Getting Pretty Muddy
If you’ve been following my journey to this year’s Race for Life Pretty Muddy 5K, then here are the pics you’ve been waiting for! The ‘covered in mud from head to toe’ look is actually part of a key trend this Spring/Summer season, didn’t you know? No, but seriously, I had an absolute BLAST at the event.
Pretty Muddy is a relatively new addition to Cancer Research’s Race for Life events, but definitely a welcome one. It’s a 5K run (or jog, walk, skip etc) complete with a series of muddy obstacles to mix things up a little bit. Think Tough Mudder but much more tame and beginnner-friendly!
Thankfully I had Mat with me to document nearly all of the race. He even did his fair share of running from obstacle to obstacle, bless him. Here’s a rundown of some of the highlights of the event for me.
The Cause
As some of you may know, the blogging community recently lost a truly lovely girl called Frances Cassandra. As far as I know, it was a very sudden and unexpected loss, which naturally devastated all of her family & friends, including the friends she had formed within the blogging community.
Lymphoma (it’s suspected Frances had battled with it) is one of many cancers that Cancer Research are doing some amazing work to help find the cure for, so it only seemed right that I dedicated my race to Frances.
I’d met her before and followed her blog for a while, so the news of her passing was heartbreaking. Her kindness always shone through, whether it was from her blog posts, tweets or in person. I hope no young woman, or anyone else for that matter, has to go through what Frances had to go through.
Even though the money I raised for Cancer Research is just a small fraction of what’s needed to further their research and help find a cure, combined with the fundraising efforts of over 8500 ladies, it’s getting us closer and closer by the day.
You can find out more about the research Cancer Research do here.
The Obstacles
I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect on the course, but armed with Mat’s GoPro and a selfie stick (sorrynotsorry), I set off determined to give it my best shot and get as muddy as possible.
I ran the regular 5K last year and immediately knew from the first obstacle in the Pretty Muddy course that this was going to be a million times more fun.
You’re eased in with a few big ‘hurdle’ style obstacles, but they soon get much more muddy! Although I did manage to deck it on the first obstacle whilst trying to film myself, resulting in some very early muddiness and a pretty amused marshall. Smooth.
One of my favourite moments of the race was the climbing wall above. I literally couldn’t run a minute without someone loudly remarking on my ‘selfie stick’ and the climbing wall marshall just could not comprehend what I was even doing with it!
Mat offered to hold the GoPro but I decided to suffer with it in the name of Youtube and climbed up with it still in my hand. The marshall was shouting ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING?’ and ‘you’re not going up with that?!’ but it actually spurred me on more, tehe. I was determined to get over speedily like a pro!
I climbed over and went down the wrong way but styled it out perfectly with a little jump off the net and a victory fist pump as I ran away. I even got a little cheer from the crowd. Don’t worry, Mr Marshall, I GOT THIS.
They tell you about the obstacles, but they don’t mention the British Military Fitness guys who won’t let you past until you do 10 sit-ups… eek! Absolute nightmare when I was still recovering from a pretty hardcore gym session. My abs did not forgive me that day.
The final obstacle is by far the best and most fun. It’s making me giddy all over again just thinking about it!! It’s basically a massive inflatable slide, straight into a puddle of mud at the bottom. Perfect for those who have tried to cheekily avoid getting muddy until that point!
Even just watching the clip from my GoPro makes me smile, so imagine actually going down it. It’s a great finish to a really fun obstacle course, with the finish line a short distance away.
Getting well and truly covered in mud was my only goal for the race and I think I may have succeeded there! What do you think? Mat also informed me that I managed to be amongst the first of the runners in my heat to cross the finish line too, which is the icing on the cake.
And of course, a HUGE thank you to all of my lovely supporters, family & friends who kindly donated to my JustGiving page. You all helped with that stupidly big grin that I had plastered on my face all day and we managed to raise a total of £105 for Cancer Research!
GOOD WORK, TEAM.
You can still donate to my JustGiving page here, even if it’s just a few quid. Every little bit donated helps fund research into treatments and cures, as well as the support they offer to cancer sufferers and their families.
Oh and I couldn’t get in the car to go home without having a little wash first. Shame there wasn’t any showers, but I think the boating lake at Heaton Park was a much better alternative, don’t you?
A big thanks to Race for Life for supporting me on my journey and hosting another amazing event! Events run all year long, so check out when your closest event is taking place on their website here.
