In which Scott and I run a 10k obstacle race and I use a GoPro to record it.

Insane in the Terrain Brain

629 words about health — 08:00 · 7th Oct 2017

After the colourful wake-up call that was the Ely Colour Dash a few weeks ago—where I struggled to run a leisurely 5k—I was eager to see what difference not smoking would make.

I haven’t smoked since I realised why I actually smoked in the first place.

A couple of days after quitting I could already tell the difference.

And after a few weeks the feeling of impending death as I ran had significantly decreased.

I could breath again.

My pace had increased, from the meager 05:55 min/km during a 5k, to a more majestic 04:55 min/km during a 10k run.

I was ready for the next obstacle race.


The event, Go Insane, organised by Insane Terrain Running was a 5k course with obstacles such as wading in water, climbing over a pyramid of hay bales and sliding through mud.

Scott and I had signed up a few weeks earlier and we had both been training to get ready for it.

Carlos Eriksson sliding through foam and fairy liquid, giving the victory sign.
My victory salute.
Scott Mokler sliding through foam and fairy liquid, head first into a pool of water.
Scott bracing for impact.

By the time I had finished the course I was having so much fun that I decided to run it again, bringing my total to 10k.

Again, I’m so sorry for mocking people who ran.

And aside for running my longest obstacle race to date I also decided to record my run using a borrowed GoPro Hero 4.

Now, I’ve never used a GoPro before and in hindsight I really should have checked that the horizon was level before I started running.

But I didn’t.

Oh well.

Despite this I think the footage came out better than I had expected.

Carlos Eriksson posing in front of the Insane Terrain wall, medal in one hand and water in the other.Carlos Eriksson hitting the pool of water at the end of the foam slide.
Figure 1. Another medal for the growing collection.
Figure 2. Ass first into the pool of water.

After the race it was time I retired my running shoes.

They had served me well.

I had gotten the Saucony Swerve last January, in preparation for the Cambridge Half, and I should have probably retired them a long time ago.

That, and I had promised my coworkers I would retire the shoes after the obstacle race—as they rightfully keep pointing out—my toes were, after all, sticking out of both shoes.

The Saucony Swerve with holes through the toes lying next to the Insane Terrain 2017 medal.
Rest in pieces.

Retiring them also meant getting new shoes.

For a while now I’ve been thinking about natural running and being able to run barefeet.

So I’m now breaking in my new Altra Lone Peak 3.5 zero drop shoes—I’ll let you know what I think of them once I had a few runs in them—and getting ready for the next event.

Next up, something much worse.

You’ve just read Insane in the Terrain Brain.

In which, 6 years ago, I wrote 629 words about health and I covered topics, such as: go insane , videos , and running .