Tough Mudder 75 - Back to North West

5 years, 9 months and 27 days ago, on a cold and overcast Saturday, I was walking across the grounds of Cholmondley castle and gardens, to pick up my bib and get ready for my first Tough Mudder event, little did I anticipate that this would be a new chapter in my life, that would have me running around fields in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Germany and the United States. That I would be the 1470th person to have signed up to an event in November that would see me dropping into ice baths, voluntarily and crossing parts of a lake that was reported as being 1°, then ducking under 3 tubes that were floating on the lake and running but mostly walking through a lot of mud.

I re-read what I had written about the experience of the unpleasant tent leaking incident and my thoughts on the day in question, along with watching the video I'd made during the event that included my thoughts after completing the event and find it strange that over the last few years would have gone from knowing nothing about Obstacle Course Running to have completed 72 full Tough Mudder events, 2 regional Toughest events and 1 World's Toughest Event.

I had planned to make North West my 50th anniversary event previous year but that ended up with me going to Ireland to take part.  I woke on the Sunday morning with a feeling of trepidation, that I wasn't up for taking part and I've no idea why. I went across to the warm up area and sat waiting for the wave to open. The rest of the team arrived for Sunday funday which though a slow one for them is out of my league running wise. Alun noticed I looked out of sorts and gave me a shoulder to lean on, which helped.

Gil did his warm up and called me to the front, to talk about first meeting me, the confused Geordie from Sunderland, which made me laugh. I got to hold the pledge and give out high fives then I set off, Alun kept me company for a while but I was holding him back so he headed off and I plodded on, walking and taking my time waiting for John, Gaz, Lottie, Evie, Carly and Jenifer to catch up, as they were taking part in the Granny run. I took my time and got myself over obstacles but needed quite a bit of help. I even helped someone who wasn't up to getting over hero walls but I guided them and they completed them, which was good to see. The others caught up at a new obstacle, a twist on Electric Eel from back in the day, it was crawling which is hard enough to start with, nevermind the electric shocks.

We all headed to the finish together and after helping a few up Pyramid Scheme and Everest headed across the finish to be crowned by Lottie, with Alun having waited for me to finish which I was glad of and Lucy and Jay who I was pleased to see volunteering so I got to see them before heading off.

I great end to a season that had been great to take part in but with my level of fitness getting ever worse as the year went on.

Tough Mudder 47/48 - Scotland

What a weekend, the weather was scorching hot, the course was undulating and hilly in places, the friends were many and the event was really good, with a couple of exceptions, one of my favourites so far. As the event isn't too far from mine it didn't take too long to there, even having to stop off to ensure we didn't get there too early.

We'd entered the tougher wave, which is the first wave to set off on the Saturday morning, with prizes for the top three finishers. I have no chance to win but you do get a different headband and t-shirt which is always nice to have. We set off and maintained a steady pace with me thinking as I always do that I should have trained on hills to make it easier, I should really have trained full stop but that's a whole different thing. Mud mile was deceptive, as it was really dry until you hit the mud, so after rolling through which is easier than crawling, I was covered in mud, which was really heavy and meant that running was harder, it meant that my energy was being drained, so climbing skidmarked was really difficult.

It was starting to get really warm so artic was a nice refreshing dip, pyramid scheme still had the ropes on it to get up, which was helpful. the rest of the course was well laid out, with enough hills to make it challenging, they had penalties if you couldn't get across funky money which I didn't but as time was getting on there was no penalty to do. I ended up using the rope at everest which was hard but I;m still wary of that since last year at the Midlands. We collected our legionnaire headbands and only kong left to tackle, When I got up there the young lass volunteering said "you've got this" with my brain thinking I probably don't, as I felt tired but as I reached the forth ring, I thought perhaps I do have, reaching the fifth and getting to the other side had me feeling really ecstatic, so much so that I was telling anyone I knew that I had managed to get over.

Off for volunteering which was tiring given how hot the day was, thankfully I didn't burn too much but I did feel sick and tired and had to take shade from the sun.

We didn't get out as early on the Sunday but we had decided to take part in the help 100 mudders over an obstacle, so we headed out between waves, to get up to skidmarked, I of course didn't get myself over before helping 100 people get over it, which meant that I had no energy to get myself over like I usually do, still I discovered helping 100 people of various shapes and sizes was really hard, if people pulled themselves up and over that helped more than if they were shorter and lighter, I think looking back I might so that again but work on lifting weight, like a sandbag repeatedly, might help with this.

Got pulled down off pyramid scheme again but noticed someone running up the side, which was quite dry so we used that to get over. we helped a few more people over and through things, I almost made it across funkey monkey, only just missing the last bar to get me on to the other side, which I was pleased at managing to almost get over, we kept plodding on and then helped a whole bunch of people at blockness monster which is my current favourite obstacle, I didn't manage kong and looking back I should have given it another go but there is always next time.

I thoroughly brilliant weekend aside from the burning temperature, midges and some obnoxious people being loud late into the night.

Europe's Toughest Mudder

As soon as this event was released I signed up, thinking I should manage this without too many issues, I know that I should have been training but a combination of new and old injuries ensured I did no training. As the day approached I didn't feel nervous about what I was about to undertake even on the journey down to the site, I still didn't feel anything negative, I guess I just thought it would be like a regular event just during the night which was a big mistake.

The US Toughest events had been two separate loops with 10 obstacles on each, which changed from one to the other during the middle of the event, the Euro Toughest would change this by having a single loop, which we were told would have obstacles start at various points during the event, I'm not sure if we were told they would take them off during the night but that seemed to be the consensus, which didn't happen so after every obstacle had opened they stated open all through the event, with the exception of electroshock, which I'm glad didn't open at all.

I'd managed to get space near to the rest of Team Short Shorts, with the brilliant Marc as pit crew. I decided to start in my wet-suit but only up to my waist as the sprint lap would have only a couple of obstacles open so I didn't need to be protected form the cold, I did pull it on but unzipped for kiss of mud which had a water pit, and left it on for the rest of the lap. Thankfully the big water obstacles were closed but the new hero walls t boned obstacle was open, this one I managed solo, and quite enjoyed, the grab ledge and strangely even though I was leaning back and pushing against the wall didn't feel unsafe doing so.

As I approached the four mile marker Jon Albon passed by with some words of encouragement, which was nice but I realised he was onto his ninth mile at the point, which took me by surprise. I didn't wear a watch so had no idea of the time when on course, I did find out the time near the end but didn't believe it, as that felt quite slow. After crossing the finish line at 1:31:14 I realised that was a slow 5 miles I'd ran/walked.

I decided upon a burrito and drink of water which I'd not brought anywhere near enough of, then back out for my second lap, I tried to run but couldn't get my legs to keep moving like that so just continued walking on. A few obstacles still weren't open but arctic enema was, so down the tube I went, the wet-suit kept me warm which was great, I had heard of other people who had no cold gear thinking it would be a regular event.

I kept plodding on, taking the penalty at Everest which even with the rope was beating a lot of people, when I saw someone at operation leap after being shocked I opted for the penalty. One of the rules was you had to touch an obstacle and fail, or complete if you were able, so I had to climb the Kong tower knowing I wouldn't get across before touching a ring and falling onto the crash mat, which was uncomfortable on my upper arm.

