On Saturday the crack team that was Pete, Pete, Kenny and I completed the Mud Runner Oblivion 10k, a gruelling cross country run dotted with obstacles, monkey bars and peat bogs held at Eastnor Castle in the Malverns. I’m still finding dirt in odd places.
Screw Glastonbury, the cool kids (or the sad kids who missed tickets) were getting their summer kicks with added endorphins at Mud Runner’s brilliant Dirty Weekend instead. Two days of cross country runs interspaced with a chilled out evening of camping in the gorgeous grounds of Eastnor Castle, the Dirty Weekend had it all – campfires, bands, burger vans and chilled-out revellers. They just all happened to also be 1. Very Fit and 2. Insane.
I ran the Classic Mud Run last September and thought I might die half way through, so I made sure I was considerably fitter this time and managed to leapfrog over gates, crawl under commando nets and fall off monkey bars with the best of them.
As well as the 10k to run/jog/fall down a lot to get through, there were things to climb over, around and under aplenty. The end was a triple whammy of hardcore obstacles – we had to haul our knackered legs up ropes, swim across two ponds and then slide down a genius plastic sheeted hill on our stomachs to collapse across the finish line. And then the delightful Muddy Tub of Love was waiting to caress our aching muscles with hot, if by now rather opaque, water. Bliss.
Next up is Classic 2013 followed by the terrifying Icebreaker (a winter duathlon that includes a 20k bike ride). I’m planning to complete all three and get the awe-inspiring title of ‘Mud Master’ to add to my CV. Plus a cool hoodie.
