A Long Way to Go… and What Happened to Be My Longest Run to Date
So, it has been just over a week since I arrived back in Huddersfield after my trip to the Holmbush Estate near Crawley.
And it is a long way for me.
Over six hours of driving, and after setting off just after midday straight from work, I eventually arrived at the M25 only for the very first matrix sign above the road to inform me of an hour and a half of delays between Junctions 16 and 10.
Excellent.
And I think Junction 10 was one of the junctions I was supposed to be using.
I say supposed to be, because the sat nav quickly had other ideas and sent me on an alternative route along some surprisingly picturesque roads to the west of Gatwick Airport rather than taking me around the M25 and past the airport to the east.
Anyhow, and I know some people will frown at this, I didn’t actually stop for a break on the way down. I just kept going.
London South is the furthest south of the UK Tough Mudder events currently on my calendar, so next year’s London West will at least be a slightly shorter journey. And London West is going to be a weekend of quite a few firsts: the first Tough Mudder of my 2027 season, a season which currently contains 13 OCR weekends (yes, that’s a little spoiler, because they haven’t all been announced yet), my first of four planned Infinity runs, and my first Tough Mudder weekend camping.
Yes. The Smudge Nest will be making its debut.
The only event that might compete with London South for driving distance is Nuclear Fallout Oblivion Maxx this November.
Eventually, at around 6:30pm, I pulled into the Premier Inn that was going to be home for the next two nights.
And what can I say?
It was in a fantastic location, although I’ll come back to just how good the location turned out to be later.
But the hotel itself was… well… a Premier Inn.
The room was a little tired. The carpet wasn’t in the greatest condition and the MDF panelling in the bathroom had definitely seen better days, but it was clean enough (especially once I took my glasses off), the bed was comfortable and, most importantly, there was a nice hot bath.
Something I always take advantage of when I can.
Normally, once I’ve arrived at the hotel and checked in, the routine is pretty simple. Pop to a shop and find something to eat, have a bath, do some light exercise and then get an early night.
This time I didn’t need the shop because I’d brought food with me.
And this weekend was going to be a little different anyway.
During the week leading up to London South, Tough Mudder had teamed up with sponsor Nuffield Health to offer Mudders a free three-day membership. There isn’t a Nuffield Health gym anywhere particularly convenient for me back home in Yorkshire, but there happened to be one on the other side of Crawley.
So, naturally, I’d already signed myself up for the three-day pass.
Tonight, Smudge, you shall go to the gym.
A gentle jog, a swim, some time in the steam room and sauna, and hopefully wash away the stresses of the week and wind down ready for Saturday morning.
…ummm.
That’s quite a lot of writing and I haven’t actually got to the important bit yet.
Tough Mudder London South.
And what I thought was going to be 40km of mud.
This was comfortably my biggest Tough Mudder weekend to date: two days of back-to-back Tough Mudder.
At Badminton I’d completed 20km on the Saturday and, before this weekend, I genuinely thought that was probably about the maximum I’d ever want to do in one race day.
How quickly things change.
Because now, 20km is probably going to be the minimum distance I do on most Tough Mudder race days.
Saturday Morning
As always, I like to get to the event early.
Really early.
It’s actually become quite an important part of these weekends for me.
There is something almost meditative about arriving before everything properly gets going. You see the volunteers, first aiders, water safety teams and event staff gradually arriving and getting themselves organised for the day.
At Badminton I met a couple from Manchester who were volunteering, both of whom I later saw while I was out on course at Mudderhorn. This time I got chatting to a couple of the water safety guys. On Saturday they were stationed at Well Swung and, as I’d later discover, on Sunday they’d moved over to Block Ness Monster.
I met a few of the other volunteers too, including one who would be working at Everest.
And I’ve also developed the habit of saying hello to the security guy on the gate, who, amusingly enough, comes from fairly close to me, albeit over the border in Lancashire.
I mentioned earlier that the Premier Inn turned out to be in a great location.
Well, apparently half of Tough Mudder had decided to stay there too.
