A gruelling 10k of sloshy mud, grimy water, cross country running and army-style assault courses made to test the mental and physical strengths of the brave. I wouldn't exactly consider myself brave though, rather insanely competitive with myself. I signed up with a blood thirsty lust for the beating in my chest and the ache in my limbs. It's a feeling I've always enjoyed from a very young age. Despite my passion though, this was the first ever event run I've participated in. I'd been thinking about Mud Runner for over a year before I actually decided I was going to go for it, and it was my fiance who actually signed us up in the end.
Our run was just after lunchtime on 28th June and the race was held at Eastnor Castle in the West Midlands near to where my fiance and I live. Neither of us had ever even been to an event like this before let alone actually been a part of it, so we lingered around for a good hour before we made our way to the start line.
Initially I had hoped that I could complete the course within an hour, but I think it was around 2k in that I realised that was absolutely not going to happen. On a good day I can run 5k in around 30 minutes, but this was obviously a lot tougher. I definitely underestimated the course. The obstacles, the distance, the inclines, and the mud - oh the mud - made this one of the most physically challenging things I've ever done. I would say that the toughest part was definitely trying not to slip on the downhill slopes. After a good few hundred people have slapped their drenched shoes down into the mud it does tend to become a little unpredictable. There were moments I lost my footing, and I came down hard quite a few times. At one point I instinctively reached out for something to grab only to find that the nearest thing was a large bush of nettles. I also suffered a minor (but majorly inconvenient) injury to my knee at around the 3k mark after taking a fall onto the sharp side of a large rock. I hadn't seen it hiding under the surface of the water-filled pit! My fiance also took a nasty tumble causing harm to the outer sides of his right calf, hip, and arm. Thankfully we were there for each other to offer support and encouragement, but to be honest our injuries didn't get us down. We were having the absolute time of our lives out there.
We continued on despite our setbacks to face fences to climb, logs and nettings to slide under, monkey bars to swim, ropes to climb, and lakes to wade through. By the end of it we were completely soaked through. We finally crossed the finish line with a time of 2 hours 4 minutes and 15 seconds - a time we are ecstatic with but hope to beat. We hear the fastest runner clocked in at just 55 minutes, but we're not masochists.
We'll both be signing up for the next event, but I'm also aiming for Wolf Run this summer too. This course was everything I'd dreamed it would be, and I can't wait to get involved in many more of the like. Thank you to my wonderful fiance who pushed me to chase after this!
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