Challenge 8 -Active Warrior!

Well, I don’t know how we have already got to challenge 8 of #12challengesin12months, the year is literally flying past! July already, who can believe it!

Our quiet Friday night out for a meal in a newly opened local pub (The Hiltonbury Farmhouse ), ended up with a liquid dinner and no food (not quite sure how that happened?) and then a headache when we got up ready to compete in Active Warrior!

We cycled down to Southampton ready to meet up with team British American Tobacco, and race with them in their group. There were about a dozen of us all in all, ready for the off. It was a beautiful morning, sun was shining and the atmosphere at the Sports centre was great! Lots of pumping music and warm ups going on round the track.

Now, if I’m honest, I wasn’t expecting much, I mean, how can an obstacle course race round an urban sports centre be up to much?? WRONG!! The first obstacle getting over a hurdle of tyres nearly felled me and that was only to get into the warm up area!!! Thank god for Steve’s colleagues who hauled me over and saved me ending up on my backside.

I’ve been informed there were 35 obstacles over the 5km route. It felt amazing to complete the route as a team, with everyone helping everyone else. Even the proper athletes of the group stayed behind with us novices (me!) to lend a hand and a push or a pull over or out of obstacles. Thanks so much to team BAT for making me feel so welcome!

So, thinking back we had cargo nets on the ground, A-frames, steep pits of mud, monkey bars (x 3), sandbag carrying up and down hills, log carrying round a course, hay bale jumping, skips full of minging water, scrambling on hands and knees through troughs of water, hurdles, walls to climb, a ski slope to clamber down – and then up – and then slide down on a massive water slide (very reminiscent of I’m a celebrity)! There were steeple chase water pits, forest routes with natural obstacles, rope climbing up hills, clambering through tubes and other obstacles I’m bound to have forgotten. I tried them all and only failed the last set of monkey bars which I slipped off!

The final obstacle was a MASSIVE wall, must have been 9 or 10 foot. And I looked at it and thought, NOT A CHANCE MATE!! However, Steve’s colleagues made it easier by letting me use them as steps and then hauling me up by the arms to the top. The climb down the other side was all my own doing, haha, but with the help of the others, I managed it!!!

A great course, a great feeling of team work and camaraderie and a lovely morning!

Cycled home, had a snooze and then went out for a walk. Over 15kms later, having eaten the biggest carvery known to man at The White Swan, Mansbridge and having trekked down the most inhospitable trails of the itchen navigation to Southampton, we were home!
So, I got changed and went to work. Knackered. Having done over 35,000 steps. Over 40kms by bike and foot, with bruises on my bruises . All great fun – bring on challenge 9, Peddle paddle pace!

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Challenge 4 – ‘The General’ 2nd April

Well, here we are a third of the way in – 4th challenge of 12! Although, we have sneaked a couple more in there so likely actually to be 14 (and maybe 15) challenges!

Still in shock over our half marathon finishing, so as today was only 10 km, I thought we’d be fine! Hahahahahahaha!!

A glorious spring day for a run, beautiful blue sky, no wind, dry and warm. There’s nothing more amazing for making you feel alive than being out on a morning like this. Combined with he stunning scenery if the Hampshire countryside it makes a person feel so thankful for their lot. Cheesy but true!

We swung past to get my colleague Eleanor en route and made our way the few miles to the far side of Winchester. Somehow, I managed to register my name twice, so both Steve and I were running as Emma Holford on numbers 712 and 713.
It was an amazingly hilly course, see the elevation pictures for details. Many of the obstacles were natural hills and terrains, including a fab motor cross track about km six and seven. Other obstacles included shimmying through pipes,  over haybale hurdles, through troughs of stinky water, scrambling over A frames, tractor tyre rolling, crawling under a REAL tank in deep mud, waist deep ditches of dirty water and a wonderful slippy slide.

One of the best medals we’ve had yet combined with the scouts doing very reasonably priced bacon butties at the end, made sitting in the sun with our post race booty very satisfying.

 

Challenge 1 – Emma – Brutal 10k

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Today I completed my first challenge, the Brutal Women’s only 10k! I went on my own as Steve was away for the day and although it was a chilly day the sun was out and the sky was blue.

I packed the car up with all my stuff, including towels, warm clothes and set off early as was advised on all the pre-race literature. However, half way along the A34 I realised I’d left my trail shoes behind….Bugger!! Oh well, I’d have to run in my trainers!! On the plus side, I had my new ‘Murray Parish Trust‘ vest to run in!

the venue was Greenham common and Crookham common nature reserve near Newbury – lots of marshes, ditches, woodland and bracken. there was a saloming stall there with trail shoes, but as the cheapest pair was £55, I decided just to go with my old trainers.

Checking out the water obstacles near the finish line, it was disheartening to see a thick layer of ice on the water, with the race director advising to mind our shins on the ice! Deep joy!

The course was 2 x 5km laps, with plenty of water ditches and ponds – most thigh high but a couple waist high. It’s at times like this I wish I was taller than I am! I reckon there must have been the best part of 17 water dips along the course.

There were a couple of sizeable hills, with one having been turned into a huge mudslide, so down I went on my bum. Trail shoes or not, there was no other way – then a scramble up the other side in mud so deep it was mid shin high with a VERY satisfying squelch as you stomped into it. Acutally, there was fair bit of squishy, squelchy deep mud – which was strangely comforting to be knee deep in. It was certainly marginally warmer than the freezing water.

There was one river of cadburys chocolate coloured thin, gloopy mud – which if you didn’t know better you’d swear it had been poured in directly from a giant chocolate fountain!

A run like this will never elicit a PB, due to mud and hills and water, but it was a lovely wintery run with plenty of opportunity to run on flatter areas – some paths, woods and grassland.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and official time was 1:27:19. It was also lovely for the last two km to get chatting to another lady and we nattered to the end, finishing together. At these events, it’s so easy to find a buddy and get talking to someone who you obviously have something in common with!