A burrito and a snickers with some water from Stuart, then I was back out on course, trying to run but having issues with the suit being so thick. king of swingers was open this time with a camera crew at the obstacle, I was aiming to give a thumbs up after jumping and turning to camera but I managed to jump/fall into the water, the penalty was really long for this obstacle, with quite a few of the other entrants doing it. before hitting the water station that I was in need of.

Stuart managed to catch me up and we chatted and plodded on, with only the t boned hero walls proving to be an issue this time, I just couldn't get myself up and over, I had nothing left, so Stuart went with me for the penalty loop.

I reached mud mile after promising myself I wouldn't pee in my suit and as soon as I hit the water my bladder decided that it was time to let go. I should have just loosed my wet-suit and had a pee. I got back to the pit and it was 6:40 so I said that if it had been 6:00 I wold have tried for another lap but knew I wouldn't have enough time to get round so called it a day and started to get changed. I discovered a hole in my wet sock that I had made with my toenail, which would explain why my foot was cold in water,


Looking back on the event, if I had gone with a thinner wet-suit, or chosen the top half over a full wet-suit, I might have been quicker getting round each lap but the cold may have proved an issue, either way if I take part next year I might give this option a try, as I'd like to have got to the twenty five miles, I should also not under estimate how difficult it is running at night, though all said and done, I thoroughly enjoyed taking part and would do it again. 

Toughest Mudder

So late last year, Tough Mudder sent out a survey asking questions about finishers feelings on an event that was bigger than a regular Tough Mudder but not as big as World's Toughest. So I filled it in thinking nothing of it and going about my business, then in October last year, they unveiled Toughest Mudder, an 8 hour overnight event, that would take place at Belvoir castle in May one week after the start of the season.

Without hesitation I signed up, which meant I saved on the tax or administration fees, so my ticket was reasonably cheap, possibly in the same price range as my first event. I was looking forward to this, although 8 hours overnight will likely mean a wetsuit, for the entire event, which should be interesting to run in. They released a few scant pieces of info over the time between then and now. A new blog post has just gone up, detailing info about this year's World's Toughest, with changes to the bibs and other assorted changes but they also included info about Toughest events and the talk of patches and being a prize money contender for 25+ mile finishers, special headbands and bibs for finishers, I'm now looking forward to this even more than I was previously.

I think the new obstacles they release each year are one of the reasons I keep going back to take part in events, plus the community is always pretty cool, the team at TM always come up with novel ways to get people talking about the upcoming events. So come May I'll be doing up my shoes and trying to get round each lap in a good time as I'm after that 25 mole finisher patch.

Tough Mudder 2017

It's been a while since I've felt like putting words down in regards to life.

I mainly spent last year working on college assignments and taking part in Tough Mudder events, although given my lack of posts about them, you could be forgiven for thinking that I hadn't taken part in any last year.

I had been drafting posts about each event, I just never completed them, plus, they all started to resemble the same thing, a list of each obstacle and the order tackled. So I'm back with better mental health and college is going quite well, with graduation in the not too distant future. I'm also going to try and write about events in a different way, less of a focus on the order of obstacles and more about how the event was compared to other events, since each event location has its own unique differences to other events.

So here's to the new Tough Mudder season and bring on the mud.

Training plan

So after I managed to do one run in December which was disappointing but you know how brains can be with the horrible wet weather and a total lack of motivation. I decided last week that I would get back to training for the upcoming Tough Mudder season, so I need to actually get my self out there and put some miles under my feet.

The first run was appalling, I felt awful afterwards but this comes from doing literally no exercise in months and only running at Tough Mudder events, still I persevered and headed out again on the Tuesday for a little longer this time feeling just as bad, though not wheezing as much as from the previous run, then I decided I would make Sunday my last run of the week and for the time being stick to three days during the week, until I'm feeling stronger and I can handle more days per week, when I'm recovering a lot quicker.

I also gave a few chin ups a try as I'll need to work on that, so I can get myself over the obstacles, I'm sitting here writing this having caused myself a mischief in my shoulder, lifting slightly heavier things upwards is uncomfortable, so I'll need to be careful and perhaps wait to start pulling off chin ups when I'm a little lighter.

It was suggested by my friend John that we could do the Relentless suffering, which is one of a number of new obstacle course runs/races that have popped up in the wake of the popularity of Tough Mudder and prior to the Tough Guy, so I'm off to Rockingham castle in March to take part, they do three runs in one day, a ten mile, a 10k and a 5k, so if you do all three in the one day, you get classed as a legend and get an extra t-shirt and medal, given I've managed to get two laps in on three Tough Mudder course this year, nineteen miles shouldn't be too much of a problem.

So as today is Tuesday, it run day although the wind is pretty strong out there so it should make for an interesting run, I may have to change my route slightly to avoid as much wind as possible.

Tough Mudder 26 - London South

Woke during the night for the toilet and Dean was passed out in a chair under the gazebo, then later on John, Paul and Martyn drunkenly arrived back from spending time with the Mudcro group, I was half deciding to help but my bag was lovely and warm, although the cardboard was great for insulation it was hard to lie on and I kept slipping down the incline.

Another trip down the hill, which was easy enough, it was the walk back up which was hard, spent some time resting and relaxing before rushing to get to the start line for 9 am. I didn't manage to meet up with anyone from the group which was a little sad. I stood in the start area eating chocolate peanuts, like I wasn't about to tackle something really hard, Chris James was there and he was on event no.42 with 67 laps, which put my 26 events 29 laps in the shade, though next year I'm aiming to increase the laps.

On we headed with another smoke bomb and I felt quite good, chatted to Chris for a bit and kept plodding on, I was walk running much earlier than the Saturday but with little training outside of events this wasn't surprising. Though I wasn't continuously running I felt my pace was quite quick.  I finished my peanuts and got to funky monkey where I got a few rungs further up the obstacle even with damp hands. I was wishing I'd worn a cheap watch for timing purposes and chatting to other entrants, some were amazed it was 26 events, others I'd done it the day before but most were thrown that I'd done 2 laps on Saturday.

Most of the rest of the course passed without much to write home about except that my legs weren't working very well on any of the hills and I walked more than I ran for the rest of the course, I was especially tired when trying to get over some of the height obstacles. I decided to give cry baby another miss and balls to the walls wasn't too bad. I got up towards Everest and decided to skip past as I couldn't even try to tackle it, given how tired I was.

I did give headrush another go but decided that electroshock could wait for another day. After getting changed I went to the main arena to watch for Carl coming in and see some of the  funny ways that people like to tackle electroshock, we finally got packed up and headed for home, extremely tired but glad to have taken part in the whole season.

Tough Mudder 25 - London South

In a slight change to the usual proceedings, camping was at the top of the hill above matterly bowl so there was no line of site for the scanners to connect to the servers so we couldn't pick up entry bibs on the Friday night, so it meant a trip down to the main arena on the Saturday morning to wait for them to open at 7, which was a pain on the walk back to the campsite to store id.

I needed to be in the 8 o'clock wave to collect an unofficial 25x headband or rather I thought I did, turns out they were handed out in the earlier wave, so I chatted to Gil for a bit till John, Chloé, Dan, Martyn, Paul, Dean and Will jumped into the start area for the 8:20 wave. So I got to hear Gil do his start line talk twice in 20 minutes.

