You may well be wondering what right a humble Meerkat has to writing a blog, well I shall explain. Last week my life was very carefree and easy. I live with Chris and Maria (who does not like me) and spent my time in their spare room reading and surfing the internet.
Chris (my friend) enjoys doing crazy off-road trail runs with his other friends. Often this involves him leaving to drive somewhere very early on a Sunday morning and returning muddy and tired on a Sunday afternoon. That and another medal being hung around a 3 chimney'd Bunsen burner in the room where I live. However one of Chris' other friends (who shall remain nameless Nick Simmons) dropped out and could not make the Grim Challenge run for last Sunday!
Now just to be very clear, I am not a runner! At least not a distance runner. The most running I do is if I have had too much to drink and need to run to the bathroom, or if the postman is about to put one of those little red 'sorry you weren't in' notes though the door. Seriously who delivers parcels to people WHO HAVE JOBS in the middle of the day WHEN THEY ARE AT THEIR JOBS and expects them to be in? Royal Mail sort it out!
Anyways, no one else could go on the Grim and Chris promised to run with me throughout the 8 mile course and so I agreed to run. I was however asked to wear a ridiculous outfit to make me look like some Meerkat from the telly. I do not watch telly so I agreed. Though I felt silly dressing up!
I must admit I was very nervous and could not eat much at breakfast on the day of the race, however I managed to get my race number on without help!
Here is me failing to eat much before the day. I have my race number on all ready though, be prepared and all that!
Anyways after breakfast we got all strapped in and comfortable for the drive from Maidstone to Aldershot. We seemed to leave far to early but apparently this it to avoid something called 'traffic' and to allow us to stop off at 'sevices'. These things are all bizarre to me.
Here I am ready to go with Geoff in the car! Notice how tense and worried I look.
As apparently is traditional we stopped off for a cheeky coffee on the way. I really like coffee but didn't want to get out the car (nerves) so I stayed with the car as my legs felt like jelly. The guys did bring me a coffee though which helped to start to settle me down. 8 miles was seeming a long way at this point and I was seriously scared as to what I had let myself in for. However the joking in the car and the coffee started to help me calm down and relax a bit.
Here I am enjoying my coffee and feeling a little more relaxed.
At the service station the guys met the BIGGEST FIBBER IN THE WORLD. A man who claimed the Grim was BORING, EASY and NOT HARD AT ALL. He apparently went on to say how disappointed he was with the course and that it was very fast and flat.
This man was talking RUBBISH, the Grim was none of those things. This upset me a lot because when I arrived I was expecting a fairly easy jaunt around the fields and a splash through some small puddles.
Look at the race photos below for proof of how difficult it was.
Notice how tough the course is but how much fun I am having. Chris is loving it as well but I think he was trying to pretend to be having more fun in order to keep me going!
The course had steep uphills and downhills, lots and lots of mud, at least a swimming pools worth of water and lots of varied ground (trail/sand/mud). In fact there was so much to focus on with the running the distance seemed to go really quickly. In fact this is the part that surprised me the most. I was expecting the run to feel like almost all of my life condensed into one long moment of pain. The opposite seemed to be true, yes there were parts that hurt and at the time there were moments where I was wondering what a slightly portly, unfit and ill prepared Meerkat was doing running with humans in an event like this. Those thoughts though were very few and far between and actually I spent most of my time smiling at the crowds and laughing with Chris as we plodded our way around the course. If you don't believe me, look again at the photos and look how happy I am!
The best things about the Grim for me can be broken down like this:
- I had no idea what I was getting myself in for, the feeling of not knowing really added a sense of adventure to the race. That made the day a great break from the norm.
- Everyone was really friendly. especially the crowds who were cheering for me to continue (I think they knew I needed the support to keep going). Thank you crowds!
- The course was so different and interesting, one moment you are running up a steep hill and the next you are waist deep in water, it kept you on your toes.
- The course was really challenging (unlike what the GIANT FIBBER SAID) which meant that when I finished I had a massive sense of achievement. I have since been out for a couple of smaller trail runs while everyone is at work and am keen to enter another event to see if I still enjoy it and can improve on my time.
Speaking of times I completed the 8 mile course in 1 hour and 13 minutes, which apparently is pretty good (I won the Meerkat category btw) oh and I BEAT CHRIS BY A WHOLE SECOND.
Which of course I have not rubbed into him at all in this week.
"I will have a cuppa please LOSER",
"Chris you dropped your LOSER card!"
"I am sorry Chris you will have to speak up I can't hear you from all the way back there, behind me, LOSER!"
It is important to be very gracious in the victories that you have over people!
One thing I did not enjoy is having to shower in all my clothes as they were so wet and muddy that I could not put them straight in the washing machine! I also need to invest in some proper running gear and clothing for post race keeping warm. the problem with fur is that when it gets really wet it also gets really cold.
Look at my ridiculous fancy dress costume! Look at all the mud coming off me, yuk!
I did love getting my first ever race completion t-shirt! I have worn it so much this week, can't wait to begin a collection. Here I am kicking back and relaxing in my shirt.
I was so tired later on Sunday eve.
That is all I have to say really, I would like to run more races and hopefully raise a bit of charity money maybe.
At the minute though I think it should be recommended to anyone to grab some trainers and go for a little pad about, one foot in front of another! You never know you may love it as well.
To Geoff and Chris I say thank you for taking me and would like to leave with a song to remind you guys of the fun we had!
Until we meet again!
Nick (the Meerkat)
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