Course map and training update!

Hello Hello!

Hell and Back have put up the course map today on their Facebook to let us see what they have in store for us! Let's have a gander shall we! 

The first thing that immediately hit me was the fact that it is actually 12km, and not 10km like the previous race! I don't know whether this was kept secret intentionally or what but I think that extra 2km will definitely throw a few people! I wouldn't worry about it too much though, end of the day if you can run/walk 10km, you can do 12km! 

We have some of the same obstacles as the Hell and Back Trojan such as the Hurdles of Hell, the Barbed Wire Crawl, Ten Foot Tessie and the Shock of Horrors! That's a very small percentage overall and everything else seems to be new! A lot of them are very ambiguously named so I guess we'll just have to wait till the day to see what terror they bring forth! I'm most excited for the Ski Jump, I'm assuming it will entail ropes of some kind, climbing and from the looks of the little diagram sliding, wee! Although that's probably a little man screaming for dear life while he falls to his death, but I shall remain optimistic! I am dreading the ice baths, christ, that is pretty much my worst nightmare. But like I said in my last post, I hope to wear a lot less clothes so maybe this time round I won't feel as cold cos my clothes won't stick to me as much! Being drenched in cold water makes running really, really hard.

I noticed a bit of controversy on the Hell and Back Facebook page when the picture to the right was put up! Apparently there will be 50 rats in the "Rat Tunnel"! Now, at first I didn't really believe it, and thought it was a very clever scare tactic but now I'm not so sure. People are having hissy fits over the welfare of the rats and so on, which I understand. I really like rats, my friend has three in her room, she's kind of weird though. Anyway, I hope people would understand that the organisers know what they're doing and the last thing they'd want is an animal welfare crisis on their hands so if there are rats, I would imagine they'll actually be enclosed in cages or something and we're merely brushing by them. I guarantee that they won't be roaming free, that's just not gonna happen, I will eat my hat if I'm wrong! I am never wrong, I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken. 

Quick update on my training! Honestly, with college ending, trying to complete my final year assignments and having to move out of my apartment in Dublin and move home, routine has definitely not been in my life in the past few months and it took a big toll on my fitness routine. I'm now stuck in the limbo that is being a graduate straight out of college and I have absolutely no clue what to do next. But hey, if you have a job you might wanna give me please do not hesitate to get in touch! I'm real good at everything, I swear.

Me and my pal, bike, out on an adventure today

I was supposed to run the women's mini-marathon (it's not a mini-marathon, it's a 10km, this really bugs me... but that's another story for another day...) this week but unfortunately my knees weren't great and I didn't want to risk further injury before this race coming up so I chose to not run it. Also, the idea of being surrounded by upwards of 50,000 women is not high up on my list of things I want to do. Thankfully the knees feel better but I'm still a bit wary, went out with the intention of doing a 10km last week and it honestly felt like I was on the 90th kilometre of a 100km. Was.Not.Good. I feel I've lost my love of running lately which is sad because I am so passionate about it. It's been hard work lately and I'm not feeling the way I used to before, during or after a run and I have no idea why. My legs feel heavy all the time and it's just a lot more effort than I remember. But, with all this considering, I've still kept up running and I've been trying to get in as many weight sessions as I can! I've joined a new gym at home and I have been going for the last week. I haven't trained as well as I would have liked to up to this point but there's still a bit of time left! The weather has been so unreal lately so I've been going out on long 30km plus cycles which has been great! I've been doing some 5kms here and there and plan on a 15km at the weekend which will more than likely be my last long run before the race itself! 

I hope you're all training hard and that your nerves are wrecked with all the suspense of not knowing what to expect!