Juneathon day 14: Wolf Run! Did I mention it was muddy?

Written Jun 15, 2014, tagged under post,running,wild running,wild training,wolf run

What a lovely day! Our local exercise group had fielded a team of 7 to have a go at Wolf Run. In case you haven't come across this before, it is a 10k challenge which entails crossing various kinds of obstacles and traversing lots of muddy terrain. There are an increasing number of these events, such as Tough Mudder, the Chiltern Warrior and so on, if you are so inclined!

I didn't really know quite what to expect, but had been given a few hints in terms of what to bring along. Some of our number had done Tough Mudder last year, so had rather more idea of the sort of experience we were to endure, and three had also participated in Winter Wolf at the same venue, so had more specific knowledge!

Our timings were a little tight for getting there in time, but everything worked out fine, helped by a stroke of luck on the travel front. Rather than read the directions, we just put the postcode into the satnav and set off. We had an amazingly clear run, but started to get worried when the satnav announced we had reached our destination without there being anyone else there! As quickly became apparent, we had been delivered to another gate, and a few hundred yards up the road we then saw the huge queue we ought to have been stuck in! From our position, though, we were able to head directly into the car park...

The registration was incredibly efficient, and we were all sorted within about a minute of getting to the tent. Then we just had an hour or so to stand around and wish we had an earlier start time! Our time arrived, though, at which point we were shepherded into a pen for a 10 minute warm-up, directed by some very enthusiastic trainers. Then, without great ceremony we counted down and were off!

We started off wading through chest-high water before charging into a muddy woods. As it turned out, this pretty well set the right expectations for the whole course! For the next two or so hours, we waded through mud up to our chests, climbed over/under/through obstacles, slid up/down dips, ran across fields, ... and so on.

Being about half the distance of Tough Mudder, it was quite a lot more manageable: most people who are reasonably fit could make a good stab at it. I'm informed that it was a lot muddier, though!

In terms of kit, I agonised for a few days over shoes but ended up just using my old and rather worn trainers: I needn't have worried so much. As it turns out, once you have an inch-thick layer of mud stuck to the bottom of your trainers, the tread pattern is largely irrelevant! The most important thing with shoes for this event is to make sure they are laced up securely. When your shoes are 3 feet down in a thick, muddy bog, knobbly rubber protuberances don't count as much as simply staying attached to your feet!

Anyway, much fun was had by all, etc, and there is quite some talk about doing it again next year. Anyone interested?

There's lots more I could say, but that will need to be left for another time as it's getting late. Instead, here are a few more pics, which all link to an album on Flickr, containing some pictures captured on the day by Holger.