When I returned from the gym on Friday evening, the Tough Mudder Isuzu 4×4 was sitting in the car park.
So obviously I parked next to it. 🤭
Inside, the reception and restaurant seemed to be full of people wearing Spartan T-shirts, Tough Mudder staff shirts and bags covered in Tough Mudder patches.
The whole place was full of Mudders.
And then, when I arrived at the event the following morning, the two guys who pulled into the parking space next to me were the same two guys I’d shared the hotel lift with about fifteen minutes earlier!
As I say, though, getting there before the gates open gives me that little bit of quiet time before everything begins.
I can have a peek at the setup, although from the outside most Tough Mudder event villages look fairly similar, and wander around the venue for a while.
At London South I could see the big house of the estate sitting up on the hill. It was peaceful, tranquil even, and it gave me some time to get my head together before what was going to be a very long weekend.
It also gives me plenty of time to get down on the ground, stretch properly and do a gentle warm-up without feeling rushed.
Then, at 7am, the gates opened.
I was quickly checked in…
…once the laptop had finished doing its Microsoft Update.
😂
With that eventually sorted, I had a wander around the event village, bought a little bit of merchandise, checked my bags in and then went off to do something else that has apparently become part of my Tough Mudder routine:
sweet-talk the staff at the start gate.
Why?
Because once again I had failed to book First Mud.
And because I was doing both the 15k and 5k that day, I wanted to get out onto the course as early as possible.
I’ve learnt my lesson now. Going forward, First Mud is getting booked.
Fortunately, I managed to talk my way in. Mainly because somebody else had booked First Mud but was running with a team who were all starting later, so we were effectively able to swap places.
Result.
As at Badminton, the PA system couldn’t initially be used because the family who own the estate hadn’t given permission for it to start until after a certain time.
Was it 8am?
9am?
I genuinely can’t remember.
What I do remember is that the second the clock ticked past the permitted hour, the music suddenly boomed across the event village, the countdown began…
…and we were off.
Into the Woods
And it was actually a really nice course to run.
There was a lot of woodland, signs that parts of the estate are used for paintballing, plenty of small lakes and lots of hills. Not enormous climbs, but constant rolling terrain.
It was a very picturesque place to run.
For Saturday I was back in my old faithful ASICS Gel Sonoma 8s. They’re incredibly comfortable now and, as my running has gradually improved, everything is starting to feel much more natural in them.
I wasn’t taking any unnecessary risks approaching the obstacles either.
The priority for the first 15k was simple:
Keep moving. Keep running where I could. And remember that this was only the beginning of the weekend.
There were also quite a few obstacles I’d never encountered before: Augustus Gloop, Texas Hold’em, Netflix and Chill, Pitfall and Well Swung.
Augustus Gloop was fun, although I was expecting considerably more water to be spraying down the tube. I’d built it up in my head as being slightly more brutal than it actually turned out to be.
Still enjoyable, though.
Texas Hold’em?
Hmm.
That one feels slightly like Tough Mudder decided they needed another obstacle and… well… built one.
For me, it’s definitely a Class B obstacle.
Netflix and Chill was much more interesting. It’s a challenging inverted climb up a cargo net and I really enjoyed it. In fact, I think there’s the basis of an even better obstacle there.
Make it higher.
Make it longer.
And put it over water.
Now that would be fun.
Pitfall was probably the most disappointing of the new obstacles.
I’d expected a much bigger water-filled trench, and when you dropped into one of the hidden pits I was expecting to disappear into water at least up to my chest.
Instead…
Knee/thigh depth.
Given that Mud Mile was also a miniature version compared with the ones I’d experienced at Yorkshire and Badminton, I’m beginning to suspect that the geology of the Holmbush Estate simply doesn’t lend itself to Tough Mudder digging enormous holes everywhere. 🤷
And then there was Well Swung.
Now that was fun.
It’s not particularly difficult to get enough momentum to swing out and ring the bell, but it is one of those obstacles that is simply enjoyable to do.
And I can already imagine how Tough Mudder could make it evil.
One swing.
Launch yourself onto a second swing.
