Pretty Muddy Race For Life Done & Dusted

Well I am feeling overwhelmingly proud of my little self I never thought I could do it BUT I have & it feels GREAT!!! It was all in memory of my partners mam Judith Anne Norton who sadly passed away from cancer back in 2005.

Arriving at the Pretty Muddy Race For Life course at Temple Newsam was so exciting, I didn't realise just how big the place actually was! I felt like a child at a fun fair I know that sounds silly being 31 years of age, I don't know if it was because I knew I was doing something for a good cause or just simply excitement but either way It was fun. Their was a donation station for unwanted cloths & obviously I had a bag with me so that was the first place I ran to after getting out of the minibus, I ran to catch up with everyone else & headed down the field where the crowds of people where also heading so it looked like the right direction. The local radio station was at the event (96.3 Radio Aire) & The Pink Lady Gang giving away FREE Pink Lady Apples, their was a merchandise stall where I was able to pick up some wrist sweat bands, burger vans where I had to get a bacon butty as I was starving even though I'd eaten breakfast before leaving, face painting which we headed straight to for a little colour, coffee vans & loads more including PINK as far as the eye could see!

  10:15 AM finally arrived so we headed over to the radio DJ area to be given the low down & see the arrival of the first set of ladies returning covered in mud looking rather tired, everyone started cheering & clapping for them it was a strange feeling even though it wasn't me returning back or anyone I knew I still felt proud for each & every one of the returning ladies. Then 10:25 AM came so we moved over to the start line with everyone else running in our group to do a quick warm up & with that done the count down began so off we went over the start line not knowing what kind of muddy fun was ahead???

I was already tired after running just a few yards to battle my way out of the crowds of pink ladies some dressed in wedding dresses (I dread the thought) some in tutu's others pj's all in the name of kicking cancers backside. The first obstacle was 5 mega large inflatable logs is the best way to describe them, now I'm only 5ft in height so not the tallest person in the world & the logs must have been about 3-4ft in height so as you can imagine I struggled cocking my leg over the first one after 6 attempts later & my loving sister wetting her self laughing at me I finally managed to get over it only to almost go flat on my face, after that I mastered the rest of them! This was then followed by what seemed a 100 mile run along a road & field which lead us to a maze of wires we had to climb through, under, over which ever way possible helping our fellow racer. Now this one I did in record time being small had it's advantages slipping down the left hand side, my friend Gemma however decided to crawl under the lot setting off a trend with all the other racers as we turned round after completing that obstacle all we could see was ladies crawling in the mud (Gemma feeling very pleased with her self). Again followed by what felt like another 100 miles totally wasn't like but my god felt that way!

I saw the 1K sign & that was brilliant I couldn't believe I had already got that far without stopping. My sister kept waiting for me now considering she is in her 40's & me early 30's I'm sure that should have been the opposite way round, anyway I was doing better than I expected. A large muddy bath approached leaving my trainers soaking in muddy water (oh so nice), followed by a crawl under the nets at this point my hat fell off so my plan to keep the rain from my face & stay remotely clean completely went out of the window. Again my sister & two friends Gemma & Jane was stood waiting for me cheering me on giving me loads of well needed encouragement whilst I set about the second crawl under the nets. Back to running this time not so far just insight was another two obstacles in the shape of tunnel tubing, I did suggest sliding head first on my belly but thought better of it so a quick hands & knees shuffle & away I went back to the good old running. By this point I was barley able to speak Jane's great advise of breathing in through my nose & holding it before letting it out seemed to be helping at this point although she was still laughing at me (being Mrs Motivator she was in fab shape)!

I must have passed the 2K sign somewhere which was a good feeling knowing I was on the last leg of the race gave me that boost of energy I needed as I think I was starting to see a brick wall in my head the brick wall of "OH MY GOD I'M DYING & NEED A REST"!!! Anyway the next BIG thing was the cargo net a blast up that & I say blast that was my fastest obstacle I mastered it no problem but again another run all this running was unreal & so tiring, I could still hear the sounds of the other racers cheering everyone on as they climbed the cargo net which made me smile oh & the photographers (it would have been rude not to have a little poss for them). running through 2 sets of tyres & shouting at the top of my lungs "KNEES UP, KNEES UP" made a few giggle & wonder what the heck I was doing but it was fun then for the last run I could see the start line which only meant one thing the finish line was near, another group of ladies all doing a warm up & another all having a prep talk with the radio station DJ just as we did. So I thought I would give it my all & try to speed up a little more as I didn't want my beautiful babies seeing me crawling through the finish line or my loving partner as this was all in memory of his mam Judith Anne Norton so I wanted them all seeing me fighting strong with a smile on my face no matter how tired I was so that's what I did.

The last obstacle another cargo net so up I flew not realising that a slide only was on the other side so swinging my self over face first I went down it just spinning round before hitting the bottom landing in the pool of lovely muddy water, I climbed out & ran as fast as I could up the grass hill seeing Jane crossing the finish line first, I was looking out for my little family & they everyone was My David, Jack, Daisy & Poppy all waiting to see me cross the finish. That feeling of unbelievable achievement & accomplishment just filled my body, I never expected to be able to complete the race but I did & I couldn't have done it without my sister Karen & two friends Gemma & Jane so for that I am truly grateful! (It took everything I had to do the race so a well earned lay on the grass was in order).

My selfie with my PRETTY MUDDY RACE FOR LIFE medal all in memory of Judith Anne Norton raising awareness for Cancer Research - Saturday 28th June 2014 at Temple Newsam Leeds.

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