He reached the hardest part of the race. The mud was thick, sticking to his knees to the point where they could barely be lifted. One by one, he had to pull his legs out of the goop with his hands each time he wanted to move. The mud ate his socks, but fortunately, he’d taken his shoes off before he jumped in.
Communication Applications teacher Scotty Coppage glanced at his wrist watch, sighed, then wondered “When will this be over?”
Coppage was participating in one of the country’s most excruciating races, the Tough Mudder.  A race that takes hours to complete, Coppage finished in six.
It’s a heart pumping, oath signing race that takes teamwork and strength, both physical and mental, that participants have to start training for months ahead.
Coppage said he wanted to give up so bad sometimes. Especially whenever he had to do the running parts of the race. But he said when he would do the obstacles that’s all he would be focusing on. Nothing else ran through his head. Just finishing that dreadful obstacle. And that’s what he did.
“What was cool about this was that I never thought that I would do anything like this. Ever,” Coppage said. “It’s something that I’m going to have to tell my grandchildren about.”
The race is a culmination of a life change Coppage started last summer. That change was symbolized in his No Bummer Summer. Every day he did something that was out of the ordinary for him.
Also, he bought a guitar and started taking salsa lessons and saw some friends that he hasn’t seen in 10 years.
Coppage said he learned lessons about himself that he hopes to pass on to his students.
“It’s not an adventure unless there is a possibility you can fail,” he said. “I really wanted to quit sometimes. But I didn’t.”