Build the momentum again.
Then launch for the bell.
Put something like that into World’s Toughest Mudder and it would be immense.
But Well Swung was only one obstacle in a 15k lap…
…and there was still a very long way to go.
I’m conscious, though, that when you’ve covered 45km across five runs over two days, a blow-by-blow account of every obstacle is going to turn this into something very long and, probably, very boring.
So I’m going to resist.
Instead, there are a few obstacles worth talking about because they tell me much more about where I am now, what I’m learning, and where I need to get to before next June.
Learning Rather Than Just Completing
Twinkle Toes.
Still, objectively, a really easy obstacle.
And yet my balance is shocking.
I think I’ve worked out part of the problem. By the time I’ve climbed onto the obstacle I’m already feeling unstable, and once that uncertainty gets into my head it seems to kill the rest of the attempt.
I did get further across this time, so there is progress.
But I need to get across it.
I’m pretty certain it’ll be waiting for me again at Manchester. If I don’t complete it on either of Saturday’s first two 15k runs, then I’ll get another opportunity on the final 5k.
And provided I don’t somehow manage to squeeze yet another 5k into Sunday… 😬
…I’ll keep trying until I get it.
Then there are the Hero Walls.
They’re really easy when somebody gives me a foot-up, but one of my biggest takeaways from this weekend actually has nothing to do with whether I can get over them.
It’s what I do afterwards.
I’ve realised that I’ve been too guilty of accepting somebody else’s help, getting myself over the wall and then carrying on.
On reflection, that’s a bit selfish.
If somebody gives me a foot-up, I’m going to straddle the top of the wall and help them over too.
That’s changing from now on.
Bad Smudge.
Then there’s Everest.
My nemesis.
Or perhaps my Eleanor, for anyone who gets the film reference.
I’ve still never arrived at Everest during a First Mud lap and found somebody there ready to help me, which means I’ve never really had the opportunity to attack it properly while I’m fresh and the obstacle is quiet.
But I will conquer this thing on my own.
Manchester is the next opportunity and I’m going to have a proper attempt on every lap. Even on First Mud, when there probably won’t be anybody around to help, I’m going to give it a damn good go.
Preferably without injuring myself.
That would be useful.
Another one I want to start attempting solo is Mudderhorn.
With a foot-up I find it relatively straightforward now, which makes me think getting onto it without assistance should be achievable too. Hopefully the quieter First Mud laps at Manchester will give me the chance to experiment without holding anybody up.
And then…
Pole Dancer.
YEAH!!!
After my fairly dismal failures at Yorkshire and Badminton, I finally used the one thing I should have been using all along.
My brain.
The objective is to get from one side to the other without touching the ground.
It doesn’t actually say how.
Pole Dancer was only on the 15k course, so I had two attempts over the weekend and used a completely different technique each time.
On Saturday I pulled my legs up onto the bar and basically skied across it using my hands and shins.
A little uncomfortable?
Yes.
Effective?
Absolutely.
Pfft. Lack of upper-body strength. 😅
On Sunday, as I approached it, I shouted to the volunteer:
“I cheat on this obstacle!”
He watched what I was doing and replied that it wasn’t cheating at all. The objective was simply to get across without touching the ground.
Then he pointed out the obvious.
Why didn’t I just walk across the lower bars?
Apparently that’s what he does.
Oh.
So I did.
And that, I think, sums up one of the biggest lessons I’m taking away from London South.
Use Your Brain, Smudge
I’m beginning to look at obstacles differently.
Rather than immediately asking myself whether I’m strong enough, tall enough or athletic enough to complete something in the conventional way, I’m starting to ask a much more useful question:
What is this obstacle actually asking me to do?
Because one strength I know I have above average is my brain.
Obstacle racing and endurance obviously require stamina, strength and the bloody-mindedness to keep going when everything hurts.
But I’m increasingly realising that they require something else in equal measure.
Thinking.
Particularly when the objective isn’t simply to get around one 15k course.
