Mud and mission

Many talk about pushing themselves to the absolute limit in the throes of competition. Few actually do it. Pastor Danny Wilson, youth pastor at Bethel Assembly of God in Cape Girardeau, did -- and it nearly cost him his life.

Ever the competitor, Wilson had participated in four smaller mudder events -- competitions involving running, swimming, obstacles and other physically taxing challenges. So when the opportunity arose to participate in the apex of such an event -- the World's Toughest Mudder -- with the opportunity to raise money for missionaries -- he jumped at it.

Last year's event, which took place in November, was held in Las Vegas, and was conducted on a five-mile course with 23 obstacles. Participants went through the course as many times as possible in 24 hours. WTM measures distance and endurance, and pushes participants to the brink of themselves. So why would anyone embrace the challenge -- the registration fee, training, time away from family, harsh conditions and physical danger? And what would drive someone to continue when every fiber of his being screams, "Quit"?

Wilson spoke of a missionary friend in Africa. He said he received motivation from "knowing he's out on the mission field, giving his life building churches in Africa," adding, "If he can do that, I can give myself to giving to missions." While a portion of the registration fee goes to the Wounded Warrior Project, the money raised through pledges for WTM goes to purchasing vehicles, sound systems and projectors for missionaries, and Wilson was determined to do his part.

True test

Danny Wilson

Wilson was not naive about the task before him. He knew the smaller mudder events, though challenging, were not in the same league as WTM. He knew this one would test his body, his mind and his commitment to his goals. WTM is "for the really serious who want to push themselves."

"I knew it would obviously be a lot harder than the regular [mudder]. I was definitely in good enough shape for it. What I didn't prepare for was how cold it was going to be."

The cold turned out to be the sharpest thorn in Wilson's side. He had set four goals, as highlighted in the blog he wrote after the event. They were to "complete 10 laps: which is 50 miles, stay on the course the full 24 hours, push myself to my limit [and] see if I could overcome the desire to quit mentally and keep going."

Wilson accomplished three of his four goals, but he pointed to being unprepared for the cold as the reason he did not accomplish all four. He fell just short of reaching 50 miles, though he came close enough to see the finish line. "I would have liked to get that last five miles in," he said. "I literally could see the finish line." He did 44.9 miles and said, "I was right there ... only about 100 yards away." But it was not meant to be.

"It was not the amount of energy, or the food it took, the running, or the obstacles." He said that if he could have just stayed warm, he would have completed all his goals. As it turned out, he was simply not prepared for the cold. He endured the physical and mental pressure, the loneliness, even eight miles in a sandstorm that rendered him unable to open his eyes for yards at a time, but the cold was "miserable." In the end, he became hypothermic. Before the cold, he enjoyed the WTM. The first eight hours were fine, "but after the sun went down, it kind of became miserable at that point." More than miserable, it was dangerous -- even life-threatening.

In view of goal

Wilson was not allowed to finish. After competing throughout and being within view of his ultimate goal, he ended up "curled up into a ball" and "unresponsive" during his final swim. He had passed out, he later discovered. He remembers saying, "No, don't make me quit. I just want to finish this lap."

It took passing out to make him stop. Wilson acknowledged that many would call his perseverance "crazy." It was, after all, a hellish competition, albeit for a heavenly cause. But, he said, "Personally, I'm very goal-oriented, so when I set the 50-mile goal, that was important to me, and I pushed myself to get there. ... I wasn't counting on getting hypothermia and passing out." And though he regrets not finishing the 50 miles, he knows that "they made the right call" to carry him off the course.

The $5,000 Wilson raised was given to Brant Jordan, a missionary to Ethiopia, and for that Wilson is grateful. But he is also grateful for what he learned about himself during the event.

"One of my goals was to find out if I could push myself when it got hard, when it got really, really hard."

He found out.

"My proudest moment was when I was miserably cold, when I put on the wet gear and went back out because I wanted to finish what I started. That was one of the proudest moments of my life."

Everything in him said, "No," but he endured, pushing beyond the uncontrollable shakes and the cries from within telling him to quit -- and he learned what he was made of.

He also learned about others. "One thing that is really cool is that at normal mudder events, they push teamwork. *... This is the only one they actually time, and they consider it a race, and there are prizes on the line. What I noticed was even though there was money on the line, and the winners were professional racers, and this is how they make their livelihood, they still took time to help people, even though they were in the competition for $10,000."

Doing such an event even once is crazy enough, some would say, but Wilson is not finished. He plans to compete in WTM again this year. In fact, he is already saving money. "If things remain the way they are now, I'll be back Nov. 15." This time, he will compete with a friend.

Why would someone go through this again? "If I set a goal, I will run myself in the ground to try to get there." He intends to meet the 50-mile goal, if not more.

Wilson believes he would have increased his chances if he had had a support system right there with him. So the youth pastor is bringing his own Amen Corner the next time. "I'm planning to take my wife and my parents with me." Most people had supporters in the pit. He lacked that and considers it a "disadvantage." With better equipment and loved ones by his side, he is expecting complete victory in November.

With him in spirit

Although he did not have a team with him in the flesh, many were with him in spirit. Family and friends pledged money and donated, he and his wife texted throughout, and people prayed for him. Expressing gratitude, he said, "I felt people said, 'We believe in you and we will help you,' and I felt like that helped me." He added, "It definitely made me feel supported and loved by people here."

Thirty to 40 percent of the participants quit once the sandstorm hit, but he did not. Many quit because of mental fatigue. He would not. In a competition with a plethora of professional mudders -- which he was not -- the only thing that kept him from reaching his goal was lack of proper equipment. And that is something Wilson feels he can rectify, and he intends to do just that when he returns to the World's Toughest Mudder this year.

Read about Wilson's experience in his own words by visiting buildingeffectiveleaders.com/leadership/worlds-toughest-mudder-las-vegas-2014.