We are a small company, of five, so when the youngest and newest member of the team, Sarah, asked me if I would be up for doing the infamous obstacle race, Tough Mudder, of course I said yes.
Franc, our tech director, jumped on board and we officially had a team. And a team name; A Flock Of Goons (apt). Every time I see our team name, I hear the eighties’ anthem, A Flock of Seagulls’ ‘I Ran’ …. “and I raaaaaan, I ran so far awaaaaaaay”. And run we will; it is a 16km assault course. The furthest I usually run is for a bus. And in most cases, to be honest, I am more than happy to wait for the next one.
So it’s on September 22. That’s 89 days for three of us to get match fit. We are all gym regulars so have a certain level of fitness to begin with. I also have a certain level of love for margaritas. I also know with absolute certainty that my longest run in the last year has been 5kms, and that was only once. I have never in my life ran any further than 10.5kms and although not exactly enjoyable, I did love the challenge.
We will start lunch time running as a team, as soon as summer arrives (ha! we’ll never make it at this rate) and I am really looking forward to seeing our improvements (God willing) in the times, and distances, as we progress towards the race.
This morning, fired up with energy and raring to get training in earnest, I decided to run to breakfast. I jogged the 2.3kms in 19 minutes, rewarding myself with an oat milk flat white at the destination, whilst mentally playing D:Ream’s “Things can only get better” in my head (“Thiiiiings, can only get betterrrrr”).
Tough Mudder training has officially started.