If I’m eventually going to spend 24 hours going round and round a Tough Mudder course at World’s Toughest Mudder, wasting energy doing something the difficult way when there’s an easier legitimate way of achieving exactly the same thing would be ridiculous.
Every unnecessary pull-up, jump, climb or failed attempt costs energy.
And eventually all of those little bits of wasted energy add up.
So if I can find a smarter way of doing something, preserving my arms or legs in the process, that’s not cheating.
That’s endurance.
And I’m learning.
Learning From Other Mudders
Something else I’ve increasingly noticed is just how useful the Tough Mudder ambassadors are.
I’ve now run alongside and chatted with several of them, and they are absolute fonts of Tough Mudder knowledge.
Little techniques. Different approaches to obstacles. Things they’ve learnt from running the courses repeatedly.
It’s incredibly useful.
And being an ambassador is actually something I think I’d really enjoy doing myself one day.
I’m not sure 2027 is the year, though.
Given how many events I’m currently planning, I’m not convinced I’d be particularly happy if Tough Mudder said:
“Excellent, Andrew. We’d like you to spend this weekend in the event village.”
Errr…
Can I go and run around the course instead?
If what they need is an ambassador prepared to go round…
and round…
and round…
and round…
then perhaps 2027 is my year. 😂
But actually, I think 2028 might make more sense.
I’ll turn 50 that year, and there’s something quite appealing about spending my 50th year giving something back and sharing some of what I’ve learnt along the way.
Although, at the rate I’m currently booking events, there’s every possibility I’ll have completed 50 Tough Mudders before I turn 50 anyway.
Which is a slightly terrifying thought.
15k Done
Back to London South.
And I was really happy with Saturday’s 15k.
Under two hours.
That was something I was genuinely pleased with.
It also presented me with possibly the most first-world Tough Mudder problem imaginable.
I’d finished too quickly.
🫤
I’d booked my 5k for later and now had time to kill.
There’s another lesson.
If I’m consistently getting around a 15k in somewhere around two hours, I need to be smarter about booking the next start wave. I don’t particularly want to finish a lap, cool down completely and then stand around waiting before starting again.
Ideally I want enough time to get something into me, take on some fluid, sort myself out and then get moving again.
I’m already putting that lesson into practice at Manchester.
My second 15k on Saturday is booked into the 11:00–11:45 wave, followed by the 5k between 2:00–2:45.
That should give me enough flexibility to finish, quickly carb up and hydrate, then get myself back onto the course without spending too long standing around.
Sunday is slightly different because the 5k runs don’t start until midday, so I’m inevitably going to have some time to kill after the 15k.
London South, fortunately, worked out nicely.
The first 5k wave started at 11am, so once I’d completed the 15k there wasn’t too much hanging around before I could get myself back onto the course.
And off I went again.
Another 5k.
Another lap.
And then…
20km done.
Which was supposed to be my Saturday finished.
More importantly, it was supposed to represent half of my entire weekend.
Because I’d booked 20km for Saturday.
And 20km for Sunday.
A nice, sensible 40km weekend.
That had been the plan.
But there was a slight problem with that plan.
I felt good.
Do I Go Again?
There were still 5k waves waiting to head out.
I wandered around the village for a bit, chatted to the ambassadors in their section and eventually asked the dangerous question:
“Can I buy another ticket here?”
Yes.
Of course I could.
I started walking towards the gate…
…and stopped.
For once, the sensible part of my brain had managed to catch up with the stupid part.
I still had another 20km booked for Sunday.
Yes, I felt really good. Surprisingly good, actually. I’d just completed 20km and I genuinely felt as though I could head back out and do another 5k.
But that wasn’t really the question.
The question was how I would feel the following morning.
After most of my events up to this point, the following day had involved some degree of stiffness. So did I really want to add another 5k now and potentially compromise the 20km I’d already committed to on Sunday?
No.
Not yet, anyway.
Instead, I got myself washed off, headed back to the hotel, ate, and returned to Nuffield Health for a gentle swim followed by the steam room and sauna.
Then came the real test.
How would I feel once the adrenaline had disappeared, I was back at the hotel, wearing my jim-jams and sitting in bed mindlessly watching YouTube?
