In a bid to prepare for next years OR calendar I decided to sign up for the Perth Trail Series. It is a series of 5 events across Jan, February and March in Perth with 2 options per race of a long course and a short course – I obviously went for along course so pinch I am using it for training.

I decided it would be a good training set since so many of these mud runs or obstacle races seem to involve these crazy steep hills and of course they are completely off road. So why sign up for a race series, why not just train on them? I am motivated to be able to get out a train and I’ll do a long run to the best of my ability but my times are rubbish I get back and always wonder how I ever manage to do ok in races when I’m doing a 10k training run in the time it takes me to do a 15k race – and I feel nakered and like I was trying my hardest. I obviously have it in me or I wouldn’t manage these times in races but when there is nothing to chase down I just can’t seem to move my butt fast enough! So I decided to sign up for this series so each time I do one I’m pushed to my limit as I chase behind the other competitors. I never know how I will fair against the other people, the times from last year are FAST but then I’ve never really done trail running without obstacles so I have no idea my miles per hour on them. It all kicks off 12th Jan…so only time will tell.

So how does the title fit in then….well, it turns out one of the races is happening at a national park next to my dear friends Steve Corke and Michelle Cook. They run the OCRLWA ( or Obstacle Course Race League Western Australia) an excellent league to be a member of – race discounts, training events, equipment and product discounts, plus you get to hang out and be motivated and pushed by them! They know that I want to get better and faster so told me to head over and we could walk the course so that I have seen it, the terrain, the hills etc and can also try out a new hydration pack since it is essential for me to carry 500ml of water along the course.

It was such a lovely afternoon, taking in the incredible surroundings, seeing kangaroos (yes I’m a tourist, I still get excited by kangaroo spottings), and discussing the ins and out of life, Christmas, the league for 2014 and how on earth I would tackle the course running! So this brings me all the way round to saying that training can be fun, we could have chosen to discuss these things over a drink or some biscuits but we got out for a 3hour walk and understood the course ahead so that I get the right mindset on the day. Training your brain to cope with certain events is as important as the underlying fitness training because if you don’t believe you can get round your brain won’t let you – be open minded to the prospect that you will smash the course, you’ll dominate and you’ll survive the experience and you will do.