After months of training, I was finally ready to begin my first Tough Mudder. Standing at the start line with the rest of Team Sony and with adrenaline pumping through me, I felt physically prepared for anything.
The biggest challenge came early on when we reached the third and most horrendous obstacle, Sony’s Arctic Enema 2.0. You basically have to go down a slide into a pool of muddy water, then swim under water to get out the other side. It seemed relatively easy as I watched the people in front of me do it, but when I went under I felt like I couldn’t breathe and I started panicking and swallowed loads of water. It actually made me really ill for the next few days afterwards, and I’ve only just recovered!
Throughout the event I was wearing my Sony SmartBand Talk, which was really useful, especially for keeping track of time. It’s easy to forget how long you’ve been out there after a while, but seeing that I’d already been going for over two hours really helped to motivate me to keep pushing onwards in the later stages. It survived Sony’s Arctic Enema 2.0 too, which was impressive!
It started to rain towards the end, and I was freezing cold and ridiculously muddy. But having the rest of Team Sony there, egging me on and tackling the obstacles together made all the difference.
I never really thought of myself as a runner, so I was surprised at how well I did, especially considering how much uphill running was involved. I managed to keep pace with the rest of the team, which I was really proud of, and all the strength training I did definitely paid off on the pulling obstacles like the monkey bars. I even made it up the last but one obstacle, Everest 2.0 – a giant vertical ramp – at the first attempt! In the end, though, I backed out of the final obstacle, Electroshock Therapy. I was so battered from everything else I genuinely thought I might die if I got electrocuted!
After passing the finish line I felt a massive sense of achievement, which was reinforced when I checked my SmartBand Talk – which synched with my Xperia™ Z3 via Sony’s Lifelog app – and found out via the step counter that I’d managed a colossal 28,000 steps over the previous four hours. I don’t think that I ever need to get that muddy again, but after completing my first Tough Mudder – and getting in the best shape of my life – I’m definitely ready to keep training and take on my next fitness challenge.
You can pick up the new Xperia™ Z3+ at Carphone Warehouse now
