We definitely got PRETTY MUDDY!

My friend Jo has had a dramatic change around in the past year (more on her story next week), and I’m so proud of her. I was thrilled when she agreed to do the Race for Life Pretty Muddy 5K this weekend, and she’s been training for the past few weeks using the Kiqplan training app. Unfortunately she’s been suffering with a stomach virus that’s been going around, so she wasn’t in tip top condition on the starting line.

We arrived in Finsbury Park about 11.30 for our 12 o clock wave, used the cleanest of porta-loos and got into our wave warm up. We were surrounded by a whole group of enthusiastic ladies, a lot of them racing 5K for the first time.

We set off at a great pace to the first of 9 obstacles, some very fetching pink tyres. I am actually really bad at the tyres, clearly my co-ordination is terrible!

Next up was a set of tunnels that were covered in mud inside to get us messy.

Luckily not all of the obstacles were muddy on the course, these were my favourite to watch Jo jump over! Unlike other obstacle course races I’ve done, there weren’t queues at each of the obstacles which was great.

After this rope climb, Jo started to feel a bit light headed. It was quite warm, and they didn’t have water along the course- seeing as Jo didn’t have a lot of fuelling during the week, we decided it was probably a good idea to walk up the hill before jogging slowly again.

My least favourite obstacle was a rope net over a muddy pit, the net was sodden and would slap down on our backs. It was not pleasant. The second to last obstacle was the muddiest, with volunteers throwing buckets of cold water and mud over us as we ducked beneath ropes in a muddy paddling pool.

Loved the last slide obstacle!

Finished- smiling, muddy and smelly.

Without showers to clean off, we poured water over us and changed clothes. Unfortunately I hadn’t brought a big towel to protect myself when I changed my leggings- it was slightly embarrassing in a park full of people but I had to get my muddy, wet clothes off as quickly as possible, even if it meant some awkward flashing.

Since we didn’t run the whole 5K, Jo is keen for a redemption run, so it seemed perfect when we discovered that Race for Life is hosting another Pretty Muddy 5K in Hammersmith in September. I don’t think they’ve released more info on it yet, but keep an eye out on the Race for Life website for entries etc.

As part of my ambassador role with Kiqplan I received complimentary entry to Race for Life Pretty Muddy 5K.