P is for Puddle Racing... the running craze that's drenching the nation!

Do you sometimes wish you could liven up your run with a game which combines the fun of the log flume with an Olympic sprint final? Are you bored of arriving home bone dry? Have you got a masochistic sense of fun?

If so... puddle racing is just the game for you!

Why should ducks have all the fun? Try puddle racing today! 

Playing Puddle Racing is quick... sometimes it's SO quick you don't even know you're playing!

You will need:

• Yourself- running- outside- next to a road (preferably a really busy road, on which are lots of wagons/ lorries/ guys in white vans)
• A competitor- this competitor must be driving a motor vehicle. The heavier and bigger the vehicle, the greater the challenge

Method:

1) Innocently run along the road side wearing your usual amount of spandex. Some competitors listen to their i-pods whilst running, others prefer the sound of silence/ bird song/ babbling rivers/ the garbage van emptying the wheely bins... you know, sounds that help them to reconnect with nature.

2) Run next to a massive, really deep, really dirty puddle... keep running...

3) See the wagon driver who has just turned the corner, spotted the puddle then spotted you as his next unwitting puddle racing contestant.

4) Glare at the puddle then glare at the driver, prepare to sprint as the driver revs his engine. He's determined to splash you

5) ... ready...steady... RACE!!!!!!

6) Race to the other side of the puddle. If you manage to defy the odds and escape un-drenched, stop and do the Shuffle/ the Freak or some other suitably impressive dance of victory.  

7) If you lost, keep running (but try not to drip too much on the path otherwise you might just slip and hurt something.)

Well done! You played your first game of Puddle Racing. You need never be a bored runner again!

I played puddle racing this morning. I lost!

I ran five miles of an eight mile run wearing squelchy spandex. It wasn't my finest hour. As he drove through what can only be described as a swimming pool full of dirty water, I'm sure I heard the wagon driver howling with laughter. Just you wait... next time I'll be ready!

            The very best thing about losing at puddle racing was that, because I was soaked, I sprinted around my local mountainous route. I ran eight miles in only 1 hour, 13 minutes. I didn't walk, I didn't nap, I didn't nip behind a tree for a wee and sting my bottom in a patch of nettles... I just kept on squelching. Perhaps I need to arrange for the wagon driver to chase me around my half marathon course, then I'm sure to achieve my personal best! 

Happy puddle running lovely readers x