Lake Stupidity

The Pain Barrier race was yesterday and to be fair it did exactly what it said on the tin. It bloody well hurt.

I have raced in all sorts of conditions: extreme heat , extreme sleat, I have raced over 24 hours. This was a whole new level of hurt.

To be fair it was only 10k but I wasn't really factoring a few days of sub zero tempereatures in the run up to the race just to make those water events all that more challenging!

The first two miles were fine, and by fine I mean we were only running in mud up to mid calf and I only had to scale about four ravines ( am pathologically terrified of heights.. oh and did I mention the friend who was meant to be there with me had pulled out injured so I was alone) . I then uttered the stupid words " It's not as bad as I thought" and then it all went tits up or rather up to my tits.. ice cold water

This little water event was called the pool of punishment and the men were fannying around deciding how to get in so I just had to jump and go for it. What this photo doesn't show is the ice that I had had to break to get to this point. Yes break. With my hands. On my own.

What it also doesn't show is the fact that it was an event full of camaraderie and support and everyone was brilliant at helping people who were scared, stuck, fallen.

My low point was soon after this as my injured friend was dashing round getting all the photos of me and I couldn't even find the swear words to tell him how cold I was. I was shutting down and my hands were in agony. It was all about stamina and all I could think of waas that saying " When you are in hell, keep going " ( To be honest as little of hell's warmth would have been a blessing and I would gladly have sold my soul to the devil by that stage)

Somehow, somehow I managed to smile and laugh the whole way round ( hysteria I think they call it) and half a mile before the end I paired up with a bloke and we managed to pick up our pace and run decently towards the end.

An amazing day but a massive shock to the system. It's all character building though and the best bit was that when it came to sliding or leaping down the steep hills I just did it despite my fears.

My mate Stephen took an amazing set of photos
here and he was brilliant at providing hot water, sponges and coffee for me at the end. I couldn't have done it without him.

As for my clothes they are on their second wash now, had borrowed a couple of tops from Mr D.. I think I may have to dab over the mud stains with some tippex and hope he doesn't notice!!

Stupid. Great. Painful. Exhilerating.
xx