We set off and I managed to snag one of the smoke grenades and ran with that for a bit, which was fun, the first obstacle we hit was killa gorilla that I hadn't noticed till later in the course, was laid out to show the letters TM, which I liked. We continued over bale bonds and into the first forest section for the return of tyre carry and in the distance we could see king of the swingers, which I thought was next but we turned off and hit Arctic enema, which had hardly any ice in it, though the weather was quite warm, we picked one that had no working camera, so no photos again.

As we passed the starting pen John and I ran over to where Gil was doing the start line talk, for a quick hello and away, John went for the pantsing option. On the approach to sewer rat I spotted Viv and Emy walking Yoko, which was hilarious to see and also caused some controversy on one of the faceboom groups. After we left sewer rat the sun was behind the tree line so it felt cold, Chloé started to really feel it. We started to lose Martyn, Paul and the others but kept pushing on to keep warm by devils beard they were right behind.

As we ran past some areas used for storing stuff, I spotted part of the slide from fire in your hole, which was nice to see although it being on course would have been better. Skidmarked didn't cause me too many problems, though I was being extra careful getting over. Then through a field of corn before hitting a landscape feature turned into an obstacle, moto mayhem which was part of a motocross track, Chloé started to feel really out of breath, so we waited a few minutes and made it up one of the hills and she went to see the ambulance crew to get some help, I spoke to someone sitting in an ATV who had hurt their shoulder and sadly ended up retiring.

Chloé got to use an inhaler which was immediately relieving and we continued to pyramid scheme which had no falling issues this time, I did help someone up who pressed on my back causing my ribs to press into the surface and me to help in pain. Martyn had caught us at that point and we all wandered over to liberator, where Dean got himself over to cheers from John and me.

As we approached hero carry you could see the whole event area and I remembered running this way two years ago when I got my fastest time for an event which was also a really warm day. After mud mile I had the usual cleaning out the shoes and onto mineshafted, which was a slide down a pipe into a darkened pit you climbed out of, the slide down sounded like running water, it was so much fun John and I did it again, I managed to find a pound which was nice. John's knee started to give him problems so we continued walking and jogging.
After hero walls where a big bloke decided to push down on my shoulders to get over nearly breaking my back, we came upon lumberjacked, which was a tree suspended on three crossed log braces, which had you being helped over, or as I found easier, using the middle one to pull myself up and over.

Another killa gorilla which was similar to London South in 2013 but pretty tiring at this point, then king of the swingers, which like funky monkey in Cirencester, my hands were dry, so I had high hopes for hitting the bell, I climbed the ladder and a bloke was trying to dry his hands for another go, thankfully he let me slip ahead and I got the bell with a resounding clank, back over mud mile where Dan managed to get covered in mud from head to toe and through cry baby which wasn't that strong so I didn't start to lose all my body heat, it did chill my back but it felt alright.

We got over balls to the wall and over the top over sewer rat and jogged onto Everest, I gave myself a couple of attempts before moving on, first one I slid back down staying on my feet, the second time I slipped and landed heavily on my right side where I impacted feeling it in the bone of my arse, so decided that was it. John went round the back to help people over and we went to headrush which was a mystery obstacle, starting by holding a pole and putting your feet on one, you slowly inch your way along till your feet are in the air and your hands are on the ground before reversing it, very hard on the arms but I managed to get over it. It left me so tired that I almost didn't go through electroshock but I was in the right head space and told myself it was an anniversary event so I had to go through, so I pushed myself through, I managed to get part way through before taking a belt which had me on my knees, I stood up and inched my way forward when some guy ran through and I got another belt and crawled the rest of the way out, happy I'd pushed myself through. It was also amusing watching Dom walk through electroshock eating a pasty or something.

After collecting a headband I made a quick phone call home, ate some energy beans and cleaned out my shoes of the little bits of grit at the rinse station and chatting to another finisher before heading for the start line, skipping the warm up for a second time. As a I stood there mud was dropping off me and first timers were looking at me slightly bemused. I managed to grab another smoke bomb and ran with it for a while. After about 1 mile I started to feel tired but pressed on, running where I could and walking for a little while. I kept giving first timers advice on making arctic enema easier and this time it had ice in the back part of it, which was great. There was no one in the starting pen so I didn't pop to see Gil this time.

I managed to get a few more rungs up funky monkey but started to feel tired and ended up swimming. By devils beard I was walking more than running but still moving forward. Got some help from another solo runner for hold your wood and we chatted for a bit. Then pyramid scheme really tired me out but I got up and helped quite a few others over before continuing on. Carried and got carried at hero carry which was nice as recently I've mainly carried others. Once I got to hero walls I was drawing on inner strength and managed the first wall but grabbed the support for the second, utterly wiped out, needing help to get over.

I used the same technique for lumberjacked but a volunteer was on the second one so I needed help to get over. Walked backwards up the hills of killa gorilla 2, which was easier and missed the bell for king of the swingers.
The sun was starting to be covered by clouds so I skipped mud mile and cry baby as I wasn't in the mood for getting up to the eyes again.

There was an ambulance at balls to the wall as the rope was so slick with mud, it turns out they'd broken an ankle, so the rope was out of use which made climbing up difficult due to the awkward position of my legs. I skipped Everest as there was a big queue and I met John who was taking photos, then headed for the finish for my second headband and cider.

At the legionnaire headband tent they weren't giving out headbands to those who already had on plus they mentioned I was already in the next banding so I accepted it as I already have 14 of them and others should get their first. Then back up to the campsite for a shower and bite to eat, got chatting to Martyn who wanted to do a second lap but when helping on Everest, someone twisted his arm going back down and after going to the medical tent to see how Dean was doing, had himself checked out and it turns out he had a part dislocated shoulder, so decided against another lap, we headed to the main arena to watch a bit of the England Wales rugby match before having an early night ready for Sunday.

Tough Mudder 24 - North West

We wanted and early start as Susan and I weren't staying over this time, my kit was thankfully almost dry so no low morale before starting. We checked into camping to avoid the registration queues. Susan held onto my dry robe, as the day wasn't warm and slightly overcast. There were no crowd surf races but we did a highest pyramid off, against half of the crowd, I'm not sure who won. Bobby did the ages of the competitors and my Dad was the oldest, always nice to be in a winning team.

We got to the start line and I had a chat with Gil after everyone had set off he had done his first event the day before and walked the course, with only a bit of pain behind the knee to show for it. I'd taken my painkillers before starting but the injury I'd received on skidmarked the day before was uncomfortable when running, with no surface bruising, I knew it was bruised ribs/s or possibly broken.

We set off at a good place and had a slight bottle neck issue on the first part of the course and another just after bale bonds under the bridge, Dad accidentally pulled the rope up after himself. After that it was plain sailing most obstacles were relatively free of other people waiting, managed to avoid hurting myself on skidmarked which was good although breathing was difficult at times. Sewer rat was really deep and very muddy with the walk to the bank up to the house being knee deep and the bank being really hard to walk up. Cliffhanger had two routes an easy one and a harder one, I opted for the harder one again. Spotted Susan and my Mam on the way back round towards pyramid scheme, I was feeling really tired at this point but determined to keep going, there were some people helping at the bottom to get people up, so my Dad went first and got up, I went  up and ended up falling headfirst back down the surface of the obstacle and pivoted on my head which was uncomfortable and had me coming to the realisation people who aren't careful or really unlucky can actually die on the obstacles, it left me with a pain in my neck and Susan and my Mam being really worried about my neck, I felt well enough to continue so I did. Through shawshanked which was nice and cleaning.

