MUD, glorious MUD!

Today was The Day - Mud Runner 2011. Glorious weather at Eastnor Castle, Fit Mark raring to go, Ice Cream Sian and me drinking coffee and putting off the 'lets get going' moment...

And then we couldn't put it off any longer... EEEEK! The first 100 yards was fine, and then there was a river crossing that I nearly missed because I was so busy talking. Oops - nearly headfirst into it... then a long (very long) uphill and not a lot of mud - wet summer, dry week before Mud Runner, about the worst combination you can come up with... Finally we got to SERIOUS mud - you can tell it's coming up because there are people shrieking up ahead. Brilliant mud. It dries green so everyone looks like they're wearing wellies... There was a steep slippery uphill out of the mud and one lovely lady was standing at the top helping other people by offering a hand - how kind is that?

Half way round (ish) there was a water station so we stopped and admired the view. Would have been rude not to... Had a nice chat with the fabulous ladies (and gents) acting as marshalls, asking where the view was... and now I can't remember where it was except that it was Herefordshire... Very pretty though!

More hills, more mud, serious swamp at the end. Maybe the word 'swamp' should have given it away? Bit stinky too... I got stuck to my knees and then went SPLAT spectacularly - straight down. Hope the photographer got that one!! When I eventually prised myself back up again the pattern of my shirt was visible in the mud - how fab is that?!

Ice Cream Sian was incredible. She ran much more of it than I did (I walked up some of the hills, shame on me) and Fit Mark ran off at the start (as arranged) and posted a proper time. So much so that by the time Ice Cream Sian and I finished he was clean, re-dressed and had walked back to the last river to take photos of us. (Photos tomorrow!)

After the finish we entered the Muddy Tub of Love - a huge 'bath' made by putting a pond liner in a shell of straw bales and then connecting it to a totally enormous antiquated boiler. Fab - hot water. Although as over 1200 people finished ahead of Ice Cream Sian and me, a somewhat muddy bath...

So here are the most memorable bits of today:

The madness of runners: We passed a girl early on flat out nursing her ankle while her friends looked after her. We asked if she was ok and if we could do anything. "No, it's OK, I'm fine, it's not broken, it's only ligaments..." I hope you're really ok!

There were over 1350 runners.

Fit Mark was 78th. In a time of 1 hour and 9 minutes.

He was the EIGHTH person over the age of 40. YAY!

Ice Cream Sian and I were 1256th and 1257th respectively in 2 hours 16 minutes.

I was the 15th female over 50 to finish. Which sounds good except there were only 16 females over 50...

And the Most Amazing Bloke award goes to Rick who did the whole thing in a spectacular off road wheelchair. In just 3 hours 39 minutes. Amazing.

More photos to come soon...

Half way home in the car I realised I could still smell The Swamp...

It's ok, I've had a bath now!