Mud, sweat & beers

21 obstacles, 11 participants, and 10 miles of mud!

Tough Mudder is pretty much as it sounds - tough and muddy!  However, I never thought I could have so much fun diving around in mud and hurling myself over/under/through seemingly impossible obstacles.

Despite the early start, and ominous-looking clouds looming over the Badminton Estate, the ‘Wynne-Jones Warriors’ arrived - apprehensive, yet excited at the challenge that lay ahead of us.  The minute we crossed the start line any nerves we had were quickly replaced by excitement, and mud - a whole lot of mud!

For those that haven’t heard, Tough Mudder is a 10 mile run, with 21 somewhat inconvenient, yet fun, obstacles in the way!  These obstacles include clambering over giant hay bales, crawling under barbed wire, plunging into ice-cold water, scaling 10 foot walls, and of course, wading through thick mud.

Some may think we’re brave for attempting it, others stupid, but the emphasis of Tough Mudder is teamwork.  Yes, there were moments of tiredness, and moments where we questioned our sanity for signing up; but overall, the teamwork throughout, and the sense of achievement on completion was incredible!  The event isn’t timed, and there are no prizes for who finishes first.  The aim of it is to finish together, as a team, just we started.  And we did!  The whole team crossed the finish line together, having worked together throughout, hurling each other over walls, pulling each other out of muddy tunnels, and shouting at each other to keep moving through the icy water!  Greeting us at the finish line was a ‘finisher’ t-shirt, a well-earned beer and a shower (albeit a cold one).

Despite some of the moans along the way, we enjoyed it so much, some of us have signed up for another mud run in October - watch this space!