Roman Ramblings at Vindolanda 10k

A last minute decision to enter this new 10k on Tues morning before heading off to the Lakes proved to be both good and bad!! Perhaps doing a Bob Graham leg 4 recce across Helvellyn and the Dodds wasn't the best preparation for a 10k race, but I knew that would be the case - and that was kind of the point of it! 

The Lakes recce was done at a quick pace which felt hard because it was! (once the watch had been consulted at Threlkeld it all made more sense!). It was also unusually hot which had been slightly concealed by the wind on the high fells. All this meant that I went to the start of the Vindolanda 10k tired, with sore quads, dehydrated and sunburnt - perfect! 

The location of this new race was its appeal as well as just getting out and doing something. The sun came out for the 715pm start and as we headed off on a slight uphill gradient for the first km, I began to doubt my ability to even run at all! I had a fleeting thought of dropping out as my legs were so tired, but as we turned the corner and headed left and slightly downhill, my legs didn't mind so much. We also got out of the sun as we headed mostly downhill to around 3km. I was never going to be racing this - it was just going to be a run out, but I still found myself in & around the top 4 places.

The second half of the course was said to be hard and it was !! There was a short but steep climb up to the water station at 5km, a bit of relief then 3 severe hills taking the race to its highest point at about 8.5km. As we turned left for the final time to descend towards the finish at the Roman ruins, it was a nice feeling to be 'nearly there'. I got a nice boost seeing Polar Explorers, Conrad & Hilary, walking along the road, supporting the race, as the fort came into view. The very steep downhill as we turned right reminded the thighs how sore they were! Ouch!!! Even worse was to come, eventhough I suspected it - an nasty uphill finish which made me contemplate walking, but once I'd thought of it, it was too late as we turned in for the run into the finish. Phew!

Probably a personal worst time for me, but I was never going to be quick. In fact, no one is going to be quick on that course, regardless of whether they've been up Helvellyn the day before or not!

It was, however, a lovely venue, scenic, and it was nice to meet up with some friends.

It seems that along with Louise (above) and Maureen Parker, Tynedale was first ladies team. All in all, a good night out.

A Wonderful Weekend at the European Duathlon Champs in Copenhagen

Much worry in the weeks running up to the race - have I done enough training to warrant going to the race ( not really !), how bad will I be as even my running doesn't feel great, how will I get my bike to the courier ( thanks Rose for sorting this all out) , why do they need it 10 days before the race, what kit shall I pack, and all the usual panic !! 

I could hardly believe that it was May already and it was "time"! The weather was initially forecast to be awful for the race and there was much discussion via the Facebook group about what cold / wet weather gear we would be permitted to wear with our GB trisuits. 

Needless to say, we arrived in Copenhagen to bright sunshine! The apartment that Angela had booked for us was lovely and was also the base for the GB Team.

I was travelling with Rose & Sara from One Life, Angela & Hedley. 

It was great to have their company and also to meet up with Gemma & Ian who shared our apartment. 

We arrived on Fri afternoon, in time for the bike course recce, led by Team Manager, Barron. It was a valuable ride out, looking at how the course weaved through the streets through the city and turned (sharply!) into the park. On the left was the sea which looked lovely but meant that there was the potential for a strong wind. We rode round one 30k loop and checked out transition. A very worthwhile exercise! 

On Sat, we had time for a tourist trip on electric bikes to see the famous , but slightly disappointing, Little Mermaid. 

It was incredibly hot for us Northerners and we were all keen to get out of the sun after registration.

There was a team briefing that evening in which Barron went over the latest race instructions. We decided to rack our bikes in the morning. 

It was an early start on the Sun (8 May) but we were staying close to the course so could get set up and return to the room for pre-race faffing! 

Our race started just after the elite women at 8am and it was already sunny! 

After the first lap of the run (5k) along the road, around a park and back along the road to transition / turn around, I was already hot and poured water over my head. Back onto the second lap and the sun was hotting up, making the 10k challenging enough ! I felt quite sick for most of the run, but this soon changed into panic as transition time approached! 

After doing a pre-race run through to locate my bike amongst the many, I was slightly dis-orientated when they had opened a different gate into transition for the race! I had told myself I would be calm and efficient in transition (!) even if it cost me a couple of seconds to get it correct. I soon located my bike and had a gel whilst putting my helmet & shoes on. A quick swig of water and the long jog out to the road. 