The answer?
Pretty damn good.
And that made the temptation irresistible.
I opened the Mac.
First Mud tickets were still showing for Sunday.
Of course, I didn’t actually have First Mud booked for my 15k, but by now I’d learnt that arriving early and asking nicely could solve quite a few problems. The person running check-in was even staying at the same Premier Inn.
I decided hunting her down in the hotel might be taking things slightly too far, though. 😂
I’d sort that bit in the morning.
Then I looked at my existing 5k booking.
Midday.
But there was an 11am wave available too.
If I could get my 15k changed to First Mud, finish it before 11, do the extra 5k, and then use my existing midday booking…
…that would be 25km on Sunday.
And 45km for the weekend.
Oh, go on then.
I booked it.
And, because apparently my luck was in, I managed to guess the discount code that I wouldn’t actually receive until Sunday afternoon, so I even got a cheeky little discount off the extra run. 😉
So, slightly giddy with excitement, I closed the Mac, switched off the lights and fell asleep remarkably quickly.
Tomorrow wasn’t going to be 20km anymore.
Tomorrow was going to be 25km of mud.
Sunday: Let’s Make It 45km
Sunday morning soon came around and, after the breakfast of champions…
Strong coffee and Aldi protein porridge.
…I got showered, dressed and opened the curtains.
Then I checked the car park.
Was the Tough Mudder Isuzu still there?
Yes.
Today, that was going to be my highly scientific indicator of when I should leave.
When the Tough Mudder Isuzu left the hotel, I reckoned there was a pretty good chance the event car park would be opening shortly afterwards.
So I waited.
And waited.
After what seemed like an age, it moved.
Right then.
GO!
Once again I was one of the first people there, which meant another quiet wander around, another chance to say good morning to some of the volunteers and staff, and then it was time for the first mission of the day.
Find the boss of check-in.
Get my 15k upgraded to First Mud.
And save myself another morning of begging at the start gate or trying to find somebody willing to swap.
As I’m increasingly finding at these events, it was absolutely no problem.
The gates opened, the change was made and soon I had wristbands safely secured for all three of Sunday’s runs.
15k.
5k.
5k.
Right.
Apparently we’re really doing this.
New Shoes. Familiar Mud.
There was one other change for Sunday.
For the first time at a Tough Mudder, the trusty ASICS were staying behind.
I’d brought my new INOV8 Mudtalon V2s with me, and if I’m serious about World’s Toughest Mudder then at some point I have to start testing the equipment I’m considering using for it.
Twenty-five kilometres on tired legs seemed as good a test as any.
I’m not going to turn this section into a shoe review because that’s coming separately once I’ve had time to think properly about them and put some more miles through them.
But as a first impression?
Very promising.
They felt different to the ASICS, as I’d expected, but I quickly stopped thinking about the fact that I was wearing new shoes. Over a day when I was asking my feet and legs to carry me through another 25km after already doing 20km the day before, that’s probably one of the better first impressions they could have made.
More on those another day.
My Fastest 15k
And then something happened that I really wasn’t expecting.
My Sunday First Mud 15k was my fastest Tough Mudder 15k to date.
After 20km the previous day.
I’m still not entirely sure why.
Part of it was probably knowing that I needed to be finished in time for the 11am 5k.
Part of it was familiarity. I knew the course now. I wasn’t spending as much time looking through the woods for the next orange arrow. I knew where the hills were, where the runnable sections were and where it made sense to ease off.
And perhaps part of it was simply that my body is adapting.
That’s probably the most encouraging possibility of all.
Because the three runs on Sunday felt good.
Yes, I was tired.
Of course I was tired.
But I wasn’t destroyed.
I could still run. I could still tackle the obstacles. I could still think about what I was doing rather than simply surviving until the finish.
And after the 15k came the first 5k.
Then the second.
The extra one.
The one that hadn’t existed in the plan when I’d arrived at Holmbush Estate on Friday evening.
And every kilometre of that final lap was taking me somewhere I’d never been before.
Beyond 40km.
