I just completed Total Warrior a couple of weeks ago and boy, that was fun. It was certainly harder than I thought it was going to be and it was funner than I thought it was going to be. Unfortunately Deano couldn’t make it in time, he suffered a knee injury a few months ago. So competing this year were myself, Peter and Martin. John was drafted in at the last minute to replace Deano and he did brilliantly.

Where do I start? How about at the beginning. I was very pleased with my training leading up to the event. Since the Pier to Pier run in May, I’ve continued my running and weight training. On Friday night I did a few miles in my new trainers. I say new, they were more temporary. £8.00 from ASDA and I intended on throwing them out afterwards! I stocked up on a delicious pasta bake for my tea, then had an early night. The lads arrived at seven the next morning, I managed to slurp down some porridge first and then we set off. I made sure we got a couple of nice clean photos before the event, holding the Team Fox banner.

Got to admit, I was starting to feel a bit nervous about it all now. I’d been waiting for this all year and now it was here. What was it going to be like? I would find out in about three hours. Soon as we got there, I needed the toilet! We registered, tied our headbands and made our way to the starting line. We were in the first wave at 10 o’clock.

There was a massive buzz in the crowd, the atmosphere was electric and we were now all excited. A quick safety briefing and then we were off! There was plenty of running early on and not a nice flat surface to be found! It was a combination of hill, rock, mud and water. Just the way I like it!

Obstacles included: Leg It, Human BBQ, Step It Up, Tyred, Worm Muncher, You Tube, Ball Breaker, Muddy Funster, Dunking Time, Widow Maker, Grand National, Peaks of Pain, The Shocker, Slide Away, Log It, Sheep Deep, One Last Climb and finally Hang Tough!

Here are some more photos from the event.

I’m not going to lie to you, it was tough, very tough. When you felt like you had nothing left, you were faced with a hill to climb. After the hill was a river to swim over. It went on and on. I was completely exhausted. Anyone who hasn’t done one before, if you like the sound of it then I’d recommend doing it. It was a challenge but a rewarding one.

The last climb up the bank towards Hang Tough was weirdly emotional. I could hear my family shouting at this point and I think the combination of that and my exhaustion just came together. Over the last climb and we faced Hang Tough. We made it safely across and we crossed the finish line together. I said at the start, it was very important we did this. I couldn’t have completed Total Warrior without Peter, Martin and John. I owe a massive thank-you to them so here it is. Needless to say, we’re in for next year. If you like the sound of it, we’ll see you there.

I thought the whole organisation by the guys in charge of Total Warrior was exceptional. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to organise something like that but I thought they did a great job. The support throughout the whole course was fantastic too. Some people we knew but most we didn’t and it really made a difference. Despite the fire, the electric cables, swimming and dunking, I felt completely safe throughout. I’m currently sat here typing this wanting to do it again so it must have been good. I need a new event and I need one now. Watch this space.

We honestly weren’t bothered about what position we finished in. We wanted to give it our best shot yes but we were more interested in just finishing it and finishing it together. As it happens and when the results came in, we were over the moon! 2844 people competed in Total Warrior ans we finished in 634th place. That puts us in the top 22%! We also finished as the 48th best team out of 276 teams. That’s the top 17% so we were very, very happy to say the least.

We accepted the challenge and loved every minute of it. We are warriors.