Tribe ambassador Sasha Cowley is one of the co-founders of RunFitMum, a growing community created to encourage and support mums to get out there and get running. 

As I jumped into chest deep, muddy water for the fifth time and started wading back across the river, I couldn’t help but wonder how I ended up here.  

This was my first Mud Run.  This was “The Brutal,” a race that prides itself on being one of the most “brutal off-road challenges across one of the toughest courses in the country”.  Generally, I am much more of a road runner, when it comes to racing. Yes, I run the trails with my trusty hound, but when it comes to toeing the start line it has always been on tarmac.  After all, it’s a lot easier to chase PBs on the road. But this year I had decided that PBs were not my aim; in 2018 I was going to stretch my running horizons and try new things. So, when one of the girls in RunFitMum suggested a team of us entering The Brutal I couldn’t think of a good reason to say no.  

OCR or Obstacle Course Races is now an official stand-alone sport. There is a world championship and it is estimated that 20 million people across the world compete, in fact there has been talk of trying to make it into an Olympic event.  After my first Mud Run, I can see why it is so popular. It was such good fun! It was not about speed or getting ahead. Instead it was all about helping each other through the many obstacles on the course and enjoying the challenges that the course provided. The whole experience was wet, muddy - and collaborative, which is not something that is always associated with running. After all, running can be a rather lonesome sport -just you and the road, the track or the trail.  There was a lot to be said for helping each other through some of the danker ditches and over some of the higher climbs.

So, am I a convert?  Well, yes I think I am.  I might well be back next year to have another go, but in the meantime I am looking forward to lacing up those nice, clean road shoes and pounding some pavement.