Well I didn’t sleep well, I tossed and turned like a mad wummin but I am still buzzing today.
I honestly can’t believe I did that yesterday. I completed Tough Mudder Scotland 2022…. And I didn’t hate it and didn’t feel out my depth. I wasn’t even that scared, I was just calm and in control.
Everything went right for me. Despite being anxious about what to wear, my chosen wardrobe didn’t let me down. I wasn’t too hot or too cold, I didn’t get blisters, my trainers didn’t fall off in the mud…. All the things that worried me in advance. It all worked perfectly.
We live next door to the Gateside Inn which is an old coaching station from back in the day and is affectionately known as the GSI.
There were 9 of us in our GSI Warriors team, the 8 others (including Craig) did it all last year (with one other guy who had to pull out at the last moment) and I thought they were crazy. I couldn’t imagine anything worse. It sounded terrifying.
I have to remember that I used to listen to Craig’s stories of the Fit Body Farm and roll my eyes in disgust thinking how awful that it sounded.
And here I am…. If I can do this, anyone can.
I’m sure the face paint resembled a kids face painted tiger rather than camouflage but hey….. we got a minibus down to Drumlanrig Castle where Tough Mudder is staged.
(Should say here the minibus was £40 a head which seems a lot of money but actually it’s from your door and he waited for us and with the cost of fuel these days, it’s probably not that bad…🤔🥺)
We are 1.5 hours away from Drumlanrig.
To be fair…. There’s not really any time to appreciate the surroundings but given that we ran 17.5km around it yesterday it’s safe to say it’s a stunning and huge estate and well worth a visit!
So back to the actual event itself. We got there around 8am and we were booked to set off between 9-9.45am so we had a fair bit of time to drop our bags and queue up at the start line…. Of course time for plenty more photos…. 🤣
Now from this point on there aren’t many photos as we have to leave our phones in our bags. We had two go-pros with us so there are a few and the official ones will be out this week.
This is the route. Of course we did the 15k… which ended up 17.5K…. 🤦🏻♀️🤣
Even looking back at this now I don’t remember what half of the obstacles were. All we noticed in advance was the run between obstacles 5 and 6 and 17 to 18…. I wondered if there was a bus to drop us off?!? 🚍
So up until this point it’s muddy but we are not covered in mud. Every track is pretty muddy so you have to be careful you don’t slip but you gain a confidence running in the mud. T
Here are a lot of water obstacles….. I loved them… it’s funny how coming out of a muddy pool of water being fully clothed and you can still set off a run again?!?! Your shoes are squelching but it feels ok. It’s ok, I hear myself but it is true. You just laugh and get on with it.
The only obstacles I really struggled with were the ones with heights. I have a real fear of heights and that’s something I need to work on. I can climb a mountain if it’s cloudy…. If it’s sunny I feel really dizzy and disorientated as if the mountain is going to eject me off it. I say I have to work at it and I have no desire to do so but I know it’s needs doing….
There were some that I walked round as a result of the height but I didn’t feel awful doing it. I was proud of myself for knowing that I was tackling so much in the day already that a few missed obstacles wasn’t the end of the world.
This next one caught me out.…. You had to climb up a ladder being showerd by very cold water. This is Lynsey showing how it’s done.
I got to the top no problem. The water was so cold that it almost hurt at the top… and out I climbed…. Then realised how high up I was and I had to climb down the back of it. It was the only time I felt a fleeting fear and in the video clip we have, I grabbed on t the side bar. No drama just security….. check the nick of my face at the bottom 🙄😆
This was an easy one going through tape in the trees.
All of a sudden we saw the castle from a viewpoint.
What a great team photo shot! To think we weren’t sure if Ian’s go-pro was even working and his pics have been great!
This photo was taken at the top of Arwen’s Trail which was indeed, a strenuous hike!
We ran past this stunning leaping arch on the just before the hill.
I was screaming to Craig behind me to get a photo!!! 🤦🏻♀️🤣 was not to be…
Where did Lynsey go?!? Did Craig push her or try to help her?
I’ve admitted defeat and am sitting on the edge ready for a swim as I couldn’t reach the monkey bars!!
Off on a cage crawl… that’s my lying under the cage as Emma waits to go next!
Two very different pictures after Artic Enema…. You slide down a tube into freezing cold ice water and get instantly confused with the cold.
The only negative to the whole event was the mud…. Really, you say?!? Well it’s not that… it’s just the amount of mud at the end!
Someone, who shall remain nameless said… there’s nowhere near as much mud as last year, I mean look at us… we’re all still clean…. From that moment on Lynsey got her mud!! (Oops!)
They save the worst of it until last… and there are no more water obstacles for you to go through to wash it all off!
The result is that Tough Mudder get a stunning finish of everyone covered from head to toe in mud.
Here I am crossing through Electroshock Therapy at the finish line. I didn’t get zapped but some of the guys really felt the electric shock.
Then they give your a fresh clean Tough Mudder 2022 Finisher T-shirt, a 15k headband, a bottle of water, 2 cans of alcohol and you’re meant to try and carry it when your hands are caked in mud?!?! They really need one of their sponsors to come up with a tote bag! (how old do I sound?!?!)
This is Lynsey’s watch… took us 4 hours as she forgot to switch it off over the finish line and was 10.8 miles.
They have a RINSE area at the end but Emma and I went in fully clothed! It took ages to rinse the mud off our clothes. It took almost as long to get clean clothes on to our cold, wet skin 🤦🏻♀️🤣🤣🤣
We didn’t hang around afterwards…. It started to rain and we were kinda over the mud! We called the bus and headed back to the Gateside Inn for dinner.
So to the GSI Warriors I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Every single one of you welcomed me with open arms and your words of encouragement and support were outstanding.
And to Craig…. I would never, ever, ever, ever have done any of this without you by my side. The Fit Body Farm, my first Tough Mudder, all because you believe in me when I can’t believe in myself. ♥️ it also proves that I do listen sometimes 😘🤣🥰
I’m so very proud of myself and it’s not often I ever say that. Long may the buzz continue.
At least until I’m able to walk again. FBF 6am is still under review. 🤣
Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️
The Rambling Sloth 🦥 