Funky monkey is almost impossible when damp, so hands that are covered in mud aren't going to get far, so into the water for us. We reached swamp stomp and they had re-routed the course like they did in Scotland, as people were getting stuck on Saturday, I did manage to get a bomb into the muddy bath again, which is such good fun, though mud swimming round your eyeballs isn't much fun. Through the forest with the brick drainage roads which are hell on the ankles, my Dad was running one hell of a pace and leaving me behind quite a bit, he thought someone else was me and had taken off till he realised and waited for me to catch up, he did offer to walk but I thought that would cause him more problems getting warm than it would for me to keep going, it was hard but I'm glad that I didn't stop.

For someone who by his own admission has no upper body strength he did brilliantly on liberator, getting to the top with hardly any problems. We headed through crybaby which was much nicer than Saturday and I didn't feel as cold as I did, when getting out. I gave Everest a couple of tries before passing it by, I decided to skip electroshock but my Dad decided based on last year he would have another go and really regretted it, I didn't see him go through last year but this time he was zapped quite a few times, before we headed over the finish to collect our headbands and pint, another event under our belts, I took him off to collect his new blue headband and t-shirt.

It was sad that my brother couldn't take part again as he would have enjoyed this course but work being work, hopefully he'll be there next year.

Tough Mudder 23 - North West

Woke early so John and I could be in an early wave, we were meeting up with a friend of Stuart's but sadly couldn't find them. We got into the warm up area and danced about for a bit before heading for the start area and the pledging. Had a quick chat with Gil before heading off, another course another slight bottleneck at the start. Bale bonds was only two bales high which was a little disappointing, then another bottleneck as we went under a bridge and on. Mudmile was early on and it was energy sapping, so by the time we hit skidmarked, I needed to get a hand to get over and I knocked my chest differently to I usually do on that one.

Not having the strength to get over skidmarked should have clued me into what kind of day this was going to be.  Sewer rat had water in the pipes, which was really unpleasant smelling but once out of the pipe I got my feet on the ground so I wasn't swimming in it, then straight after the ground was thick mud that we were almost crawling through, very similar to 2014. There were a lot of different surfaces to run on, mud, loose dirt, sand but the worst was the drainage road made of brick. We waded through the infamous lake that had underwater tunnels and almost freezing water in 2012 and it was quite pleasant.

Swamp stomp was exactly as you'd expect, crawling though mud that was thick and hard going, with a nice pool of thick mud to almost swim through, I got to the other side and decided I would have a bomb into the mud, several times, which was great fun but not so much fun was trying to get rid of the mud from up my nose, John gave the volunteer with the mic a lovely muddy hug.

Hero walls was fine but I slipped down the support and fell off needing a helping hand to get over, we got back to shawshanked and decided to have another go, then cry baby. It was a thick fog of menthol, the thickest I've seen this year, Scotland had been the worst one I'd been through but this was so bad, we needed to wash our mouths out before having a drink if water, it then caused me to lose all my body heat like the Sunday at Cirencester, which made the lovely day we were having into a cold unpleasant one. We both decided that we would try Everest three times before passing. Not sure if the shoes were an issue or the people trying to get hold of people, I just couldn't get a good enough grip so kept slipping and landing heavily on the surface of Everest decided that I would give electroshock a miss before crossing the finish line cold and tired but happy to have finished another event.

Tough Mudder 22 - South West

I woke up early as the ground was hard and I had a need for the toilet, then John, Sharon and Paul headed off to check in to volunteering, Chloe and Neil were over there already. Has some spaghetti bolognese for breakfast and then the banana malt loaf I was going to have between laps on the Saturday.  I headed over to the main arena to meet the others and found them beside the bag drop. Liam, Jane, Jess, Ryan and Abby were there with spectators, we waited for Stuart was staying off site, Tom who I normally run with was taking part with another group on an early wave.

Stuart arrived and we got to the warm up area, it was a lot colder than the day before, so much so that I could see my breath which is never a good sign temperature wise. Bobby had Stuart and I up on stage to tell the crowd how many event we'd done, then got the crowd together so we could have a crowd surf race, having never crowd surfed before this was an amazing feeling. We did the warm up and headed for the start, there was someone new taking the mic for the start line chat.

We headed off and there was a slight bottleneck at the first wooded area but nothing too bad, we were making good time and making good time especially given the rains had came down last night and the course was muddy. There was no photographer at Arctic enema which is really disappointing for the first timers. I has no gloves on again but this time only managed a couple of rungs on funky monkey. Hero walls were even worse than the day before and a group of people headed off to the right after hero walls and ended up missing part of the course. I decided to switch my trainers for my trail shoes which helped at liberator.

When we got to the mystery obstacle prairie dog, which was great fun, you climbed over hay bales then ran round and went under the hay bales, after going through cry baby and before heading under prairie dog we were directed back down the course, as it was proving to be a bit dangerous and slippery, thankfully it only missed part of the course and by the time we reached skidmarked there was a big queue which wasn't good as the wind was really cold, I only had my vest too on but the others were also saying it was quite cold. Jess got to the top of skidmarked and didn't want to fall backwards but she managed to overcome her fear and stood up before jumping into the water, which is what the event is all about. I was starting to get colder and colder so that I decided to carefully walk down a slightly muddy hill that others were trying to slide down and I skipped quagmire which was proving hard for people to get out of. As we were walking up to Everest I noticed that my hands were starting to go blue and seeing the queue I decided I would give it a miss and waited for the others. I wasn't feeling up to anything more than simply getting over the finish line.

Another double lap weekend with yet more bizarre weather that was awful on the Sunday but a good group to run with.

Tough Mudder 21 - South West

Up nice and early with a bit of a thirst, drinking honey Jack Daniels the night before taking part in Tough Mudder isn't something I would recommend, I'm glad I decided to stop when I did, or I might not have been able to get two laps done.

Paul & Sharon had a cooking tent and were making bacon and egg sandwiches, which I declined at first but decided I would partake. Some proper food before an event is always a good idea, after the sandwich I then thought the cereal I'd brought would be a good idea, which it wasn't as it left me with a ball of food in my stomach, which wasn't too uncomfortable but still not pleasant.

I'd decided to do two laps, as Cirencester had a reputation for being reasonably flat, so I ended up running with John, Chris, Sharon, Paul, Chloe, Neil and Dan. We met up with Martyn and Paul inside the entrance and headed for the warm up area.

Once suitably warmed up and the safety talk done we headed off. It was supposed to be a day featuring heavy downpours and thunderstorms but was really warm as we were running, normally I'll be quite warm when first starting off and be glad when reaching Arctic Enema but this was different, Chloé had friends spectating and taking photos, so I ended up leaving the compression top with them just before I slid into the water which was no different to wearing it.

