Nathan: Hi, I’m Nathan from the DVCC and today I’m going to be speaking with Roxanne about the recent 5k mud run that she did called the Warrior Adrenaline race, that we took part in as part of a 30-person strong DVCC team. So first things first, Roxanne, can you please introduce yourself?
Roxanne: Hi, I’m Roxanne!
Nathan: And how old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?
Roxanne: I am 27.
Nathan: Awesome – do you have any children?
Roxanne: No.
Nathan: And what do you do for a living, Rockie?
Roxanne: I work in I.T.
Nathan: Ok – have you been doing that long?
Roxanne: Yes, pretty much for my entire working life!
Nathan: Ok! What exercise experience do you have, previous to the DVCC?
Roxanne: Pretty much none. I tried to do a little bit for myself, but not done anything, you know, not joined any groups or anything like that; just doing exercise, so this is my first time doing that.
Nathan: Were you doing any running before the DVCC, at all?
Roxanne: Yes, I tried running; I don’t really enjoy it that much, but I’ve always thought I would like to like running but it’s quite difficult.
Nathan: It is, I have always wanted to do running, I’m just not very good at it personally; I can understand that. Ok, so how far were you running before the DVCC, what kind of distance runs were you going on?
Roxanne: Maybe a mile, at most 2 miles.
Nathan: Ok; and how often would you be running?
Roxanne: Well when I’ve tried to get better at running, I’ve tried to go a few times a week; but mostly it’s like once a week and that doesn’t really help me improve at all.
Nathan: Ok, I can understand that. And since starting at the DVCC, have you been running much – I know you said you were doing a little bit of running, but was that for the race itself?
Roxanne: Yes, I started off doing a little bit of running because we have Sundays off here because the centre is closed, so I started doing running on a Sunday, just an extra bit of exercise to do. And then when we knew we were going to do the mud run, I thought I had better start doing some more to try and get better! So I was going about 3 times a week.
Nathan: Do you enjoy running?
Roxanne: I have found moments where I have enjoyed it; most of the time I don’t, but every now and again I will run and I actually start enjoying it.
Nathan: Looking back, say a year ago, could you imagine that you would be sitting here with me now, being interviewed about doing a mud run or an obstacle run?
Roxanne: No way!
Nathan: How did you feel on the morning of the race?
Roxanne: I was nervous; at first I felt ok, and then a few of us all drove down together and the closer we got, the more the butterflies started!
Nathan: Ok, so were you nervous the moment you signed up? Because you signed up, like, weeks before, didn’t you, you were one of the first?
Roxanne: No I wasn’t nervous when I first signed up, and I was looking forward to it all the way up to it, it was just when we got in the car.
Nathan: It dawned on you a little bit! What were your expectations of what you were about to do when you arrived on race day?
Roxanne: Well I knew I was going to have to run 5k! – which was one of the most daunting bits for me. But then obviously there were the obstacles; I’ve done an obstacle 5k, probably about 3 years ago, for Cancer research, and I thought it would be something similar to that.
Nathan: Was it?
Roxanne: No, it was a lot harder!
Nathan: So the running was what was the most daunting for you?
Roxanne: Yes.
Nathan: How did you find the atmosphere on the day?
Roxanne: It was great – it was so good being part of a team, because everyone was just looking out for everybody, it was real camaraderie. Even people that weren’t in the DVCC team were really nice and friendly, and everyone seemed to help everybody.
Nathan: Yes, it was a super nice atmosphere.
Roxanne: It was all about getting through it rather than getting a good time or anything like that.
Nathan: So you didn’t really feel like it was… did you think it was going to be more competitive?
Roxanne: Yes
Nathan: I’ve found, and we’ve always found when we have done DVCC runs, that they are very… just basically everyone helping each other get round, which is awesome and it’s a great day. Did you complete all the obstacles?
Roxanne: Not all of them.
Nathan: Ok. Do you think that the training you’ve done at the DVCC helped you with the obstacles?
Roxanne: Massively. I could not have done probably any of the obstacles without training; and just simple things like being able to pull my own body weight up on to things, I would never have been able to do that before. And the first obstacle we got to where you had to that, I was really daunted by it, really nervous, but I had a go and I was really shocked that I could do it.
Nathan: Good from you. When you decided not to do an obstacle, did you feel any pressure from anybody at all, or was it just, “I’m not doing it”?
Roxanne: No, not at all, no pressure. It was completely up to you if you wanted to do it or not. So the ones I didn’t do were ones where I thought I was likely to maybe hurt myself if I tried them. And also one very big, high thing that you had to jump off of which - I got to the top and then decided I couldn’t do it!
Nathan: That’s alright – it was quite high, so I can understand that. Was there anything that you were nervous about, obstacle wise, when you saw it coming up, but then managed to push past your fear and then go on to do it?
Roxanne: Yes – it sounds really, really ridiculous, but the thing that scared me when I was coming up to it was the big inflatable slide thing, because that was high!
Nathan: Yes it was high.
Roxanne: And I don’t really like those kind of things anyway, because you’re unsteady on your feet, I thought I was going to fall and that’s what kind of worried me.
Nathan: It was wet as well, wasn’t it?
Roxanne: Yes, it was slippy and we were all muddy and… it was quite nerve wracking, but I did it, and the guys that I was running with, they all kind of made me feel better about it, gave me the confidence to get up it and do it!
Nathan: Good on you for conquering your fears, well done. What advice would you give to somebody that wants to do a mud run but is perhaps maybe a bit nervous about doing one?
Roxanne: Just go for it. Like we were saying, everyone supports everybody so you’re not on your own, you’re never left on your own to run round; we all seemed to split off into smaller groups and we stuck together. So you’re never on your own – just go for it. You never know until you try!
Nathan: Yes, exactly. And the last question is will you be taking part in the next mud run that the DVCC puts on?
Roxanne: Definitely, 100%.
Nathan: Good times; we look forward to having you there, Rockie. Well Rockie, thank you very much for your time today, it’s been a pleasure to speak to you. And if you’re listening to this interview, I hope you found it useful and I hope you have a good day.
