Yesterdays blog post got as far as the start gun which was a little mean BUT the Tough Mudder is an endurance event, I couldn’t possibly wrap it up in a single post.

I’m not even sure I can sum it up in two posts .. lets see how we go 😉

So we started out looking like this

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Lovely and clean with beaming smiles and I’m not sure about the others but I for one had butterflies – what felt like a trillion of the suckers!

The start gun goes off – we run through some orange smoke (it’s an interesting experience running whilst holding your breath)

and less than five minutes later we come across what would become a familiar sight over the next few hours, a mud crossing.  But never fear because there was a water obstacle to follow that a few minutes later, pity it was the arctic enema a green slimy ice tank swim.

Yes that “swamp thing” emerging from the water is in fact me! And yes it was cold .. freezing in fact, I guess you get that when they dump tonnes of ice into a tank.

I’m also pretty sure even though we had crawled through mud we came out of that water tank dirtier than when we went into it ..

Then we crossed a river, ran some more, crawled through more mud, ran some more. You all know how I “love” to run, so it was no surprise I spent the day at the back of the pack, but James stuck by my side and even towed me up the hills.

It took me a little while to get into a “groove” which I managed to do just as we headed into the forest and then it happened ..

Injury hit Team Ludus.

Team Ludus halts, Team physio works some magic (which means rubbing the sore part) and we all discuss who is going to piggy back the “patient” but our “patient” is having none of that and insists on limping onwards and team Ludus flank and walk beside him.

I will mention it was during one of the injury breaks that two girls wearing “our” shirts run past laughing at us and yelling that they started 45 minutes after us – that was when Anna went mental and ran after them with a stick.

It was obvious they missed the team talk ..

“It is harder to finish as a team than it is to finish”

Some teams talk the talk, but Team Ludus walk the walk. To us “leave no one behind” means just that, no one gets left behind .. another thing I soon learn is that “no one gets to give into their fears” believe me I tried! But more on that later .. I’ve got some walls to climb.

Till next time
When I promise I will tell you about the tears!