Hell runner up north

On the 2nd of November I "had a date with hell" as the organisers put it. So I headed off to the Delamere Forest in Cheshire for what was likely to be one of the hardest physical challenges of my life.
13.8 miles of mud, swamp, rivers and very rough terrain lay waiting for the 1870 people entered. So at 10.50 am we were herded into the starting area and given a count down. This being my first ever running event and first race on dry land since the age of 13, I was looking around and focusing on the people looking more nervous than myself.
BANG, we were off. The only advice I had received was to get ahead of the masses before the first swamp as this was a massive bottle neck in the race and would only get worse as people squelched through. So I went out at a brisk pace and pushed my way to the leading pack.
Once there I decided to try and match pace with a gent that looked very relaxed and settle into his stride. This was a mistake, after about 3 miles I was forced to slow to my own pace and the gent wearing no:1 left me for dead (not surprising as it turned out he was last years winner).
I plodded on at my own pace through waist depth stagnant water and freezing mud which engulfed my lower limbs.
After about 8 miles I noticed my left foot was starting to swell and my shoe had become very tight. No time to stop as I was now into the stumbling stage of tiredness, I knew I was over half way. So with my foot swelling and calfs burning I dropped into the last major bog section about 200m long, chest deep and full of thing placed to trip you face first into the black water. The last mile was the longest, being in sight of the finish but being guided over every hill on the way.
The finish was a massive relief staggering over the finish in 1hr 50 mins; a time I was very proud of having never raced before and not putting a massive amount of training in.

324th overall not bad but could be better (just like the school reports)

The swollen foot turned out to be 4 stress fracture which made me even more pleased with my time as I many people dropped out of the race with such injuries.