We arrived at the army barracks and were surrounded by seriously hot men! This event was an excuse for all the buff army men to wander around with no top on. My friend and I weren't complaining, at first, but then it suddenly dawned on us just how 'physically' fit everyone was. This wasn't your average event where you have an entire spectram of abilities, this was seemingly for fit people only.
As we tied on our electronic tags and waited at the start line, we could see in the distance people being taken out by two Spartans with huge cotton buds. Not sure what they are actally called, I think the programme Gladiators called them duelling sticks. As hunky topless men crossed the finish line, even they look shattered. They were also covered in mud and scratches, were saoking wet and lots were bleeding. I was getting nervous.
But, before I knew it we'd started, and as I ran round the first corner I was soaked from head to foot by a firemans hose pumping water from the lake. The soggy shoe drama had begun. Soggy shoes = horrible blisters by the way!
The first obstacle didn't seem too bad. Grab a tyre and run up and down some sand dunes. The next was crawling under some netting. I can do crawling. And I think the boys behind me and my friend Lisa enjoyed the view. Then we ran. And ran. And ran. We saw a sign for 3k and thought 'blimey we're over half way'. It was clearly not a sign for this event. We ran a bit more, just to reach chin up bars. Seriously, I knew before I even held on to that bar that I was NEVER going to be able to lift myself. I weigh 11 stone. I'd have arms the size of my head if I was able to lift my body weight. I didn't even really go through the embarressment of trying. I took my punishment instead. 30 burpies. Oh how I wish I could do just 2 chin ups. It would have been so much easier, and quicker!
Then we ran some more. The first half of the event was pretty much running the whole way. A few balance beams here and there. A rope climb, that again I don't have the upper body strength to do, and a few wooden walls that we had to climb over. Plus it was very hilly. Clearly artifically hilly. Cambridge is a very flat place. I was very proud of my ability to run up the hills.
Thankfully the best part was yet to come. We crossed a road into some woodland and I guess you could say the fun began. We had to climb over a tall cargo net wall. Which I was amazingly wimpy at. I hate the thought of falling from somewhere where there is nothing to catch me. My friend was brilliant all the way through the event. She should be a motivation coach or something because she kept me going. Then came the mud and the barb wire. Now the scratches and blood made sense. We took our time crawling under the wire. It went on for what seemed like ages and we were filthy! We then had to jump into a stream and wade through until we reached a tunnel. We crawled through this tunnel in the pitch black and for 100m apparently. You had to pretty much hold on to the person in front of you, a topless man in my case.
There was still a lot of running in the second part of the course but it seemed to be broken up a lot more with obstacles. Lifting sandbags, carrying buckets of rocks through a compound, throwing spears, swimming through a lake, crawling through an ice filled pit, jumping over fire and climbing up a steep greased up wall. This is where my beautiful bruises came from. I'd reach the top, lose my footing and come tumbling back down. We gave up in the end and ran around it. The final obstacle was the lovely Spartans. I don't think they were as tough on the girls as they were on the blokes. I was pretty grateful for that by this point.
We crossed the line in 1 hour and 24 minutes. It was hard, but so much fun! Plus there was a shandy waiting for me at the finish line. We're definitely going to do it again next year. I'm determined to get fit and work on my strength so I can do a much better time. But for my first time running over a couple of miles, I was pretty pleased with myself.
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