Lucy's back again! She's been pied with foam, pied with custard so I thought she'd best get muddy. I guess she only needs to get gunged now, I wonder if that will happen to her...? Hope you enjoy it.

Katie passed her phone over to Lucy 'I was wondering if you were interested in doing this with me, someone else wanted to come but they can't anymore?' Lucy looked at the phone and an advert for 'Annual Sussex MudRun!' and promised 'Mud, obstacles and more mud!' over a five mile course in the forest. Pictures showed runners splashing through puddles, crawling under nets and wading through waist deep pools. To Lucy it looked brilliant. She enjoyed getting muddy whilst running and cycling and had also been pied twice, once with shaving foam and again with real custard pies for her birthday. 'Yeah ok, it looks like a laugh. Have you done one before?' she asked. 'I did one a few years ago, it was quite tough but good fun. There's a lot of mud so make sure you wear something that doesn't mind if it gets ruined. But saying that, I've seen the photos from your birthday so you don't clearly don't mind getting messy!' Lucy started to blush and tried to play it cool, but inside she was looking forward to getting covered in mud.

At home, as she dug through her wardrobe to find the oldest clothes that she had a box fell out at her feet. She sighed and picked it up, knowing what was inside. She reached back inside the wardrobe and pulled out another small box and a bag. She opened the first box and inside was a chunky gold necklace and dangly earrings. Inside the second was a large square watch with a thick white leather strap. She pulled the dress out of the bag and held it up to her. A dark green dress with a high neck and sleeves with velvet decorations on. It was all a gift from her ex-boyfriend Christian. He bought it as a surprise before taking her to his Christmas party. She had to look grateful but really she hated all of it. The jewellery was expensive but tasteless, the dress was the right size but didn't look good on her and the watch was uncomfortable due to it's big size. He had clearly brought it to show her off at the party but he spent most of the night ignoring her and chatting up his female colleagues. They split a week later and the clothes and jewellery went to the back of the wardrobe. When would she wear it again? A plan formed in her mind

She parked up with Katie at the run and told her 'Wait here, I've got something else to show you' At the back of the car, she pulled on the horrible dark green dress over her blue running top and grey knee length leggings. Next, she took off her bright swatch watch and put on the large white watch, wearing it with the face inside her wrist as she always did. She walked over to Katie and gave a twirl 'What do you think?' she asked with a grin. 'What on earth have you got on? You can't wear that!' Katie laughed as Lucy carried on posing. 'It's all my Christmas gift from my ex. Horrible isn't it? He also gave me a necklace and earrings but I thought that would possible strangle me on the run, so I sold it on ebay and bought some new clothes instead! It's all horrible so I'm wearing it to trash it in all the mud.' Katie was still shaking her head at her friend 'what is that on your wrist?' she said, pointing to the chunky watch. 'Nasty isn't it?', Lucy agreed 'it's meant to be posh but it's so uncomfortable to wear and the colour is flaking off the strap already. It's waterproof but it's time to see if it's mud run proof' she shrugged.

After the warm up it was time to run. The first part of the course was a muddy track with puddles in it and Lucy purposely ran through all of them, soaking her trainers and the bottom of her dress. The route went into a field and it was time for the first obstacle, a series of nets to scramble under. Katie and Lucy looked at each other and then knelt down in the soft mud ready to crawl through it. The mud felt cool on her hands as they sank into the soft mud and water. She crawled through the mud and water on her hands and knees but had to keep pulling her dress up so she didn't keep on kneeling on it. She was splattered with mud and most of the dress was soaked in mud and water by the time she got to the end. They ran to the next net that was lower and Lucy slithered underneath it sliding on the firmer mud. She dragged herself through, the mud clinging to her dress. She kept on kneeling on the dress again so had to lie down to free her dress up from beneath her. By the time she got to the end and dragged herself out, the front of her dress was coated with mud and it clung to her body and her arms were slick with mud. She was pulling at the bottom of her dress when Katie crawled out and came over to her. 'What are you doing?' she asked. 'It's this stupid dress, I keep kneeling on it. And now it's clinging to me, I'm just going to keep tripping on in on other obstacles. I was wondering if I could rip it up the front to make it easier' she said as she kept on pulling at the dress. She found a small hole that had been made by a stone and poked her fingers through it. She grabbed the material and with a satisfying rip, tore a large split in the front of the dress. 'That's better!' she exclaimed as she did some running on the spot to try out her new freedom. Katie laughed at her 'You're mad! Now let's stop wasting time now you've fixed your wardrobe!' Another net was up next and Lucy could see that it was deeper than the others. She ran over and dived under the net, mud splashing everywhere as she landed. She crawled through on her hands and knees, splashing through mud that in some places was up to her elbows. She rolled onto her back to see Katie crawling behind her and now her whole dress was soaked in mud. Lying her head back, she could feel the cold mud and water on the back of her head. She had tied her long hair into a bun and she knew that this was now soaked mud. She carried on crawling and jokingly did a breast stroke through a deep patch. Her face was starting to get splashed with mud and water now and she closed her eyes as she crawled through the last deep puddle before the end.

