20th October: Brutal

As part of my training for the next marathon I entered the latest Brutal 10k event which was held not too far away from me and just a few miles further south from the one I ran last year.

These runs are quite intensive. They may only be 10k in length but they are deliberately as tricky underfoot as they can possibly be, with lots of short-sharp hills, mud, bogs, streams etc. so it acts as good training for being back on the CTS runs as of next month.

To make this run more of a challenge I decided to cycle the 17 miles there and back so as to build on the time of cardio activity and make it better for endurance training with a combined total of around 3.5 hours with very little rest between the 3 legs. I planned to leave a good 2 hours before the event's start so I could take it easy on the ride there… Unfortunately with me being rubbish at getting out of bed, I did not leave until 8:30 with the race due-off at 10, so it was a flat-out hard cycle the whole way there, with me arriving with just 15 minutes to register and change for the start!

At least with only 15 minutes I did not have time to get cold and I had also heeded lessons from the last time out and from the Grim, and arrived wearing the clothes I would run in and brought a towel and a change of clothes for afterwards as being wet and cold is never fun when having to cycle a long distance.

The event base was on the edge of a live firing range, with an open-fronted wooden pavilion being the baggage store and registration area. Collecting my number the ladies on the desk could see that I had cycled there and asked how far. When I told them the distance they were impressed in a 'you must be nuts' kind of way as it seems I was the only person to cycle to the event this time.

My first step on the journey to this marathon madness can be traced back to a challenge laid down by one of the guys I grew-up with to run a Brutal over in Deepcut a few February's back. The run was a real eye-opener as to what proper trail-running is and the experience made me realise how unfit I was at the time and how much fun running through the countryside really is and spurred me on to the path (trail?) of where I am now. As such the Brutal 10's are always have a special place in my heart.

From the previous races I've figured that the trick with these, especially as they are only 10k, is to put your head down and keep going as hard as you can for you can afford to blow all your energy over the hour and change that it takes to complete, rather than having to conserve anything as you do in longer distances. With the terrain how it is, there are very few opportunities to get a good speed up and work on a decent time, so if you're slow and steady like me then it plays in to your hands as the field is pretty-much reduced to my level with the enforced stopping and starting for traversing ditches and trenches and picking your way over heather-clad heathland - if anything I am more sure-footed than most through being used to this kind of track and the fact I am not worried about getting wet or clarted in mud! Bearing this in mind along with the need to push myself in training, for today's race I had set myself the target for the race of running every step of the course, no matter how bad the hills would be, so I was psyched-up to get to the end in a decent time for myself.

Ready with minutes to spare I half-heartedly joined in the warm-up with the rest of the runners (having already sufficiently warmed-up from my cycle there).

The army PT led warm-up

We ran from just beside one firing range, off past the armoury and skirted a pond that reeked of the eggy smell of swamp gas.

The start with the firing-range in front.

Picking our way over the tussock strewn peat bog that the pond led us to it was slow going and single file as people kept tripping and falling over hidden obstacles before we found our way in to some woodland. The next mile was pretty straight-forward with easy undulations and a long flat stretch that was ankle-deep in water after the rain of the previous couple of days.

This was where the 'warm-up' section ended, and I was already breathing out of my arse and regretting the effort I had to put in to the ride there, cursing myself for failing to stir from my lovely warm bed in a decent time. Fortunately the terrain got a little harder again, having to run single file through a drainage ditch...

Ditch running.

...and over some 6ft deep grooves worn-out of an embankment of sand so I was able to take as much of a breather as I could, before we had to traverse a stile and were confronted with this:

Mercifully short but very steep!

The vehicle proving ground, and its hill-climb meant to test how good a pull vehicles have on an extreme gradient. At this point I caught the last of the CaniX runners: a woman being pulled-up the hill by her rottweiler - which seemed like an unfair assistance!

Leaving the test-track we traversed pine forest full of what were akin to moguls on a ski-slope, continually going up and down as well as a couple of decent hills and descents thrown in for good measure.

A decent descent.

Then crossing more moorland we had our first piece of proper fun: a 6ft drop into a 6ft wide ditch that was waist high in stinking black water, with a scramble out the other side.

The start of the fun!

Another trek across moor and through wood and then we had our next big challenge: the 'river' I put it in inverted commas as it was more like a deep drainage ditch that we all had to wade through, trying to not stumble and fall on the logs that were in the muddy bottom and totally invisible through the ink-black water coloured by the peaty soil.

Taking the plunge into the 'river'.

Wading through the mire.

My target was to get through the run without reducing to a walk, but by the time we went beyond the 8km and we were faced with another steep hill with overhanging branches that made it impossible to run without stooping at the same time, I succumbed to the temptation of following the lead of those in front and walking up it as fast as I could.

Down the other side and around a corner; tantalisingly seeing the finish line in the distance on the course that snakes around the area like a tapeworm we were still a good mile plus away from it, and next we had the novelty of running across a live firing range! fortunately not in use today, but certainly the first time I have legged-it across one of these.

The last challenge was a wade through that stinking pond we had passed just beyond the start and a short jog to the finish line.

The slow plough through the treacle-like stinking swamp mud!

Grabbing my bag from the the baggage drop I went behind the pavilion and gathered my senses, changing in to some clean dry tops and socks for the cycle back. I took the following photo of my mud covered legs. I wore a pair of old football socks for this and remembered why I shouldn't use these for running as they just filled with sand and mud during the run - oh well you live and learn!

Pure filth

After chowing down on a Kit-Kat I mounted the trusty steed and off I went to Hook, completely cream-crackered after my efforts. On the route, every traffic light I came to was on red, so it was a very stop-start journey and before I was even half way home the heavens opened and soaked me to the skin. Eventually I made it home to a bacon sanger and a warm shower to get all of that mud off.

The Brutal series of runs is certainly growing in popularity with the fields getting larger with each event I participate in, and the popularity amongst women is certainly growing more noticeably than the men. To be frank, the first one I did was a bit of a sausage-fest with hardly any women present but now I would say getting on for a third of the field is female - most likely because of the shorter distance of 10k being more attractive to a half or a full marathon for getting started on challenging cross country runs! But it is great to see that the appeal of the event is universal amongst both sexes. I thoroughly enjoy these shorter (yet challenging) runs and I have a window in my schedule for their Christmas run on the 28th December - perfect for blasting the mince pies, booze and turkey dinner away!

For the race I wore my new (I say new although they were bought in April but not yet worn) intermediate trail trainers for this, a pair of 'Karrimor Excel Dual' trail shoes and I was happy to get-along with them, although I will need to put an insole in them for longer distances and change-out the laces for elasticated ones, but grip was absolutely fine so I expect they will be a decent wear on forthcoming trail marathons.

The new trail shoes (slightly different colour though).

Oh and time-wise I did pretty good, finishing in the 38th percentile!