The day just kept getting hotter which meant a lot of the muddier obstacles weren't that muddy but swings and roundabouts. Hero walls were dangerously slippery, as they can sometimes be. As I'd ditched the pound land cycling gloves I thought I would try using at the start line I had no gloves on, which combined with the dry day meant for the first time this year I made it all the way across, the bars were uncomfortable on the hands but I was so elated to finally make it across.  As I'd decided to donate my adidas trail shoes, which had developed large holes in the top mesh, I was wearing some old running shoes which made liberator a bit hairy on the climb up, with the foothold lats being a bit slippery, I don't enjoy heights at the best of times but the idea of falling from a high obstacle isn't pleasant. As I only had my friends of the filth vest top on, my nipples were starting to rub a little so I stopped at a medic to get something to help, which resulted in an elastoplast covered with medical tape, which really helped. We were making great time approaching skidmarked when we were caught up with by Stuart and Emily, who were in the wave just after us, Stuart went on ahead to meet up with the afternoon group.

They had changed king of swingers for walk the plank, which was a combination of lots of stone in the ground and the cost of water being a lot more expensive. I used to like the physically demanding climb up to the platform for walk the plank so the ladder doesn't have the same physicality of the old version.

Everyone who went for Everest made it up first time which meant I couldn't be the only one not to, so I went for it and I was up, which was great, we had to leave Martyn and Paul behind as I needed to get back for a 12 o'clock start, I skipped electroshock, which I should do at least once this year. The others were getting their headbands for being legionnaires but I decided to wait until the end of the second lap for mine. I hurried back to the tent to make a phone call home and get some food into me.

It turns out I didn't need the food as I was still quite full from the breakfast I'd had, so I made the call and then hurried back to the main arena, I met Chris who was up for another lap and he headed back to dump his finish lap swag, I missed the 12:20 start wave so waited for the 12:40 wave when Stuart came running up with Lexy, Eli and Thomás, seems there had been a bit of miscommunication and Stuart was waiting and had been looking for me, Chris turned up and we waited in the warm up area again. Whilst everyone was jumping up and down, Stuart, Chris and I were doing stretches and generally relaxing before running, Bobby recognised us from the morning waves and asked how many events we were on for adding in "two laps people, on their 2nd lap" which is always nice to get that side eye, are you serious from the first timers.

No Gil for this event but I think it was Charlie who was doing the start line talk is pretty good, we headed off and it was even warmer than the morning but as it was midday, this isn't surprising.  As I has a serious issue with the second lap at the Midlands event I expected it to be an issue this time but it wasn't, which I was pleasantly surprised at. We were making good time until we hit mud mile which was so much muddier than the morning and due to the heat Stuart developed cramp in his right calf and thigh muscles which I've never had and it looked uncomfortable, I'd have said painful but Stuart is a bit of a machine and has a high tolerance for pain. He said to leave him and he would catch up which turned out to be at the end of mud mile.

We headed on, running and walking the course, hero walls being even more slippery. I was expecting to fall into the water at funky monkey but I actually managed to get all the way over again with a look of total fear on my face as I clambered down the second part, the first time I made it across my pectorals felt like they'd been stretched out, this time it felt like someone had pulled my shoulders from the sockets, luckily that feeling didn't last. Eli was so close to getting across that she has a foot in the platform and ended up in the water, which still counts as making it across in my book.

John caught us up as we were approaching liberator, then as we were waiting at liberator my shoulders felt very warm and I realised that I'd burned again and that I should have worn the sun cream I'd brought with me, such a beginner mistake. We continued on and got through the finish to a well deserved rest and many hugs and photos.

Approximately 3 hours 10 minutes for the first lap and 4 hours for the second, with an incredibly warm 26° day helping me on funky monkey.

Tough Mudder 20 - Yorkshire

After an evening spent drinking lovely brown booze in the company of my mate Jonathan who just happens to live in Skipton. I woke with a bit of a thirst. Staying in a house means that your running gear gets a chance to dry. We enjoyed a bacon sandwich before I got myself sorted and said goodbye before hobbling along the street wearing one shoe, as I thought I'd heard Stuart pulling up to the end of the street. We drove across to the event ground and Tom was waiting for us neat the entrance. we were hoping to be in the 10:20 wave but watched an entertaining bit of dancing and wrestling between Batman and Two Chains. Batman was the people's champion to start with but after some rather good dancing and generally being better at each event, Two Chains was the people's champion.

We finally got the warm up done and onto the start for 10:40, which I guessed that they must have been spreading the waves out a bit, to cope with the course having bottlenecks on the Saturday. Stuart worked out that with Dom, the man who dresses as a minion, Ben and Marc from the legionnaires group, Stuart and myself, we have a combined amount of 150 events under our collective belts, which is pretty damned cool. We set off and wound over the field and my vision was playing up as I lost Tom and Stuart but found them again, I was struggling on the first hill but carried on, till we reached creek crusade and it was a slightly quicker working our way through the water, I got chatting to someone and giving bits of advice, about what to expect. I needed a little help on skidmarked, then when we got to the second creek crusade we sailed straight through in a much quicker time than the day before.

Cry baby was about the thickest I've ever seen it, so very strong, Stuart did his nifty trick of putting his headband over his eyes and went through which seems like a great idea, although it was strong it wasn't as unpleasant as the Scottish event. Birth canal was a bit trickier than the day before but nothing too problematic, round the field and back under a fence taking the easier option this time to bale bonds which were harder than the day before but that's what happens when you drink a bunch of pints the night before. Mud mile had a whole load of mud between the mounds and we gave help to a large bunch of people which was a great feeling. The hill just after mud mile was so very slippery with a lot of people falling over and sliding down the hill. We made our way up to sewer rat and I tried to push with my feet but that didn't work and unlike the day before it wasn't a pool of mud but a tarpaulin that had been put down so I landed with a heavy thump onto it and a large smooth rock underneath it, which was unpleasant.

Down over the rocks again and up an incline that people were crawling up, which I couldn't get any grip on, so slid back down the hill and had to part crawl to get up and of course, I caught my hand on some thistles or nettles. They had separated the paths between kiss of mud and the last part of the course, so no one was sliding down the hill or going the wrong way. Kiss of mud was really muddy and as I wasn't wearing my camelbak managed to catch myself on the board at the end of the obstacle. The hill back up was just as slippery as the day before, we walked for a bit and chatted to a couple of lads who were from up home and they'd managed to sink 12 pints the night before, I think they were challenging some wedding party or stag do. The slide down the hill had been re-routed and now we ran past where it was, killa gorilla had been ruined by a large slide cutting across the tracks, Tom and I decided we would run the proper way and encouraged others to do the same, which I was pleased when they did.

Back up over sewer rat an onto king of the swingers, I tried to clean my gloves off as best I could but when I got up the the platform the bar was covered in mud so I decided to just jump in the water, which was quite pleasant to swim through. Quagmire was hard to get out of and even with Stuart's help, I fell back but made it out on the second go. Hero walls were slick again and I almost got up by myself though did need a little help for the last bit, I got across a few more rungs on funky monkey but still went in, Tom made it all the way across which was pretty cool. Up and over the moors, our 15 minute mile time was getting longer as the course wore on, I definitely need more hill training for this course next year. Devil's beard was pretty hard to get through as the  ground was quite muddy and hold your wood, had Tom and I taking the wood as Stuart was helping another group, so we didn't manage to do it properly but we still carried a huge wooden pole around.

