Last Saturday my friends and I took part in Tough 10 at Roundhay Park in Leeds. It was part of a series of  #tough10 challenges taking place all over the country in aid of Cancer Research. There are no obstacles in these events – just a chance to take on some of the UK’s toughest terrain. Leeds had a ‘one trainer / tough’ rating, so you could say it was one of the easier routes.

In the week before this event I looked up the elevation – I didn’t think it looked too bad. Clearly, I’m not that hot at reading graphs… but one thing I could understand, it was going to be a muddy one as in the run-up to race day we were forecast rain!

The weather stayed dry on the day but we had the full force of Storm Brian to contend with, especially in the more open areas. It was an event for runners of all abilities, the course was a mixture of road, trail and grass and took us through the forest part of Roundhay Park.
As with any run, there were enjoyable parts, tough parts and the ‘why am I putting myself through this’ parts. There were a couple of steep inclines and a lot of tree roots to watch out for. One part was so steep and slippy it involved a rope – it was like a team-building exercise.

The last bit was three hill repeats. Being the clumsy type I fell over on the second one – it was probably the quickest way to the bottom. A sprint finish saw us over the line where we were handed a medal.

Huge thank you to fellow blogger Angela at Love Living Well for introducing me to this event – and as always the volunteers who were all really lovely. It was a great day for a great cause.

Race Breakdown:
Entry Cost: £25 (Although Angela is a Cancer Research Ambassador and
kindly gave me a discount code)
Water stations: 1 sports bottles
Parking: Plenty (free)
Baggage Facilities: None, but parking nearby
Post-Race Goodies: Medal (A lot of runners have a ‘no medal, no race’ policy. It is always nice to receive something at the end of a race, but for a smaller, charity event like this, I’d happily forego the bling so the charity had could keep that little bit of extra cash).

Highlights:  Fab company, a good challenging route
Low points: Still popping the painkillers after that fall