YOU DON’T GET TO THE FINISH LINE IN ONE STEP
World’s Toughest Mudder is the destination.
But Tough Smudge isn’t really about one finish line.
It’s about everything that happens on the way there.
The first run that felt easier than the last one. The first obstacle that once looked impossible. The first time I realised I could go further. The mistakes that forced me to change something. The events that proved the training was working.
Some milestones come with medals.
Others happen quietly on a wet Tuesday evening when you realise you’re capable of something you couldn’t do six months earlier.
This page is where I’m keeping track of both.
WHERE IT STARTED
A few years ago, the idea of entering a 24-hour obstacle course race would have been ridiculous.
There was no Tough Smudge.
There was no World’s Toughest Mudder plan.
There certainly wasn’t a diary filling up with obstacle races and endurance challenges.
There was simply a decision to change.
Lose weight.
Get fitter.
Move more.
See what happened.
What happened was that one goal gradually became another.
And then another.
Eventually I found myself standing on the start line of my first Tough Mudder.
MILESTONE 01
FIRST TOUGH MUDDER
TOUGH MUDDER YORKSHIRE 15K
Broughton Hall, Skipton
My first obstacle course race.
My first Tough Mudder.
And my first 15K.
The aim was simply to complete it and find out what Tough Mudder was really like.
I finished tired, muddy and with considerably more confidence in what I might be capable of.
More importantly, I crossed the finish line wanting to go again.
That changed everything.
15K COMPLETED ✓
MILESTONE 02
THE TARGET GOT BIGGER
Finishing Yorkshire should probably have resulted in a sensible period of reflection.
Instead, I started looking for the next challenge.
Then the next one.
Before very long I’d stopped asking whether I wanted to do another Tough Mudder and started asking a considerably more dangerous question:
How far could I actually take this?
That eventually led to one enormous commitment.
WORLD’S TOUGHEST MUDDER 2027
Twenty-four hours.
Obstacle course racing.
As many miles and laps as I can manage.
And, if everything goes to plan, tackled as a solo runner with an independently organised pit setup.
The entry is booked.
There is no longer a question of whether I’m going.
The question is what I can become between now and the start line.
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED ✓
MILESTONE 03
FIRST DOUBLE-HEADER
TOUGH MUDDER SOUTH WEST 15K + 5K
Badminton, Gloucestershire
Yorkshire proved that I could complete a Tough Mudder 15K.
South West was about finding out what happened when I increased the workload.
15K + 5K.
Two start lines.
Twenty kilometres of Tough Mudder courses in one day.
And, for the first time, the challenge of returning to a start line after already completing the main event.
The most encouraging result wasn’t simply completing both runs.
It was how much better my body handled them.
After Yorkshire my legs had been incredibly stiff. In the build-up to South West I changed the preparation, with much more emphasis on stretching, mobility and managing the training immediately before the event.
The difference afterwards was obvious.
The widespread muscle stiffness simply wasn’t there.
Unfortunately, one rather less successful encounter with the Hero Walls provided a different lesson. Fitness and endurance will get me around the course, but poor obstacle technique can undo a lot of good work very quickly.
South West therefore became more than another medal.
It was the first real evidence that I could take lessons from one event, change my preparation and come back better at the next one.
FIRST DOUBLE-HEADER COMPLETED ✓
THE NEXT TEST
TOUGH MUDDER LONDON SOUTH
The next test isn’t about increasing the distance.
It’s about getting better at it.
Another Tough Mudder 15K gives me something I didn’t have when I arrived at Yorkshire: experience to compare against.
Can I move around the course more efficiently?
Can I improve my obstacle technique?
Can I make better decisions when an obstacle doesn’t go to plan?
Can I finish feeling as though there is more left in the tank?
And can I continue improving the preparation and recovery that worked so much better at South West?
The aim isn’t simply to collect another finish.
It’s to be a better Tough Mudder than I was at the previous start line.
PROGRESS ISN’T JUST DISTANCE
It would be easy to measure everything in kilometres.
15K.
20K.
50K.
Eventually, hopefully, a very large number after 24 hours at World’s Toughest Mudder.
But that only tells part of the story.
South West demonstrated that particularly well.
The extra distance mattered, but so did recovering considerably better than I had after Yorkshire. So did learning that better preparation worked. And so did discovering, rather painfully, that obstacle technique needs just as much attention as fitness.
The progress I’m interested in is broader than the number on the watch.
ENDURANCE
Can I stay moving for longer?
Can I maintain an effort when I’m tired?
Can I recover and go again?
STRENGTH
Can I tackle more obstacles successfully?
Can I improve grip, upper-body strength and the areas that currently expose my weaknesses?
FITNESS
Are the same distances becoming easier?
Is my body recovering faster?
Can I gradually increase training volume without breaking myself?
KNOWLEDGE
Am I getting better at pacing, nutrition, hydration, clothing, equipment, recovery and obstacle technique?
Every event should teach me something.
MINDSET
Can I keep moving when stopping would be easier?
Can I reset after something goes wrong and continue rather than letting one bad obstacle define the event?
Because eventually that may matter more than any number on a watch.
LESSONS BECOME PROGRESS
Not every milestone is going to be a perfect success.
South West has already given me the first proper example.
The preparation worked.
The increased stretching and mobility work meant my legs recovered dramatically better than they had after Yorkshire.
That is progress.
The Hero Walls were a different story.
Getting the technique wrong left me nursing a painful right leg afterwards and provided a fairly blunt reminder that getting fitter isn’t enough on its own.
That is progress too, provided I learn from it.
There will be other events where something doesn’t work.
Training weeks that fall apart.
Obstacles I cannot complete.
Targets I miss.
Probably some spectacularly bad decisions along the way.
They belong here too.
If something goes wrong and I understand why, then change what I do next, that’s progress.
The purpose isn’t to create a perfect record.
It’s to create an honest one.
THE ROAD AHEAD
The first double-header has moved from the to-do list to the completed list.
There are plenty more significant markers still visible on the horizon.
Keep improving across the remaining 2026 Tough Mudders
Complete another 15K + 5K double-header
Build towards longer endurance events
Complete the Tough Mudder Trifecta
Complete a Tough Mudder Infinity
Reach the 50K milestone
Develop a reliable solo pit strategy
Improve obstacle completion and technical ability
Continue raising money for Prostate Cancer UK
And eventually:
WORLD’S TOUGHEST MUDDER 2027
Everything before that start line is preparation.
Everything on this page is evidence that I’m getting closer.
THE SCOREBOARD WILL CHANGE
This page is already a little longer than when I first created it.
That’s a good thing.
The first Tough Mudder is done.
The first double-header is done.
The ultimate target is booked.
And there is still far more ahead of me than behind me.
Over the coming months there will be more events, more distance, more training, more lessons and, inevitably, a few setbacks.
I’ll add them as they happen.
No rewriting history.
No pretending everything went perfectly.
Just a record of where I started, what happened next, what I learned from it and how far the journey eventually takes me.
ENDURE. OVERCOME. MAKE IT COUNT.
The next milestone is waiting.