I started to really slow along the swamp stomp which was really thick and tiring, then I caught up to Tom and Stuart and then onto liberator, where I managed to easily help pull a woman up to the top, I tried to help a man and had great difficulty, then we got up to pyramid scheme, where Stuart ran up to the top, I couldn't get all the way up, I did get hooked over the top to help a group of up to the top, we made it along hero carry and then balls to the wall. The queues for Everest weren't too bad so we waited and I started to fall asleep, which wasn't good, I must have been worn out but I woke enough to get up to the top to get helped over the top, I stayed up helping a few people and managed to get a smack to the face by a stray elbow or foot. I skipped dead ringer and decided against electroshock where we met John volunteering again, there had been a few bad falls, still I get the option to skip.

I used the rinse showers and managed to dry a bit in the change tent before heading back to the station for the journey home. Agreat end to a great Mudder weekend of mud and boozing.

Tough Mudder 19 - Yorkshire

Another early start to get to the lovely Boughton house, I'd organised to meet Marieke, to get the train over to Skipton and then travel up to the event site with Stuart. Of course after my day celebrating getting my results, I hadn't changed into my running gear, so ended up getting up to the eyes before I'd even started along with forgetting my towel, it was turning out to be one of those days. We waited near the change tent for the others to turn up, I'd put a post on facebook and no one had looked at it by the time we decided to use the bag drop. Stuart decided to wait for some people he had ran with last year. (as it turns out he waited till 12 and it took longer to get round the course)

We got into the warm up area and did the warm up thing and I noticed that my trainers had holes in them, which wasn't great. We got up to the starting area and Gil did the safety talk and the pledge reading, there were three others who were mayor's of A town, with my 19th I was in the top spot. We set off and hit creek crusade and the fella who was on his 18th caught up to us and we chatted for a bit, he was on his second lap, having done it in 2:45, which is pretty fast. given the terrain. We had skidmarked which was weird as it only had one to get over, then onto arctic enema. I decided to wear a hat that I'd bought at the phoenix festival back in 96. I took off the hat and held onto it and it was thorougly soaked, so of course it meant I couldn't hear anything being spoken, I found couple of bibs with pins still attached and used them to hold the sides of the hat up. We had a bit of a bottleneck at the second creek crusade with people walking through slowly, I noticed that people were have problems getting out of the water, which explains the speed.

We wound our way back over the field to cry baby which was quite stong but nothing too bad, for birth canal, they had put down carpet which made it easier to get through. We crossed another field and back round to bale bonds, which were two sets of bales two bales high. Not as challenging as Scotland but still, hard enough. Mud mile was pretty deep but had some good footholds, to get up and over, with a nice bit of mud between each mound. Through sewer rat and into a big pool of mud before heading down towards kiss of mud, the course had various parts of the course right next to each other, so it was quite easy for people to end up going the wrong way. Kiss of mud was really slippery on the hill to the obstacle, with lots of mud to crawl through, then really slippery trying to get back up the hill. We came upon a really long queue of people and noticed it was for a slide down a hill so as it was getting cold and Marieke didn't want to wait, we walked a bit further and walked down the side of the hill, mud slides are fun but not worth getting cold over.

Killa gorilla was up a hill twice and back down again before heading back up and along the top of the field, we could see people in the distance and after running past a body of water that had been used as an obstacle for the last two years and now no longer an option, which was a bit sad. We continued up hill and rounded to king of the swingers where we saw that the queue was enourmous, so decided that we wouldn't wait in the cold to do something we've already done. We got up to quagmire which was pretty deep and a bit of a climb out of the water and then across a huge pile of mud. We got to hero walls and someone had fallen off the one we were going to use, it looked like a nasty cut on the head. The walls were slick with mud and damp which made them scary to use. Then onto funky monkey which I managed to get to the second rung before landing in the water.

I bit of a climb up a road to cliff hanger which had no ropes but was still a challenging bit of a climb, before heading over the moors and back down again. Then we hit devil's beard and met John who was volunteering both days. Down a bit more hill to hold your wood which was back to long poles that needed teamwork to get round, as there was just two of us, we asked others for help but they were all too busy helping each other, which was a bit of a poor show, so we didn't do it properly. We ended up back at kiss of mud to do swamp stomp, which was really deep and thick mud. Back past killa gorilla and onto liberator and then pyramid scheme, I helped a few others after hooking my feet over the bar at the top. Round and down to a mud track and stream to do hero carry, I just carried Marieke the whole way making me a double hero. Then up an incline to balls to the wall for some reverse abseiling, then round the field to everest, but u after seeing the queues to do it, decided not to bother, then a short run to dead ringer and electroshock therapy, I had thought about doing it but decided to skip it, as I didn't fancy the rinse station, as the weather wasn't very warm.

Saturday was a great day, only spoiled by no one else being there to take part and the bottlenecks for some of the course, a great 19th Tough Mudder.

Scotland - Tough Mudder 18

As I sat in the tent with the rain coming down I felt a bit down about the weather and the fact my clothes were still damp so would be cold to wear whilst waiting around for the others. I got hold of a large clear bin liner which seemed to help a little bit. Stuart rolled up to the legionnaire checkin and soon after Charlene arrived, we waited a while for our last team member but they didn't show up so we headed for the warm up area. I discarded the bin liner and wished now that I hadn't as I started to get colder and colder and was a hair breadth away from quitting but I stayed in the warmup area and actually did the warm up which really helped me and I decided to run.

We set off and saw people further up with crosses about their heads and when we made it round the first bend saw someone lying on the ground being tended to by the medical staff, they had their knee bandaged up which didn't bode well, especially as we hadn't hit any obstacles. We got through the relatively dry kiss of mud and headed onto skidmarked, where we picked up Karin who had been abandoned by her team, then we hit arctic enema, which I only did once this time,then onto killa gorilla which I ran up each hill at a sprint which was great fun, cry baby had the same effect as the Saturday and was like choking on a direct to the back of the throat menthol spray.

Stuart is amazingly strong, he just lifted me by both legs and hoisted my up the first hero wall, which made it so much easier than it usually is, then onto the bale bonds which were just as much fun the second time around. Birth canal seemed harder on the second day than the first and some welcome 9 bar bites at the water station before hitting the hill and up pyramid scheme. I took longer to get into the water for sewer rat as I was starting to feel the cold, the Friends of the Filth tops aren't as quick drying as I thought they might be, so it might be time for a rethink, on the choice of top for next year. The deep mud was cordenned off at swamp stomp after the bottleneck of the day before, hero carry was pretty easy and the liberator was quite frightening as it was covered in mud and i had the fear of falling off as I'd heard someone had done just that.

Hold you wood was a noce jaunt around the lake and I got held up at mud mile waiting for an ambulance land rover to turn around, I didn't help as many people on mud mile as the cold was starting to get the better of me, before hitting funky monkey and realising the gloves I had on are no good compared to the ones I'd been using for the previous events until they were too worn to wear anymore, so into the water went I.  Back over mud mile which had people running t get up the first mud pile, then a shivering walk through to devils beard and the second hero walls, we left Stuart to help people over and he caught up at balls to the wall, a slick rope meant I climbed it rather than backwards abseiled.  Quagmire was pretty meh and the replacement for cliffhanger was reasonably fun. I ran full tilt towards everest and slipped managing to smash my knee, so I skipped it and hobbled towards king of swingers where I managed to not swing backwards this time.

