For SOME reason I thought to myself 'mmmm this looks so much fun' followed quickly by 'I'm not fit enough'. About 100 views of that video later and I had signed up for the first British Tough Mudder ever! Long, long story short, the team I signed up with abandoned me on the course, I met a wonderful new team, discovered how monumentally unfit I was, sampled the delight of a space blanket and finished vowing that I was 'happy to have finished but was done with Tough Mudder for a few years'
It's 2015 and I have recently made my 4th annual visit to Boughton House. So that post-tough Mudder promise to myself in 2012 didn't last long!!!
There are many negative points to Tough Mudder and I could ramble on about the pros and cons but I can't lie- Tough Mudder Kettering is a very special course to me and I will always be back, year after year. It was essentially my first ocr experience and (prepare for the cheese) my ocr home.
Tough Mudder brings out the best in humanity- everyone helps everyone regardless of what team you're in and because of the huge and sometimes intimidating obstacles, you sometimes have to overcome some serious fears.
Yep- cheese....lots of cheese....
This year the event village was in a different place than the previous 3 years and there was lots of new obstacles. Having done Tough Mudder at Henley already this year, I had a good idea about the range of obstacles (I will blog about Henley at some point).
Saturday
Parking and registration was pretty smooth as was the legionnaire tent (ready to collect my last yellow headband at the end). The bag drop was smooth and the volunteers made sure we knew where our bags were and put our bag numbers on our bodies ready for collection.
This year, my team included the lovely Holly and her step dad Keith and we were joined by the lovely Deborah from the Facebook group 'UK Mudd Queens'.
After a warm up and the obligatory pledge, we were off. A good, gentle uphill jog to some hay bales and a fence to climb over. We headed downhill and off to a new obstacle 'Shawshanked'. An improvement on the sewer rats obstacle in Henley, we had to climb backwards, inside a pipe, using a rope to pull ourselves upwards until we were at then end. It wasn't easy to turn round at the end of the pipe, to jump into the water below (about 6ft), so the best thing to do was just shout 'f*ck it' and back flip into the water! Never elegant!
Off to the first water station (can't fault tough Mudder for water stations- though those 9 bars- yuck!) and then birth canal (a crawl through a very tight space under a sheet of water). Some forest running, some ditches and water crossings and a crawl under a net followed. Heading off into farm land, we were teased with the sight of 'king of the swingers' (some squealing happen when I saw it!), sadly we turned off and hit Arctic enema 2.0 and bloody hell it was cold!!! Worse than Henley. Got a bit of brain freeze and very cold fingers so we sprinted off to get warm. Mud mile followed (a proper mud mile this time but not as long as previous years), off into the woods for tyre carrying, walls, hero carries, killer gorilla and back to the mud mile for round two.
Then it was time for King of the Swingers. I'm definitely rubbish at it (getting nowhere near then bell) but I have so much fun doing it- such an adrenaline rush!
More running followed by Everest 2.0- sadly my first run at it was interrupted by someone else falling and after that the energy gets sapped- 7 runs later and it was time to move on! :(
And then we were at the end- the choice between electroshock therapy and ring toss was an easy one and I managed a couple of rings before falling.
And finish....Beer, burger, get changed and chill!!!
Sunday
Running solo today, first time ever at Kettering, which felt weird. Still, thank goodness for recovery spray as my muscles were pretty ok! Off we went again, in the first wave at 9am and I allowed the pack to move ahead, pacing is often the key. When I hit the first set of waves, I got over pretty quickly with a boost up and after that I moved ahead of the main pack. Often on sections of the course I was completely alone bar a few sheep.
Reached Shawkshanked again and made the error of telling the the marshals I ran yesterday and back flopped as they then dared me to better myself. One back flip later and an awkward landing I had the most amazing bruise on my thighs and back calf and one aching back! Oops! Serves me right!
Pacing worked brilliantly and I overtook several groups and soon reached the initial groups and found my parents and the dog. Arctic enema was way colder than yesterday- some pg-13 language was used!
The key is just to keep moving forward and before I knew it I had hit the finish line at 2hours 50 minutes. I never thought I could manage a tough Mudder in less than 3 hours and I defintley suprised everyone else as no one was there at the finish line! Oops!!!
All in all Kettering will always be my Tough Mudder home. This year i'll experience Tough Mudder around the country but i'll always be back. With all the cheesiness in the world!!!
After a warm up and the obligatory pledge, we were off. A good, gentle uphill jog to some hay bales and a fence to climb over. We headed downhill and off to a new obstacle 'Shawshanked'. An improvement on the sewer rats obstacle in Henley, we had to climb backwards, inside a pipe, using a rope to pull ourselves upwards until we were at then end. It wasn't easy to turn round at the end of the pipe, to jump into the water below (about 6ft), so the best thing to do was just shout 'f*ck it' and back flip into the water! Never elegant!
Off to the first water station (can't fault tough Mudder for water stations- though those 9 bars- yuck!) and then birth canal (a crawl through a very tight space under a sheet of water). Some forest running, some ditches and water crossings and a crawl under a net followed. Heading off into farm land, we were teased with the sight of 'king of the swingers' (some squealing happen when I saw it!), sadly we turned off and hit Arctic enema 2.0 and bloody hell it was cold!!! Worse than Henley. Got a bit of brain freeze and very cold fingers so we sprinted off to get warm. Mud mile followed (a proper mud mile this time but not as long as previous years), off into the woods for tyre carrying, walls, hero carries, killer gorilla and back to the mud mile for round two.
Then it was time for King of the Swingers. I'm definitely rubbish at it (getting nowhere near then bell) but I have so much fun doing it- such an adrenaline rush!
More running followed by Everest 2.0- sadly my first run at it was interrupted by someone else falling and after that the energy gets sapped- 7 runs later and it was time to move on! :(
And then we were at the end- the choice between electroshock therapy and ring toss was an easy one and I managed a couple of rings before falling.
And finish....Beer, burger, get changed and chill!!!
Sunday
Running solo today, first time ever at Kettering, which felt weird. Still, thank goodness for recovery spray as my muscles were pretty ok! Off we went again, in the first wave at 9am and I allowed the pack to move ahead, pacing is often the key. When I hit the first set of waves, I got over pretty quickly with a boost up and after that I moved ahead of the main pack. Often on sections of the course I was completely alone bar a few sheep.
Reached Shawkshanked again and made the error of telling the the marshals I ran yesterday and back flopped as they then dared me to better myself. One back flip later and an awkward landing I had the most amazing bruise on my thighs and back calf and one aching back! Oops! Serves me right!
Pacing worked brilliantly and I overtook several groups and soon reached the initial groups and found my parents and the dog. Arctic enema was way colder than yesterday- some pg-13 language was used!
The key is just to keep moving forward and before I knew it I had hit the finish line at 2hours 50 minutes. I never thought I could manage a tough Mudder in less than 3 hours and I defintley suprised everyone else as no one was there at the finish line! Oops!!!
All in all Kettering will always be my Tough Mudder home. This year i'll experience Tough Mudder around the country but i'll always be back. With all the cheesiness in the world!!!
