Running

I’m looking for a new challenge and I’ve always wanted to improve my navigation skills. I want to compete in events that require the use of a map and compass so I need to learn and practice the skills. I found out that the local orienteering group, The Essex Stragglers, were organising an event in my village so I jumped at the chance to find out more. I’ve been to lots of running events and the format is pretty simple; turn up, register, get race number, pin on vest and then run....

When I first set out to write this post I had planned to say that gym work was a valuable thing for a runner to do. I still stand by that but with some important caveats. Does it matter? Short answer I believe is “Yes”. I should expand on that though. For many years I didn’t go near a gym. I trained hard and pushed my fitness and endurance hard but at no point did I worry about upper body or core conditioning....

Picture the scene, it’s a lovely sunny day and you’ve been running for hours. You arrive at an aid station feeling hot and thirsty, someone gives you an ice cold cup of your favourite race drink. Awesome. Just what you needed. Right, now let’s change some parameters, you’re not running on a sunny day, actually it’s -5C, the wind is blasting and you are struggling to keep warm. That freezing cold drink is suddenly the worse thing in the world....

I’d heard that Gatliff was hard and it lived up to that assessment. The course was extremely muddy and had plenty of water on it, both making for difficult running conditions. I must be wired wrong because under those conditions I stop bothering to avoid muddy puddles and simply run right through the middle of them. It’s actually much easier to plough through the middle than to edge around the sides trying to avoid getting your feet wet....

It’s the Gatliff Marathon tomorrow and I’m rather looking forward to it. I hadn’t done much research on this event but now that I have it would appear that it’s a pretty tricky little race. Loads of mud and climbing. I’m approaching it the same way I approached Longmynd but changing some of the things I got wrong. Race plan is to take time over the navigation, respect the hills and run hard at all other times....