Stuart and I chatted to to Gil at the end, who mentioned the 25x headbands were on their way over from the States, which I'm looking forward to receiving by the end of the year, we both decided to give electrochock a miss. So an end to a somewhat cold but still a good course.

Scotland - Tough Mudder 17

A nice and early start to get myself up to Dumfries, I met Callum and Will on the platform and we jumped into the car and headed over to the event ground, compared to Dalkeith last year this was quite the journey between the station and the event ground. We stopped off so I could get a quick bite to eat and got there in plenty of time. I set up my tent and then quickly got changed. We waited in the main arena beside electroshock David was already there, then Marieke and Winter turned up, we were just waiting on Laura and Lydia, Stuart was there with his brother and Giles from TMHQ came over for a quick chat, I discovered why we haven't had beached whale in the UK, which was the number of injuries from participants being thrown from what is essentially a large inflatable when people are landing on it, a lot of broken limbs by all accounts, which is a shame as it looks a good obstacle. Once we were all together we headed into the warm up area and I did the usual pretend to warm up as it tends to wear me out.

We hit the start area for the pledge and safety stuff and we headed off, Winter started to have some problems so we walk/ran for a bit, hitting up kiss of mud, which wasn't very muddy, then onto skidmarked, we had already lost David, Laura and Lydia so we marched onwards to arctic enema, I had made a silly post on Facebook suggesting that I would tackle arctic enema twice in a row and when I slid down that ramp, I climbed out and got back up there and did it again, there wasn't much ice in them as the weather was warming up and melting it but the second time I climbed out, it felt a lot colder, which was odd, my guess was that I was already wet and a bit cold so the cold water sucked away even more heat, it wasn't as cold as the early morning Midlands event but it was still not pleasant. We hit killa gorilla which was several steep inclines which I walked up slowly, then onto cry baby which this time felt like I was being sprayed directly into the mouth and not the usual pleasant slightly sweet menthol taste to it.

Then we had a very cold stream to splodge through before hitting the hills and they were some lovely hills, the hero walls were split up due to the landscape not accomodating both in the space they had. A bit more wandering through the forest until we hit bale bonds, which were a proper challenge this time, it was stacked three bales high which was much better than even the Midlands version. Birth canal was uncomfortable as they had a bit too much water in the tarpaulin which made it really hard to get through, also the ground was quite uncomfortable to crawl over, a quick drink and then onto pyramid scheme. This was an interesting one and people were able to run up which was quite impressive, we helped quite a few people over this one. We got up to sewer rat which didn't drop directly into the water which was a little sad but there was a really big body of water to swim through, which was a little cold when you first get in and I'm not ashamed to say it was another body of water that caused me to have a pee.

There was a large bottleneck waiting for swamp stomp which really was a swamp with a lot a rather smelly mud to swim through, we finally made it through and they closed it off after us as it was causing such a bottleneck, I shouted mud fight but didn't actually start one, someone else did and there was mud flying everywhere, which was fun, aside from the clump in my ear, once everyone was through I helped some people through the mud and then fell backwards onto it and then had a bit of a swim which was great fun.

Then hero carry which was the usual thing, then Liberator, although Winter had avoided the other obstacles like skidmarked and hero walls, a pair of pegs was taken and with help, Winter managed to get over to a huge cheer from the crowd of people waiting to get over. Then hold your wood which was a lovely walk around a lake and some warming sunlight. Mudmile was muddy but more like large piles of mud and large puddles, fun but not when you get the muddy water in your eye, which I managed to thanks to someone landing heavy, onto Funky monkey where I managed to get three rungs done before ending in the water, Callum and Will managed faired better almost making it over.

Back over mud mile and onto Devils beard which was pinned down quite well, and then the second hero wall. Then balls to the wall which I've started to do a reverse abseiling move on, reaching for the knot and then pushing out and pulling myself up, with a little cheer from the other entrants at the top and a cheeky shout of "that's how you do it". Quagmire was two large mounds of earth and waist high water which was a bit dull. Then I found a blanket someone had discarded and as we were climbing an incline Winter had a funny turn and the medical staff were called, after a short break we continued on and ended up at what was meant to be cliffhanger but was some balance beams which I used two die by side as it was a bit easier. Then a short incline and everest which I managed quite easily, then we helped people to get over and headed for King of the swingers, I heard the mc saying to not hold onto the handle and swing back, I thought that'll never be me, except I'd found some better gloves and I couldn't seem to let go and swung back towards the platform before swinging out again and getting no where near the bell. I retrieved the blanket, which I put around Marieke, which I should have done a bit sooner. Electroshock was the final obstacle which I decided I would skip. We got our photos taken and collected our new headbands before I headed back to the tent to get changed.

Looking back on Tough Mudder

Well that was an interesting Tough Mudder season, fourteen events with three multi lap events, running and occasionally walking the course, setting up teams for the events and taking part with a whole swathe of new people and some familiar ones. If anyone had said you'd complete so many or that you would be a heartbeat away from dropping out I'd have said not a chance, I wouldn't have believed it, but here I sit with twenty six events under my belt and an eye on doing World's toughest Mudder or European Toughest when they announce it, I had some great times, from meeting the people behind the scenes who do so much work to ensure that everyone has a great experience and is able to safely take part, to all the people that I've taken part with.

The one thing I remember is the cold, not the cold of the ice bath but the ground when camping, the Sunday at London West, walking the course on Saturday in Scotland, running on the Sunday at Midlands, all incredibly cold but the one that takes the award was Sunday at when after an incredibly hot Saturday, I ended up so cold, I couldn't do a couple of obstacles and my hands turned blue.

Another thing was the emerging scandal of the counting laps instead of individual events to get the legionnaire headbands which goes against the spirit of the events given they are about the taking part not the showing off, though I do enjoy the people giving you so much respect and admiration. They did change the way you collect your headband, where they now find you on the system and check off that you've received your legionnaire headband, so they've fixed that.

So we'll see what the new season brings and see if I can get over funky monkey again.

Tough Mudder 15 - Lap 2

I set off in the 12:20 wave and got up to bale bonds and managed to not be able to climb them at first so knew this would be a hard lap, I'd mentioned to a couple of people that I'd already done it this morning and they looked a bit shocked, someone who I think I must have helped during the Midlands course last year said hello, which was nice. I had a bit of trouble with skidmarked this time being unable to get myself over without help. I did manage shawshanked and fell deep into the water. birth canal was a bit harder this time but I still managed to get through and I had no real problems with the rest of thecourse but was really starting to feel drained and took total advantage of the 9 bar nut bars at the water stations. I didn't even bother trying island hopping just jumping straight in the water, balls to the wall wasn't too problematic and arctic enema was a lot warmer than the morning unsurprisingly. I skipped carrying anyone at hero carry and told the volunteer who might have said something, that I'd already been round and they just gave me a nod and left it at that.

