My first one.

The big day was looming and the reality was starting to settle in. I was going to be competing in the European Championships, for the first time. To say I was starting to get nervous would be an understatement. I somehow managed to qualify and I felt like a Sunday runner about to compete in the Olympic Games. 

After commenting on the smooth running traffic in Copenhagen, we ended up getting caught up in a traffic jam, which meant we had very little time to pick up my race number. We got there in the end and after a hectic day of travelling, I was ready to hit the sack!

On Friday the nerves were really kicking in, so I was keen to start the day. We had some breakfast and went for a walk around the arena. I knew it would be hard, but as Lyndsey commented, the obstacles looked like they could have been used in an adult movie or some kind of death chamber!

Have you ever felt like you wanted time to stop and to hurry up at the same time? That's exactly how I felt as my start time crept ever closer. I was keen to get started, but would have also been happy to go home and curl up in bed with a cold pint of beer.

The first wall looked high and quite scary, I was worried I'd fail at the first hurdle...can you imagine? 3..2...1. go...and we were off. I managed to climb the first wall without any hassle, then it was a jump across a beam into water. The XL wall was a bit of a challenge. There were only small grooves to put your feet and I kept slipping. The aim was to get to the top, pull on the rope and over, I got there on my third attempt. 

The floating walls were next, didn't find them too tough, then a dip in the (very cold) water and some running after. The next one was a rope swing, ring to bigger ring, then box bag and beam climb and horizontal jump down. I couldn't do it...tried six times and my arms were close to giving up. I thought this would be the end of my obstacle journey but the next attempt was a successful one.

Onto the next. I had to climb a 45° wall, using only pegs. I didn't think it would be easy, but it wasn't too bad. Then the best part - a slide to cool myself down for a few minutes!

The next was one of the hardest obstacles, low ring to high ring. The obstacle was a big mess, there were loads of runners waiting to get on. I had to wait for 10 minutes, done half of the low rings, but I fell of it. I made my way back to the start, waited another 10 minutes, tried again but the same thing happened. My height didn't help with this one, I had to hang with my arms and catch the next ring with my leg, I kept missing by 5cm but my arms couldn't take it. I decided not to bother attempting it again, as I didn't see how I'd manage and I was mindful that I also had to run tomorrow.

I made the difficult decision to have my band cut and try the other obstacles. The next one was another arm climb. You had to go up on a log, get on rope, cross to the net, then go under the net on the log, and hold with arms on the rope cross last section. I tried twice and fell on the same spot. I crossed most of the obstacles on the remainder of the race, but my arms were gone by this point and I didn't manage to complete them all.

I didn't feel happy at the end of the race. I knew I'd gave it my all by I hadn't trained enough and really wasn't aware of how hard it would be. In the evening, I read about the race on Facebook and top elite athletes were even saying that it wasn't really a balanced obstacle race. It was more like ninja warriors.

The fact that only 6% of athletes managed to complete the course softened the blow a bit for me.

The next day I had the 15km course to contend with. I felt good when I woke up, even with slight pain in my arms. I was ready for battle and more up for it than the previous day. The first 11km were great but we went back to day one rigs again and the dreaded Big Wall! Gripping onto the small holes with my size 13 feet was really hard and I fell down a couple of times. Lyndsey was trying to record me on the obstacles but had to stop a few times, as I was spending more time on the floor than on the obstacle at times! I managed on the 6th attempt, and my arms were completely gone at that point.

After the wall I gave a good attempt to the other obstacles but my arms felt close to falling off and my knee was in pain too. I surprised myself at the number of obstacles I managed to do, even though I didn't feel like doing any. I was happy to finish and proud of myself for competing. Some well deserved food and a cuddle at the end and I was ready for some sleep!

I have loads to take away from my first championship. I know my weak bits and I know what to expect from OCREC. I will be better prepared next time for the ultimate World Championship, and will definitely be saving myself for just one day, not two!

I would never have been able to do this without my supporters and sponsors. 

Biggest thanks go to my orienteering club Stag and Recruit Write. Thanks to Margaret McLaughlin for her donation.

Huge thanks for being there and cheering me on through all course goes to one and only, Lyndsey. Despite the heat and sunburn.