Days Run 8, Days Not Run 0. Brutal Pyestock 10km.

It's 8 days into my 31 day run streak and I completed one of the toughest runs I have planned for the month. This one was called the Brutal 10, a cross country 10km run through woods and streams and lots of mud.

This was actually the fifth Brutal event I've run this year. Through the summer the brutality came from the ridiculous hills but now we are into Autumn mud and water were thrown into the mix and it was a welcome change. The hills were still there but on this course they weren't quite as mad as on some of their other routes. What was properly mad though were the two craters, one full of freezing water and one full of stinky mud with the texture of porridge. It was gross but hilarious, can't wait to see the official event photos but in the meantime look at the state of me when I finished!

The rest of the course followed winding tracks through woods, in and out of ditches, along streams (running in the water of course) and on slippery muddy paths. Having to concentrate so hard on not falling over is cool as you don't have time to think about the fact that you are running and it hurts.

It wasn't a quick run (especially as the aforementioned craters caused some massive bottlenecks on the first lap) but it was loads of fun. If you are in the area I definitely recommend trying one of these.
Here are the plots
Funny thing about Brutals - I hate bananas right, can't eat them, probably as bad as sprouts in my book. I can even remember as a kid losing a "who is the biggest monkey" bit of one upmanship with my mate because despite my tree climbing prowess I wouldn't eat a banana. My protests of "but monkeys can eat apples too" were rightfully ignored. Anyway at the end of every Brutal they give you a drink, a banana, and a battle oats bar. And you know what I eat those bananas like I was the biggest monkey all along. I don't understand it. The only time I can eat a banana is after running up hills for an hour. It's weird. Oh and Battle Oats are really good too.

So day nine tomorrow. I've never tried running the day after an event like this so wonder how that will go? I'm guessing not well.

I'm a novice runner and average dude in his early forties who is attempting to run at least 5km every day in October. Hopefully by doing this I can encourage people to donate a few quid to Cancer Research UK (Just Giving link).