My Tough Mudder experience

Some of our bravest colleagues took part in the Tough Mudder challenge on Saturday, 21^st May to raise donations for Teenage Cancer Trust. Sarah Rae, our Service Area Associate, shares her experience including how she managed to complete the course and overcome various obstacles, together with the rest of the team:

This was my first event of this type, and having never ran further than 5K I was somewhat nervous on the build up to Saturday’s 11.1 mile obstacle course, especially knowing I would be muddy, wet and wearing a tutu. Whilst waiting on the start line the message given to us was that this was not a race but a challenge, and that it was! Once we crossed the start line we had little time to let the nerves get to us as less than a mile in we were being plunged into a muddy pool of water,  from then on you knew that there was no avoiding the water or mud, so as a team we just embraced it.

The course had over 20 obstacles but by far the most memorable was the Arctic enema. We were faced with a slide which plunged into a pool filled with ice cold water. If the plunge into the ice wasn’t enough we then needed to swim underneath a row of tyres before climbing out of the pool. We all made it out in a somewhat shocked and dishevelled state but got straight back to it and began the run to the next obstacle.

At some point through the day I think we all had a moment where we didn’t want to face what was next, the obstacles were physically demanding but as the day went on the rain also started. The obstacles became more spread out, the runs were longer and the cold was beginning to set in. It was at this point that we faced mud mile. Around 8 or 9 miles into the course, we were required to run through thick mud. So thick that if you stood still too long you were likely to leave a shoe behind when you tried to move.  We then faced 4 mounds of mud separated by pools of muddy water. You were expected to climb up and slide down the mud hills into the muddy water. The rain was falling and hundreds of mudders had gone before us making some of the hills difficult to get over. At this point in the day we were all tired, we all slipped and fell at some point, but it didn’t break us. We laughed off the falls, pulled each other over the mud, and out of the water and kept going. After a mile run we then got to climb back over mud mile and this time it was a little more of a struggle.

By the time we crossed the finished line it had been 4 hours since we started. All the way round the course all participants were helping each other, it certainly wasn’t a race. You cheered those on around you and helped motivate each other when it looked like someone was starting to break. Throughout the day we all faced some fears or had injuries to deal with but we kept going and made it through as a team. We stuck together the whole way round the course, and I couldn’t and wouldn’t have wanted to do it without my teammates. It was true to its name and was tough, but we had some great laughs, and it was a great experience. I can’t wait to face the challenge next year!

Sarah Rae, Service Area Associate at Quotient Clinical