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Photo:sportograf.com Tough Mudder Manchester 2026
10–11 October 2026 | Cheshire Showground Six runs. Two days. A nominal 60 kilometres. Fourteen Tough Mudder finishes in my first season. And somewhere along the way, a hedgehog got lost looking for somewhere warm to hibernate. Welcome to Tough Mudder Manchester 2026. This was, by far, my most ambitious Tough Mudder weekend to date.…
Photo: sportograf.com Tough Mudder London South
What started as a planned 40km weekend at Tough Mudder London South somehow became 45km of mud, five runs and my fastest 15k to date. More importantly, it became a weekend of learning: smarter obstacle techniques, better pacing, faster recovery and discovering that my body is adapting to repeated distance. With World’s Toughest Mudder getting…
Photo: sportograf.com LESSONS FROM THE MUD #1
One of the things I have learned about obstacle course racing is that the hardest part isn’t always the obstacles. Sometimes, it is the space between them.
Graphic: Tough Smudge with ChatGPT How I Accidentally Booked a Spartan Trifecta for 2027
I only booked Spartan because the races were happening the day after two Tough Mudder weekends I was already attending. Three bookings later, I’ve somehow ended up chasing a Sprint, Super and Beast, and an accidental Spartan Trifecta in 2027.
Photo: sportograf.com The Non-Official Tough Mudder Trifecta Weekend – Take 1
Four Tough Mudder runs, two days and around 40km. London South might not be an official Trifecta, but it matches the minimum distance and gives me the perfect first test of recovery, repeated effort and how far I might eventually manage in eight hours at Infinity.
Photo: born-survivor.com Born Survivor Lancashire 2026
Born Survivor Lancashire was always going to be an experiment. I went into it not really knowing what to expect. I came away having completed the 12K, collected the medal and T-shirt, learned quite a lot about where my OCR strengths and weaknesses currently sit and, importantly, avoided doing anything that might jeopardise Tough Mudder…
Graphic: Tough Smudge with ChatGPT Born Survivor Elite Squadron: What Have I Signed Up For?
This weekend I’m taking on Born Survivor Lancashire’s 12 km Elite Squadron: 29 obstacles, around 347 metres of elevation, a 90-minute timing cut-off and no assistance on the obstacles. The real question, though, is whether I’ll have enough left at the finish to turn around and do a second lap.
Graphic: Tough Smudge with ChatGPT Ingleborough Circular
A first reconnaissance walk for the Running the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge, taking on Ingleborough from Clapham. The walk went well, the technology less so, but between misty summits, route lessons and a few unexpected ideas for future challenges, it was a useful first step towards running all three peaks in 2027.
Graphic: Tough Smudge with ChatGPT A Reminder That Recovery Takes Longer Than You Think
Yesterday I was back at Greenhead Park for parkrun, and for the first couple of kilometres things were going really well. I set off strongly and found myself running just behind the 26-minute pacemaker. The pace felt controlled, I felt comfortable, and for a while I thought I might be heading towards a very good…