41.
42.
43.
44.
And finally…
45km.
The longest Tough Mudder weekend I’d ever done.
And, more importantly, the longest I’d ever wanted to keep going.
One other thing I noticed on Sunday was that Pitfall had disappeared from the course.
I don’t know why it was withdrawn, so I’m not going to speculate. But given my slightly underwhelmed opinion of it on Saturday, I can’t say I was devastated to see it missing.
The Strange Bit About Sunday
This was also my first Sunday at a Tough Mudder weekend, and there was one thing I hadn’t expected.
The finish felt different.
By the time I crossed the line after my third and final run, the event was visibly starting to wind down.
The arch over the start had been deflated. The village was getting quieter. People were packing up and heading home.
And I have to admit, after everything I’d just done, it felt slightly flat.
For somebody finishing their first Tough Mudder late on Sunday afternoon, having spent hours building towards that finish line, I can imagine coming back into a village that is already winding down might feel a little anticlimactic.
I’m not entirely sure what Tough Mudder could realistically do about that. Most people, me included, probably want to get cleaned up and start the journey home once they’ve finished, particularly on a Sunday when Monday morning and work are waiting.
But it was noticeable.
Still, it couldn’t take away from what the weekend had become.
So, What Did I Learn?
- 45km is absolutely possible. More importantly, I completed it across two days and still felt functional at the end. That makes targeting 50km during an eight-hour Infinity event feel considerably less ridiculous than it did before this weekend. London West is now firmly in my sights for that 50km target.
- A Trifecta in a day now feels achievable. A 15k plus two 5k runs no longer sounds like something outrageous. I’ve just done exactly that on tired legs after completing 20km the previous day.
- I’m getting used to running. Perhaps more importantly, my legs are getting better at handling repeated running. I’m recovering faster, I’m able to run again sooner and I’m starting to understand how hard I can push without destroying the next lap.
- Multiple runs need to become normal. Where the event timetable allows it, three or more runs in a day is something I increasingly want to target during 2027. Yes, partly because I apparently want to go hunting for all the shiny things, but also because repeated laps are becoming an important part of preparing for WTM.
- Technique matters. I need to stop automatically blaming a lack of upper-body strength whenever I can’t complete an obstacle. Sometimes strength is the problem. Sometimes it’s balance. Sometimes it’s confidence. And sometimes I simply haven’t worked out the right way of doing it yet.
- Recovery matters too. The decision not to add another 5k on Saturday was probably more important than the decision to add one on Sunday. Learning when to keep going is important. Learning when to stop, recover and protect the next day’s objective might be even more important.
A Long Way to Go
And I think that’s probably the real story of London South.
Yes, I completed 45km.
Yes, I ran my fastest Tough Mudder 15k so far.
And yes, somewhere during the weekend a perfectly sensible 40km plan somehow became 45km because I was sitting in a Premier Inn wearing my jim-jams and thought:
“I reckon I can do another one.”
But the important thing isn’t really the extra 5km.
It’s that I’m beginning to understand what my body can do.
I’m learning how to pace myself. I’m learning how to recover. I’m learning when to run, when to walk, when to conserve energy and when to push. I’m learning how to approach obstacles rather than simply throwing strength at them.
And perhaps most importantly, I’m starting to finish these events thinking less about what I’ve just done…
…and more about what I might be capable of doing next.
There is still a very, very long way to go before World’s Toughest Mudder next June.
Twenty-four hours is an entirely different challenge to 45km spread across a weekend, and I’m under no illusion about the size of the gap that still exists between where I am now and where I need to be.
But London South gave me something I didn’t have before.
Evidence.
Evidence that the training is working.
Evidence that my running is improving.
Evidence that my recovery is improving.
And evidence that when I finish 20km and my brain whispers…
“You could probably do some more.”
…sometimes the stupid thing is actually right.
Next stop:
Tough Mudder Manchester.
Two 15k runs and a 5k on Saturday.
Another 15k and 5k on Sunday.
A planned 55km weekend.
Well…
planned.
We all know how well that worked out this time. 😬