The gathering.

Here we go. It's 1st April been suspicious all day on social media and life around myself. I headed to Knockhill race track for the gathering - it's a night obstacle course. This was my first night OCR, which made me feel a bit nervous. I arrived at place and it was still sunny (rare thing in Scotland). I got myself registered and was ready to go.
At the start, it was still quite bright, so I didn't need to use my torch. We had a small warm up and we set off. One guy was sprinting straight away and I was like ‘no I'm going with you, can't be that you will run like that all course.’ We ran on quite good road - no mud yet. We had first obstacle, we crossed it very fast and then we had long mud run through woods - it was fun. Came out of wood first cross another obstacle and we had good run on nice road. We were running together quite fast. Then we jumped up a wall and then stopped there. We didn’t know where we needed to run? Stood there like two sheep looking at arrow and wondering where we needed to go. Then we worked out right direction and headed there. We had a bit more mud and off we go in ditch. It looked like the ditch wasn’t deep but we were very wrong. We made our way down to get ourselves out of ditch and we head for tires, cross them and some bog run then thru the culvert and up the hill jumping over mud pits. Then we crossed tires heap. We ran again, then a rope swing, followed by a bog run up the hill. We get told to head for a bridge we done that and then again turn on sheep mode - do we need to cross it or run past it? We thought OK let's cross it and we were right. Then we had a big run all the way we was thinking are we going right way. Then my running buddy seen some spot lights in distance and was like ‘let's just head for them.’ We were quite happy to find out we are going the right way we cross the road and jump in ditch. Then we had long run in bog. When we got out of the woods, we run in ditch for a bit then up the hill in knee deep pond and up the hill in ditch. That was one muddy ditch and we got out of ditch and ran straight down the hill. Then there was a bit of crawling and muddier running. We crossed net wall and then we hit net. It's seems nothing serious but at this point I understood my torch battery will get caught in the net. And I was so right; I was fighting with the net and I kept getting stuck. My running buddy got through it quite easy. And I knew that the finish is just around corner but I'm still stuck in this net. Finally got out of net and see run is over - I can't catch him anymore. Finished really easy get through tire tunnel over two walls and closed finish line. I would be much happier if I would lose in finish sprint, not in this way. Oh well we sometimes make wrong choices of gear we use what we using. All and all was good fun nice company for all race. Will be cleverer next time, well I hope so

P.S. Big thanks to organisers and all marshals it was cracking night out.

P.S P.S I'm not a rich guy but really enthusiastic runner. I qualified for world champs. And I'm now trying to save up for it. You can help me by donating here Thanks!

The Nuts challenge.

      Two weeks ago, I went down to London for The Nuts Challenge. As this was my First Nuts Challenge, I didn’t really know what to expect. All I knew was that it would be cold, hard and well….cold! On the morning of the race, when I made my way from London to Gatwick Airport, the weather was really bad; rain was pouring down and it was also quite windy. I didn’t really feel like I wanted to run.

       I arrived at the location and there was a lot of mud to wade through, which made it difficult to get around the area. I registered for the race and went to the changing tent. I found a spot which was a little less muddy. I then went to the briefing, where we were given instructions for the race. I didn’t want to wander around, so went with the first wave.

       The race started with some muddy fields and then some ditch crossing. This was followed by mud pits, which were good fun! I crossed some tires heap and found myself in the lead from my wave. The next part was the OCR gym fun crossed truck trailer, swing tires, container and wall – then container again. After the second container, I messed up a bit – should have turned, but went straight instead. As soon as I realised I was going the wrong way, I turned back. I finished my OCR gym visit with climbing tires and rolling down the net. The next part involved running down the river. It was good, but from time to time, we had to jump out and back again. River bit finished with climbing barrel tunnel. Then was up the net down the pole, rope swing and more mud pits.

       Next up was some more running on muddy tracks. We arrived at the next obstacles, where you had to jump over planks. It sounds like nothing special, but it makes a big difference when planks are 1.5m of the ground! My height came in handy for this and I crossed fairly easily.

        A rope climb and more running, crossing some small obstacles and then a sand bag which we had to carry up a hill. The sand bag was quite light but it was quite steep hill and of course muddy, which made it more challenging. Then more running on muddy tracks. I started thinking this would be fairly easy to finish, but then the race only really began when we got to the first water obstacle! I crossed the first one, but then there was another….and another. It was harder than I thought! The tire carry was easy, but slippy. The water slide was fun, but cold as hell! Then…you guessed it, more water!

We crossed the pond twice and then headed for finish area. The first lap was done, so I had energy gel and energy drink. I was keen to get started again, so didn't want to stay at pit stop for long. At the start of the second lap, I was already thinking about the water obstacle. All other ones were fine. Second lap went very well apart from the monkey bars where I slipped and fell down. Mistake was to use sand on gloves. Done penalty loop and carried on with race. After second time crossing the water, I realised it was really hard to warm up.

         

At pit stop I had energy gel, packet of crisps and an energy drink. I changed my clothes as well and I felt that it really invigorated me, so I was happy to get going again. The running was easy because I knew I was doing it for the last time. Even the water didn't feel that bad! I finished quite strongly. At end I was checking the time and wanted to finish under 4h but didn't manage it. After I finished, I got a hot drink and just wanted to get out of my wet clothes as quickly as possible.

While I struggled to get of my wet clothes, I heard top 3 of 3 laps and there was a big surprise; I was in first place! I didn't expect that. I made my way back to London and treated myself to a good dinner. I was tired but still wanted to enjoy my wee victory! Overall, I didn’t think the race wasn't hard but water made it really challenging. My best tip would be to change clothes, as that really helped me to keep going. All and all, it was good fun and a really challenging race. Now my aim is to look at bigger and more challenging races.