Her dress was a mess when she stood up, ripped and soaked in mud. She wiped some mud off her watch and inspected it for damage. The white strap was coated in mud and there were a few scratches on the face as a result of wearing it inside her wrist and crawling under the nets. It was still ticking though and not really damaged. Kate came next to her and they ran along the wet and muddy track, splashing themselves and kicking muddy water at each other as they ran through the puddles. They turned into woodland and headed downhill, the ground squelching below their feet as the mud got deeper. The route took them into a ditch where the mud was a thick dark liquid that clung to Lucy and Katie's legs and clothes. It stuck to their legs as they tried to move through the thick dark sludge. It was up to their knees and Lucy loved pulling her legs out and plunging them back into the mud, splattering herself and Kaite who squealed and tried to hide when she did it. The ground under her feet was uneven so she stumbled a few times stretching out her arms to try and break her fall as she fell into the mud. She fell forward but was able to stop herself from submerging completely but still sank up to her shoulders in the thick mud soup. Soon they reached the obstacles. First were wooden walls submerged in the mud to climb over. The first was low, only waist height and they helped each other over and slid into the knee deep mud on the other side. The next was taller, about chest height. Katie went first, jumping up and flattening herself along the top before swinging her legs down. Lucy heard her splash down and then call to her to come over. She wasn't sure that she would be that nimble, but jumped up and swung her legs on top. She could feel her watch catching on the wall and pulling at her wrist as she did this and she wondered if she had damaged it. She swung her legs down and jumped back from the wall. Part of her dress caught on the wall as well and she heard a rip as she came down from the wall. Instead of landing on her feet, she fell and ended up sitting down in the soft dark mud, thick gobs of it splatting down on her head and face. She spat some out of her lips and looked at Katie who was laughing at her. 'Lovely dismount Lucy!' she teased. Still, she waded over and helped her up and the pair continued to the low logs.

These logs were set above the mud and the runners had to go under them. Katie looked hesitant but Lucy went first 'Follow me!' she said as she ducked into the mud. There was a couple of feet between the mud and the log but Lucy ducked down deeper into the mud. Better safe than sorry! Katie came under it and they splashed to the next one. The mud was like a dark liquid slop that was nearly up to their waists at the last log. Some people were climbing over it as it was set just above the mud. Lucy saw that as cheating and grabbed onto Katie's hand so she couldn't back out. As they got to the log, she took a deep breath and plunged into the mud, pulling Katie with her. What a feeling! The mud oozed around her and went into her ears, blocking out the noise of the outside world for a second. She didn't need to go so low but the idea that she could plunge head first into this thick pool of sloppy mud and it was expected of her made her feel excited. She took a couple more steps and then stood up out of the slop, still pulling a spluttering Katie behind her. 'Warn me next time!' she said at Lucy as they both did their best to scrape the mud from their faces and spat it from their lips. They heard a voice above them and it was one of the marshals 'My god, you two just went for it, you're crazy!,' she exclaimed 'come here, I'll help with that mud'. She had a squirty water bottle that she sprayed in their faces so they could see again. The girls were grateful and thanking the girl they splashed on, the mud getting more shallow so at a final tall wall to go over, it was only up to their ankles.

