Grim: done.

You may remember that in January on this blog I rashly agreed to run the Grim Challenge this year. I'd been training throughout the year for the The Grim, but training had dropped off the last month or so, owing to colds, muscle strains, etc... So I was feeling less than 100% prepared. Also, last year was it was a beautiful mild winter day . This year it was bright and beautiful enough, but mild it was not. The Grim involves running through muddy puddles and this year, come the Sunday morning, most of these puddles were frozen over. The organisers were using sledgehammer and 4x4's to break the ice on puddles, so that we could then run through them. Great. (thanks to Sophie for the picture) Needless to say, running through icy puddles was very cold on the feet, but it was good fun, as was the sludgy mud pits. My legs struggled somewhat with eight miles and I wasn't quite able to keep up with my team mates, Rich and Nik, but I was only about three minutes behind them, coming in at 1:22:57, which is respectable. Also, I finished 1000^th (out of 1900). Despite the strain on my legs, (and the two days of leaden legs afterwards) it was fun, and I might even do it again next year...