Challenge 1 - Hellrunner (26 Oct 2019)
Updated: Nov 9, 2019
The challenge - Half marathon through mud, water, wind and rain
I entered this event not quite sure what to think of it. On one hand, I felt that it was going to be fine...after all, I have run a half marathon before, and there is no rush to finish this. What could be so hard?
Well...
- Two days before the event the organisers sent an email stating they had to move the carpark due to flooding.
- One day before the event the organisers sent another informing participants that they had to close half the course due to high winds and bad weather.....uh oh.....

So I turn up not quite knowing what to expect. And indeed the conditions did not disappoint. Gale force winds, rain and true winter weather.
I tell myself that this is the point - "Its not meant to be easy, and more importantly, I am not meant to enjoy it. That's the personal growth bit!" ;)
So off I head trotting down the course...to the first puddle...

And then the second, third, fourth, and I don't know how many more....

And in-between the puddles....just mud and hills. In fact there couldn't have been more than a kilometre where I could just stretch out my running pace and relax into it.
After 12 km's I had completed the circuit. Participants were offered the choice of doing a second lap. But between me being in a late wave and missing the cutoff time by 5 mins (really!? 1 hour 35 wasn't so bad!) and feeling cold, tired and wet, that was it for me.
So in the end, I ran less than I expected, but funnily enough, the hills, cold and muddy conditions made it feel physically as hard as a half marathon.
First one (and scarily, I think the easiest of them all) over. Back to the training......