I really needed help with hero walls and gave a helping hand to some other people who I chatted to for a bit, I found a bit on liberator that had footrests and used that one, I also found a lighter tire to carry and bumped into some other people I'd chatted to, one of them was wearing sweat pants but didn't know why they'd chosen them. I swung straight into the water at king of the swingers, which was better than a back flop I guess. I decided to skip kiss of mud and funky monkey as I was starting to get cold and couldn't face getting any muddier or wetter, I did go through cry baby which was fun, then gave everest a miss as the queue was enourmous, skipped dead ringer again as well I could barely lift my arms. I bumped into Stuart who had been adopted by another group and manged just the one extra lap.

I got across the finish line and collected another bunch of stuff but not an extra t-shirt as I already had one. I got back to the campsite feeling utterly wrecked and thinking I'd made a terrible mistake going for two laps when I hadn't trained properly for one nevermind two, John was trying to recover in his tent, I got changed and lay on my bed for a while feeling drained. We noticed a bit later that Martyn and Paul had got back from their trip out to get some booze and we went over for a chat about the day, John, decided to go with them to the after party whilst I went back to the tent as I was tired and didn't feel up to partying, I must have been drained as I went off about 10 o'clock, to be ready for lap 3 on the Sunday.

Tough Mudder 15 - Lap 1

After meeting up with John who turned up in a landrover with a friends of the filth spare tire cover, which I thought was pretty damned cool, we headed over to the event site and after a trudge across a field got sorted for the camping, I had a new tent which was up in seconds. We visited the main site and got in touch with Stuart and Martyn who were staying over so they could get a nice early run and do laps. As we were the only ones who had bothered to say which day they were taking part in, we decided to go off in the 8:20 wave, I got over to my tent and got an early night which wasn't the warmest but better than Henley.

I woke about 4am and as it was light out decided to just listen to some muic until it was time to get up. After an hour or so I decided I  couldn't be bothered to lie in any longer so got up, I got some breakfast into me and get ready. There was one bloke who was up and ready about two hours before the first wave, very keen.

We got over to the starting area and I left my phone with George so I could phone home between laps, yes I did laps on the Saturday. We got into the warm up area and did the usual thing, then set off to the start area where there were quite a number of black and orange headbands and a double black one signifying 25+ events, which I'm aiming to get by the end of the year. We headed off and reached bale bonds which was actually a climb over hay bales, rather the three bales to jump over so a nice change, then back round to near the camp site for skidmarked, which seemed pretty easy this time, then the mystery obstacle which turned out to be shawshanked which seems to be like boa constrictor but with only one tube and a rope to pull yourself up and into a body of water which wasn't too cold despite it being early in the morning. Stuart left us at this point as he was looking to get three laps in, we continued on to birth canal, which isn't getting any easier, then creek crusade which is basically a large stream.

We jogged up to island hopping and the medical staff were helping someone who it turns out had gashed their ribs on one of the platforms, at first it was a suspected broken rib or two, we hit devils beard which was much better this time as it was properly pinned to the ground, then balls to the wall which was nice having no mud making the rope slick. We jogged through some lovely wooded area before getting to arctic enema, which someone was handing over swim caps suggesting these were needed, we didn't think so, it turns out they were right as the water was incredibly cold and froze my head completely. We carried on to mud mile and Martyn and Paul had gone on as they also wanted laps in. More forrest and then hero carry which is always nice, then a bit of killa gorilla and the hero walls. When we got up to liberator I found the one with no additional lats to give a footrest and where it was all upper body strength to climb it and ensure you didn't fall down, back round to mud mile again which was lovely and muddy before the tyre carry which was different and onto king of the swingers, where I managed to miss the bell but fall into the water on my back which was so painful, luckily the camelbak took some of the hit.

We hit up kiss of mud and then onto funky monkey which I didn't get very far as my hands were really cold and slick with mud. You could smell cry baby from across the field and when you got inside it was so thick you couldn't see anything at all. We reached everest and I managed to get up in one go then John had a few tries but was tired so just kept missing getting a good grip, he looked so frustrated at himself but he pulled himself round and we headed for the finish. I skipped electroshock because it not a fun one, if I could get through without passing out it would be nice. We collected our headbands and we walked back to the campsite and John decided that another lap wouldn't be such a good idea, I quickly phoned home and stowed my stuff in the tent before jumping into the 12:20 wave just as it was getting ready to set off.

Tough Mudder thoughts on London West 2015.

So it was over to Henley on Thames again for the first event of the year, which is when the weather starts to get better and normally isn't too cold. The course is hilly, its like they put the hilliest course at the start of the UK season, the map didn't have an elevation on it this time but it had short steep hills and long winding steep sections through the forests, of course I didn't do much training on hills so this was quite the killer, they even had us run past Funky Monkey and then back up a really steep section of the course.

The obstacles

New additions

Skidmarked: This is exactly like the hangover walls from the legionnaire loop last year, really tall so unless you can jump high enough and have the upper body strength you are going to need to get help over this one, this is no Glory Blades.

Birth Canal: Imagine someone pushing you to the ground and making you crawl and getting heavier the longer you crawl, this is what birth canal is like, you can use the gap between the sides and the water filled tarpaulin to get yourself through.

Cry Baby: The Saturday had a relatively weak mist to get through, easy to get through and see, Sunday was much thicker, where you can barely see in front of you, it was like olbas oil or vics vaporub, very menthol.

Kiss of Mud 2.0: This now has ditches to climb into and out of, making it an interesting one, quite difficult if its muddy.

Liberator: This one needs upper body strength but they do have foot rests so you don't slip back down and hurt yourself, a good challenge and an excellent addition, possibly replacing Balls to the wall.

Hold your wood 2.0: The key this time is team work, you will need at least one other person to help you get it round the course.

King of swingers: This is really good fun, managing to hit the bell is such a good feeling, you have to watch the jerk at the bottom of the swing as I've seen someone swing out, snap at the bottom and be flung off the metal handle, spinning in the air. A nice even swing should help you swing for the bell.

Funky Monkey 2.0: This has less spinning rungs and now has a swing at the apex of the triangle and one long pole to shimmy down to the other side that also swings side to side, take each rung one at a time to get yourself over this one and being tall doesn't seem to make much difference, in getting across.

Everest 2.0: Like the Legionnaire version last year, this is higher so the same principle applies, start at a steady pace and then speed up and reach for wrists or open hands and don't put your feet on the surface of everest and push to try and climb or you'll pull the people at the top off, like almost happened to myself.

Dead Ringers: Hook a ring over a peg and move up a triangle, swinging yourself side to side for momentum to get up the triangle, no water for this one but still difficult after a long course.

Those were the new additions for the Henley course, they were all excellent additions and help keep the event fresh. The disappointments were that Haha Ditch was on the map but wasn't being used, though the pit was dug, Bale Bonds which are hay bails to jumps over, it would be nice ice it was a stack of them to climb up and Devils Beard, which is a cargo net you can walk through rather than crawl through.

The Sunday event had a lot more mud due to the rain, so it was nicely muddy compared to the dry but cold course of Saturday. This was an excellent start to the Tough Mudder season for the UK and highlights why it is a premier muddy obstacle event and has so many people returning time and time again. I'll see if the other events use more obstacles or change them up drastically.