblindviking)
Hans is a visually impaired Para OCR runner who’s heading to WTM for the 1st time!

"That I and my guide runners survive and get an official time"

Joe Perry (@paintedheadguy)
The guy probably has more TM miles racked up over the last decade than anyone else on the course. A true TM/WTM Veteran.

"Survival without any aging body parts snapping off"

Cory Edwards (@coryedwards1)
Strong resume of OCR Ultra’s, hitting 75 miles at WTM in ‘24 & ‘25.

"100 Miles! (Always set the bar high) realistically though 90 probably"

Hallee Milot (@hallee89)
Popular on a TM podium! Hallee is heading back to WTM this year after hitting 80 miles in ‘25, giving her 2nd place AG and 5th overall.

"To leave the course knowing I got every mile that was available to me that day."

What's wild is how different the goals are.

You've got defending champion Joe Rucco chasing another win.

You've got athletes chasing the magical 100-mile mark.

And then you've got guys like Joe Perry who are simply hoping their body remains attached by sunrise.

Honestly?
All of those are valid WTM goals.

This one delivered.

Nikki Caromba
"Definitely EST. I used some choice words in Scotland that made men blush."

Joe Rucco
"Cargo Crawl or Pyramid Scheme 2.0"

Jillian (Heller) Joyce
"Last year, mud mile was awful!"

Jeff Lippert
"Any electrical obstacle. I hate getting shocked."

AJ Golik
"The obstacle that causes the most swearing is anything electric. I'm a big baby."

Kris Mendoza
"Devil's Beard. Anything with a heavy net you have to crawl under is pure torture."

Nadine Wendt
"Everything that involves jumping high, like Firefly last year."

Hans Lofdahl
"All the obstacles with tricky grips and need of momentum causes some trouble, since I’m visually impaired."

Joe Perry
"Well Swung or whatever they happen to call it this time. My little T-Rex arms can barely reach the #@% bar!”

Cory Edwards
"Devils Beard or any version of it."

Hallee Milot
“Arctic Enema. No further explanation needed 😆”

Electric obstacles absolutely dominated these answers.

Apparently elite athletes can survive 24 hours of running...
but getting shocked still turns everyone into a toddler.

Also, Devil's Beard showed up multiple times.

If you're building a fantasy WTM course designed purely to make athletes miserable, start there.

This might have been my favorite question.

Nikki Caromba
"A cheeseburger with chips and chicken wings... and then only two bites before wanting to throw up."

Joe Rucco
"Something salty, a big cheeseburger or fried chicken sandwich"

Jillian (Heller) Joyce
"A big burger!"

Jeff Lippert
"A large pizza, cinnamon sticks and a cold beer"

AJ Golik
"Either a giant breakfast for dinner situation with pancakes or a chicken sandwich with fries!"

Kris Mendoza
"Bourbon, pizza, and ice cream. But I have to remember to keep drinking tons of water after. I’ve gotten into trouble with too much whiskey and coffee the day after the race!”

Nadine Wendt
"Everything! But preferably little snacks like crisps after the sweet carbs."

Hans Lofdahl
"Anything that can be chewed and swallowed"

Joe Perry
"I have to go with a Burger. Meat for sure. Something easy enough so my weary jaw doesn't get overworked."

Cory Edwards
"Tons of pizza and pasta and lots of coke... and bread. Lots of bread."

Hallee Milot
"A burger big enough that I need two hands and absolutely no one asking me if I want a salad."

After extensive analysis of this highly sophisticated data set...
WTM athletes appear to survive almost entirely on:

🍕 Pizza
🍔 Cheeseburgers
🍟 Fries
🥃 Bourbon
🍞 Bread

There may be a nutrition lesson hidden in there somewhere.

A few themes stood out:

✅ The 100-mile mark remains the holy grail.

✅ Electric obstacles are universally hated.

✅ Nobody wants to crawl under heavy nets.

✅ Pizza remains undefeated.

Next week we'll shift gears and start looking at the favorites, dark horses and podium contenders for World's Toughest Mudder.

That’s because… The OCR Crew Prediction Contest returns for WTM!

Start studying!

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Joe Rucco has been mentioned a good bit here. With his Interview after his podium at the New Jersey Ultra, and now in our mix of questions above. Plus I’m sure he’s going to be a spotlight next week in our Predictions contest, since he was the 2025 WTM Champion 🥇
Joe’s a big fan of Neversecond gels. I’ve tried them out recently and they’re a solid fueling option. Check them out 👍