I decided to try my hand at Mud running which is something I never did before and from what I had seen on the videos from http://www.mudrun.ie/ looked fun so I travelled down to Ballyhoura Mountains, Doneraile it was well sign posted so getting there wasn't a problem the car park was in a field from and registration was a mile or so from a tent, you got a mud run t-shirt with your entry which alot of people wore in the race and got them destroyed it was well organised there was a crowd of around 100 or so The race was due to start at 11am but because there was a large flock of late entrants race didn't kick off till around 11:30 but atmosphere was fun, When the show was due to get underway we had a 10 second countdown from the ajudicator he got to 5 when a few fancy dress people took off and started the race prematurely but to start off there was no sign of mud from the outset it began on a straight rocky road so we ran into the unknown of what was coming next 400 metres or so we crossed a stream of water and took a left into a wood which was a dangerous enough with stumps and bits of wood to avoid early on there we were in lower ground but there was ropes to pull yourself up so it was a haven to anyone who's in the army. What caught alot of people off guard was there was alot of road running which involved a slight uphill which was tough it reminded me and felt like a mountain race there was the sticky mud pits people were expecting one of which you had to get under an army net and at one time i was running on a particular stretch a terrain which went on for ages the was on paper a 5k but having overheard a few people found out it was 6k, for the last bit you come back into the wood where there are bog holes waiting with your name on it and one last pit of muddy water before a 300m trek back to the start which was also the finish, I was then hosed down got a good bag which included a cereal bar a kitkat bar a bottle of water & a voucher for a free bottle of Luzosade sport from the local shop in Doneraile it was cold after but we were given the tinfoil wraps to keep us warm prizes were given out there in then at the registration tent which included 1st male & female 1st team & a prize to the most cleanest person to finish the race and a prize to the most muddyest. There wasn't any tea & sandwiches which alot of runners are used to but I had a great time and I got a nice trophy to stick up on top of the tv
