Tag: obstacle

I am a survivor….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 3 Comments

Survival of the Fittest. Done.

It was a great event, well organised and well worth doing. Would you like a list of highlights?

  • Monkey bars are not my strong point – but I did manage the first lot without falling off.
  • Water slide – fully immersed in very manky water – followed by a bit of swimming – very cold.
  • The weeks of basketball at school paid off when you were required to shoot a basket before carrying on – did it first time.
  • Saved a woman's life* when she got her ponytail caught when going under a cargo net.
  • Running up and down the aisles at The City Ground was a nice touch.
  • Even managed the final 'Wall of Fame' without any help.

Medal.

Goody bag had an interesting collection of 'goodies':

Yes you're right….that is Durex Embrace Pleasure Gels!?!?

Now to try to talk some people into the Mizuno Endure24…..

* this is a slight exaggeration

 

I’m back!

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 5 Comments

It has been 102 days since my last blog; that was to celebrate the completion of Juneathon.

It is another running event that has forced me back in the blogosphere.

Survival of the Fittest in Nottingham is a 10k obstacle course that runs through the heart of the city, including a dunking in the river, lots of mud, plenty of climbing and even a 'tour' of the Forest football ground.

After umming and ahhing for a couple of months I finally got round to signing up. So tomorrow I will be heading to Nottingham to join the 1000s attempting to complete the course.

Keep an eye out for me: Wave 10, 12.15pm start.

Bring it on!

 

One week on…

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 4 Comments

One week later and all is forgotten: the bruises have faded and are barely visible; the aches and pains have gone; and even the smell of whatever was at the bottom of the lake is no longer clinging to the skin.

The 20 miles. The 200 obstacles. It all seems like a dream.

It was a great experience. If you are considering taking part in one of the ever increasing selection of alternative runs about, I would recommend the Rat Race Dirty Weekend. It is 'the world's largest assault course', and if you're going to do something stupid you may as well just go for it. There was plenty of crawling, wadding, climbing, jumping, pulling, swimming, pushing, balancing, falling, swinging, as well as quite a bit of running. You can sign up for 2015 now.

Next up: Men's Health Survival of the Fittest at Nottingham in October. But more importantly, it's only a couple of weeks until Juneathon. Oh. My. God.

 

Saturday run…complete with obstacles…

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 6 Comments

Yesterday's run, with next Saturday's Rat Race in mind, was a leisurely jog around the woods. Although I was very aware of the impending 200 obstacles that are approaching very fast. In fact, they are approaching faster than the need to get out of the front room when the new episode of A Game of Thrones is on when you are still plowing through the first season. 200 obstacles!? I feel I need to say that again: 200 obstacles. All in the space of 20 miles. Yes, 20 miles. Let me just recap: 200 obstacles, 20 miles. So with that in mind I attempted to throw in a few obstacles into my 'leisurely jog'.

First up, a fallen tree across the path, not exactly an 'obstacle' in the whole Rat Race sense of an obstacle, but an obstacle all the same….

My second obstacle was unplanned. Picking up speed downhill through a particularly overgrown path I got snagged on some rather aggressive brambles. Resulting in me performing a 360 deg pirouette whilst trying to avoid getting pulled into said brambles.

Third obstacle: a run of fallen trees. Please note the dangerous looking spikes, making this a life or death obstacle…

Next up was the biggest test to date: a log stack. You could argue that it actually isn't a 'stack', although the forestry commission sign located close by stated: 'Do not climb on the log stacks'. Suffice to say I did climb on the log stack, nearly breaking both ankles in the process. PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS.

The final obstacle of the run was a dangerous over hanging branch that required me to slightly duck under. Done.

So, five 'massive' obstacles completed during the 5 mile run. I'm ready!

 

One month to go….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 2 Comments

That can't be right! Can it? This time next month I will be going to bed safe in the knowledge that in the morning I will be participating in the Rat Race Dirty Weekend in Stamford. Just to confirm it is not some sort of mass sordid swingers weekend or a weekend trapping rats or even a sensible run in the country. It is in fact the “largest assault course on Earth”. 20 miles. 200 obstacles.

 

I'll be the first to admit that the training is not going amazingly well. I ran a half-marathon a few weeks ago, and done plenty of 30 min runs around the woods. I even joined a gym in an attempt to shake up the training a bit. But 200 obstacles!? So on the run home from the gym today I took the opportunity to attempt the mother of all obstacles….

As I approached the pipe that spanned the treacherous fast flowing dyke I was feeling somewhat apprehensive, I was sweating more than the 15min hill reps I'd just completed at the gym and even more than Ted Striker….

I was getting closer and closer. My heartbeat was increasing. In my head I was trying to work out what to do if I fell in. The walk home covered from head to foot in scummy, manky dyke water was not worth thinking about. I'd decided that if I did loss my balance I would dive to safety into the nettles, the idea of being covered in nettle rash must outweigh the risk of botulism. So, a plan was in place, if it came to it I would dive to safety…

I went for it…..

Suffice to say: I survived. I'm ready!

 

Only 68 days….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 4 Comments

….until the Rat Race Dirty Weekend at Burghley House in Stamford. Just to remind you, actually it may be just to remind myself: 20 miles. 200 obstacles. You did indeed read that right. 20 miles. 200 obstacles. Apparently, “It's bigger, bolder and badder than ever!” I think the time has come to put in a bit extra work.

Since Janathon I've been taking it a bit easy. Completed about a dozen runs, the longest around 10 miles. So with the spectre of the Rat Race Dirty Weekend on the horizon, plus the Newton's Fraction Half-Marathon just round the corner, tonight's run was to include obstacles. When I say obstacles, I actually mean just one obstacle. It may not look like much, but it's an obstacle all the same…

You may look at it and say: call that an obstacle? Granted, it is only 2 feet high, and when I approached it for the first time I sailed over it like a salmon swimming upstream on it's impossibly long migration to its spawning grounds. However, after 4 miles of trail running through the woods at a pretty brisk pace, when I reached it for the second time, it looked more like this….

Suffice to say I cleared it. I'm ready.