Event 3 - Autumn Wolf Run, Pippingford Park

1st lake swim complete!

What an incredible experience this was! Thanks to the amazing ladies that joined me on what was an extremely mentally challenging event. Rachel, Ash, Sarah, Nat, Sonia, Zingy, Nikki, Naomi, Debbie - you’re all my heros.

In the lead up to the challenge one of my fellow team mates circulated this message on our whatsapp group and I thought it was a joke. I'd signed up to a 10km wildrun with obstacles. Not in a million years did I expect this warning:

"You should be a strong swimmer to complete the lake swim during the Wolf Run - it looks a short distance but is very cold indeed and you need to be a strong swimmer to complete it". 

I honestly had no idea there were lake swims. Note to self..."I must check out these events in much more detail before entering". Its one thing knowing you're in for a lake swim (Southwater Relays) in a wetsuit and quite another doing one without one when the weather is colder.

My biggest worry for this challenge was the cold and this swim information certainly didn't ease the nerves. The weather has really cooled off since the summer and we've seen temperatures drop to the single figures with lake water temperatures dropping rapidly at night so I knew the water would be freezing.

There was such a buzz on the day, the sun was shining and everyone was in great spirits. Loads of the entrants were clearly seasoned Wolf Runners donned in their wolf run t-shirts, I had to complete this course to get mine! The team were all quite nervous before the start as we didn't really know what to expect or how hard the course might be. The music was pumping and the claxon sounded and off we went.....And therein began the hilarity which didn't stop the entire way round the course. From people getting stuck in mud and almost loosing their shoes in thigh deep water to getting stuck at the top of obstacles. We all seemed to be quite good at climbing up and not so good at getting down. One leg up from Nat on one of the obstacles and Zingy got herself in such a compromising position that one of the marshalls sprinted over to help but was laughing so much it took a while to "free" her! And I lost count of the number of times we all either skidded into the streams and lakes unintentionally or slide back in when trying to climb out. There is absolutely no graceful way of completing Wolf Run. We held hands, we hugged each other, we hauled each other out the trenches one pulling at one end and another pushing 'ergh 'em the derrière end. We grimaced at the feeling of the squelching knee height mud invisible below chest high water, laughed till our sides hurt, "ouched" falling over hidden tree roots and "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, hey'd" for 10 long long km. What I haven't yet told you is that there is not one flat section on the whole $%&^ Wolf Run course. Hills are my nemesis. Talk about facing one's fears, I've never conquered so much gradient in an afternoon in my life (and that's coming an ex Maths teacher)! We started the challenge talking about the big hill at the beginning, little did we know this is what we'd be in for the whole way through.

At around 7km I was thinking “ there’s no way I can keep doing this”, “I can’t dunk myself in freezing cold water and mud even one more time or climb another hill” and yet this just kept on happening for another 3km.

At 5km I was going strong and feeling pretty good, at 7km my brain was telling my body things were really starting to hurt and by 9km there was no room for wasting energy worrying! And that's the beauty of Wolf Run, and why we all loved it. It just breaks you down to nothing but you and the wilderness, physical exertion and team camaraderie, we were in this together and we were leaving no one behind! We pushed the boundaries and faced fears. Before the run most of us would have said "I wouldn't be able to do that" and by the end we'd only gone and done it! Huge sense of achievement all round. 

2nd lake swim over

To actually be able to post any footage at all is a miracle because I lost my phone at the bottom of the mud pool on the last obstacle and my mobile isn’t waterproof but somehow it survived, as did we…..just! I didn’t time this event….lets just say at around 3 hrs in we were still going strong. The cuts, bruises and aching limbs the next day, even from the seasoned runners, is a testament to how strong we were as a team – I didn’t hear even one moan from anyone, even Naomi who at around 7km badly twisted her knee just kept soldiering on. So as much as this event was gruelling, difficult and downright disgusting, I'd do it again and next time in my well earned Wolf Run t-shirt 💓😻💕 #girlpower #womenaresostrong #lovehaterelationshipwithmud #wolfrunweloveyou

The next event is Event 4 – RISE 8km Undercliff Run for Women in Saltdean on Sunday 14^th October 2018. I know many of you are already signed up for this one, see you there x x x

PS If you are still reading this and feel inspired, please do join me on one of the challenges. Raquel's 40 Race Challenge is about so many things including making personal connections and getting out there and exercising which is so important for your mental health. You can follow my 40 race challenge on Facebook too.

I'd really appreciate any and all support in the form of donations to my charity Grassroots. Just click this link to my justgiving fundraising page to donate. Do you regularly donate to charity? If so please consider this fantastic charity. If you've been meaning to donate and haven't done so yet, please consider doing that now. Now is as good a time as any!

Klaire is always in my heart and the reason I am doing all this crazy stuff, so that people at risk of suicide may have the support they need in our society whether that be from highly trained specialists or from someone just like you and me having the courage to use safeTALK. Charities such as Grassroots rely on these donations to keep providing life saving training. Please donate generously x