TR24: All in 24: Not for the faint hearted!

It was a privilege to be part of one of an eight person team taking part in this years Adidas Thunder Run. We had entered two teams, The Forest Gumps and the Knights of the Unstable!

We were a mixed bunch, mixed in age, speed, trail running experience and we came from all corners of the UK. Mainly we were connected by social media, some of us for many years having met back in a distant Janathon...and some of us had never met before!

Friday night kicked off with everyone having a relaxing BBQ and a few beers, wine or the odd G&T. We took the opportunity to stroll round part of the course and soak up the atmosphere. This was certainly shaping up to be a great weekend.

As the sun dawned on Saturday morning, a few of the hardcore members of the group trotted off to do a park run. We stayed at camp, drinking tea and eating bacon sandwiches-after all it's important to be well hydrated and fuelled before a run!

It was soon time to be donning our running kit, everyone was feeling nervous, with 8 people in the team it was going to be a long wait till some got to run!

Soon 12 arrived, and the next few hours passed, one member out running the 10k course, the next team member in the holding pen ready to take the 'baton'! The sun was scorching hot and this had an adverse effect on my 1:07 10k time, it wasn't a hilly course, more undulating, but challenging and technical in places with tree roots to negotiate! Other team members congregated on 'cheering corner' to see the people run the last 1k and this was great hearing everyone shout your name.

Around 8pm, it started to rain, and this was rain of biblical proportions. There was thunder too and lightening! Poor Alma was out on course and endured the thunder and lightening. Next up, it was my second lap, I was excited, I'd run the course once and loved the scenic views and camaraderie from other runners. It was absolutely chucking it down, darkness was really drawing in. With my head torch on, I took the baton from Alma and headed off.

Words cannot really describe what I experienced on that run, it was muddy, I fell over on a steepish grassy slope landing on my backside and getting soaked in mud, it was dark, pitch black and for about 2 miles I was following a chap in a Leukaemia charity top, by keeping him in sight I was able to see where the trail was heading. There was no way I could see what my feet were really doing, it was running by instinct and the feedback from my feet hitting the ground; the adrenaline rush from running in those conditions in the dark and pouring rain was indescribable, in fact it was one of my most favourite EVER runs.

Steve took over after me and ran a storming 50 min lap. After that the team decided we'd take a break as the weather and course conditions were so bad, we all got some sleep and started again at dawn. We finished our relay just before 12.

The event organisation was seamless, there was ample camping space, cheery marshals, a fantastic shower block, clean portaloos, a great medal and t-shirt,  there were no freebies or pointless goody bags full of stuff you throw away when you get home...all in all it was a well organised event!

It was a truly amazing weekend, fantastic team spirit, new friends (some even got PBs!), brilliant course, fantastic mud, awesome medal,ice cream van at the finish line. We'll be back next year and we are already talking about what that should look like, a team, solo running...either way we'll be back, hopefully with some of our team from last year and hopefully next year with more running and less thunder!