This Sunday just gone I took part in The Pain and Suffering OCR which is advertised as a 10 mile obstacle course, this particular one of the series of races, that they hold in different parts of the country,took part in the grounds of rockingham castle, in leicestershire. It is, by far, the hardest thing that I have ever done, probably ever, let alone along the path of getting fit.Everything along this course is designed to hurt and make you suffer, hence the name, boy I don’t think a name has ever been so apt. The running wasn’t the hard part, as I thought it wouldn’t be, but all the obstacle and the “reapers” (the nickname of the race marshals) are designed to suck all the energy out of you either by physical exertion or getting you freezing cold and wet, as well as generally being mean.

In the end, I managed to do the 12 miles as it turns out, in 3 hours 41 minutes and 24 seconds, coming in 70th out of 114, which considering I had no idea what to expect and massively underestimated how difficult it was going to be, I’m quite happy with how it went. I now have a marker set down to beat for next time.

On the fundraising front, my target of £500 was beaten by £50, which is beyond awesome. I thought when I first started £500 was a bit ambitious, but people have been incredibly generous. I really believe helping to get support to people with mental health problems is important which is why I chose Mind, as supporting those with mental health issues is what they do.

As a finish I want to say my mum came with me on the day to support me and she was great, especially towards the end. her just being there and shouting words of encouragement were fantastic and did actually help in the end.

Edit- The amount raised now stands at £650 as of 23rd of April 2015. I never thought it would get that high and I’m so happy that people have been this generous.