This wall was sloped and ropes hung down for runners to help themselves climb. They climbed up and at the top was a large wide slide that led to a muddy pond. Lucy looked at Katie and down at herself. Katie was covered in mud from head to toe, dark mud dripping from her hair to her feet. In a few places, you could tell that Katie was wearing a pink top but it was hard to tell. 'What do I look like?' Lucy asked. 'A mess!' Katie answered, 'you don't have a clean bit on you. Your hair is a blob of mud, no idea what colour your dress is or what's going on with it either' she added. Lucy looked down, her dress was hanging from her like a rag. The ripping on the last wall had been the left sleeve and it was now hanging on to the front of the dress by a thread. 'OK, this isn't going to work for the rest of the race, give me a hand' She ripped the front of the dress and wriggled out of the top of it. Next she grabbed the sleeve in both hands and tore it open. The once very nice green velvet dress with dark lacy trimmings looked like a rag now. 'Help me tie this under my arm so it doesn't fall off, it's going to be an off the shoulder style now' she instructed Katie as she lifted her arm up. Katie followed what she was doing and knotted the ripped sleeve to the front of the dress. She did a pirouette, mud flying off the bottom 'Perfect, I couldn't think of a nicer thing to happen to it! What's next?' Katie pointed down the slide 'I think we're about to take a lovely bath' she said and with that, stepped onto the slide feet first and slid all the way to the bottom, splashing down in a spray of muddy water before standing up in the knee deep pool. Lucy launched herself down face first and could hear her watch scraping along the slide. She turned herself near the bottom and ended up sideways on landing, submerging under the muddy water. She pulled herself out and as she walked out of the pond, she splashed more water on herself, washing off the dark mud from the previous obstacles. She also looked at her watch. The face had some big scratches on from the slide and the white colour was flaking from the strap. It also looked like the strap was coming away from the watch and Lucy wondered how long it would last. It was still ticking though, so maybe there was some life left in it.

They were near the end now and there were some thick pools of mud that you had to run through. Lucy could see that they were quite deep though and had a plan. She ran with Katie and at the first pool, she dived in, landing a perfect bellyflop in the thick mud. She crawled through even though she could have walked through the knee deep sludge. She rolled onto her back to make sure that was covered and stuffed mud down the front of her dress as well. There was a sucking noise from the brown slop as she stood up next to Katie 'You're mad, what are you doing!' she thought her friend had gone mad. 'Well I wanted to trash this dress and this is my last chance' she said. As she ran to the next pool, she was pulling at the dress, ripping the repairs that had held on. 'Give me a hand, I want to get rid of this bloody thing!' Katie helped her and together, they pulled at the dress until with one big tear, they nearly ripped it in half. Lucy stepped out of it, balled it up and ran to the next pool. She through it in and then bellyflopped on top of it, pushing it into the mud. She stood up and then they both laughed as they trampled on it so it wasn't visible. 'Good riddance to that piece of shit!' she said and held up her hands for a high five from Katie. Katie couldn't believe it but was loving the slight anarchy of the situation. She could see Lucy was fired up now and knew she was going to bellyflop again in the last muddy pool. Katie had so far just run through them but she could see that she would have to dive in as well. 'Last one, we're going for it, right? You're far too clean so you're diving in as well' said Lucy. It hadn't escaped her attention that she was much muddier than Kate and that this needed to change. 'One last thing though'. She looked at her watch again and tried her best to scrape the mud from it. 'I think it's still working but it needs to go'. Her hands were slick with mud which made undoing the strap harder but she managed and ripped it off. 'Bye-bye Christian you loser!' she shouted as she threw the watch into the mud where it sank without a trace. She grabbed Katies wrist 'You know what's coming?' Together they splashed into the last pool and then both dived into the cool mud. Lucy submerged herself and then rolled over and over to make sure she was as covered in mud as she could be. She pulled herself out and then pulled out Katie who was also wallowing in the mud. They squished together in a muddy hug before Katie pushed her back into the muck! Lucy was shocked but loved it and paid Katie back by grabbing two big handfuls of mud and splatting them on her head. They laughed as they carried on mud fighting to the end of the pool, tripping each other up, throwing mud at each other and pushing each other over even though they were both already covered. They hugged again, cool mud squishing out between them. 'I've had the best day ever!' she told Katie 'So much fun and I've finally got rid of those clothes, honestly, that was the best thing for them'. Katie nodded ' I thought you'd gone mad when you were ripping your dress off but it was fun'. They carried on chatting as they squelched through the last of the mud. Other people had been looking at them and they were definitely two of the muddiest, messiest girls of the race. They walked over to where hoses had been set up so they could spray the worst of the mud off themselves. They laughed about the race on the way home and Lucy thought about how fun it had been for the rest of the weekend.