The bike course started awkwardly with a turn round a cone and onto a bike path going the wrong way down the road ! I was slow to clip in but soon found my pace and managed to negotiate the twists and turns through the city and remain on my bike! The cobbled section was awful and I feared for my bike! As almost everyone else seemed to go up onto the cycle path to avoid the cobbles, I decided I'd do this on the second lap. The turn into the park was worse than on the recce, due to some strange cone action from the organisers and the country park was not closed as had been expected. I tried to maintain a decent pace over the 2 laps. I got overtaken but managed to overtake a few women. After 1 hour 51, the 60k bike leg was over and the transition 'marathon' was completed in reverse, with officials vocally enforcing 'rules' on where you could leave your helmet! 

The crazy positioning of the one water station meant that you didn't pass it coming out of transition and had to struggle round one very hot 5k run lap until you got to it. I felt like I was dragging myself round the run, but thought that I couldn't be that bad as I was overtaking people all the way round the laps. I was desperate to finish and get out of the heat. I had to really hold it together running through the park on the second lap as the heat was relentless. I was pleased to get back to the road and finish the race. 

Looking good after 3h 25! 😁

A decent result, all things considered , 8th in Europe and qualification for the World Champs 😊

Silver lining at Stockton

There were lots of good reasons for entering the Stockton Standard Distance Duathlon, but they all escaped me as I shivered before the race, barely able to keep the coffee in my cup! It would be my first Standard distance race and although I have had some success at Sprint distance and the longer distance, I am no pro at duathlon. I think Stockton was only my 4th or 5th one. To some there was the added pressure of it being the National Champs, but for me the pressure was that my running seems not to be as good as normal (although I have had some good results!) and I still have general fatigue issues, in both body and mind! 

With duathlon, there's a whole day of your life taken out by the time you have dragged your kit to the right place, faffed about and generally panicked about where the course goes and how you get in and out of transition! I totally failed to work it out, but had a great transition space for my super duper bike, so I was sure that I would find it amongst the hundreds of others.

I found Angela (McGurk, who I'm going to race in Copenhagen with very soon!) and we found the start line so all was good! Slight worries about how cold it would be on the bike and how to count the six laps, but the run was just two, so I hoped I could count to two!! I wanted to set off steady / easy as I wasn't certain how I would feel during the race, so I ran comfortably without going too fast. You have to remember that the whole race is going to take around 2 and a half hours ( well that was my guess-timate). I found myself running with John who I had met on the Tri4U Mallorca training camp two years ago. It was nice to have his company and he's a sensible runner, so we kept a good even pace going. The course was very twisty, out and back around loops along the river and over a wobbly bridge. Two laps of the run were done soon enough; someone with a beepy watch said the course was a bit long but it doesn't matter if you are all doing the same. I wasn't likely to break my 10k pb!! 

Into transition, bike found easily, deep breath, don't panic, remember helmet, off safely to the bike course on which I had no idea where I was going, other than there were three roundabouts! I had also a dodgy strategy for counting laps which involved pressing the lap button on my watch! Hey ho....those Brownlees could learn from me!! I found the bike route challenging as it was technical, with four 180 degrees turns, windy, and spent the first two laps wondering where I was on the lap! I did managed to get down onto my tri bars the majority of the time which was one thing that I wanted to practise. After about four laps, I was shattered, the wind was hard work and there was no respite on the lap at all. I felt like if I stopped pedalling I would just fall off, I was so tired! Next the counting challenge! The worry of doing the correct amount of laps; had I done five laps or six?! It's amazing how you can't count six laps when you are racing. I had been pressing my watch button, but wasn't certain if the 5 meant I'd done 5 or was on 5. I had been watching the time and thought I was taking 12-13 mins approx per lap. As I passed the end of lap 5 (I hoped), I decided I'd check by multiplying 13 by 5 to see what time it'd be and what time 6 laps would take ! Panic ! Can't count! Why is there 1:02 on my watch ? Aaaarghh! Once I'd calmed down, I realised I was ok and was on my last lap! 

Coming into the last turn, I started to get my feet out of my shoes, but the dismount line was immediately after the turn in, so I only got one foot out. Never mind, at least I didn't fall off! I should have checked that before but there wasn't enough time for me to do the 'shoe thing' in that short stretch so I'm not sure what I would have done better there.

Transition was fine again, not quick but correct! I headed off on the second run which was one lap (5k ish). I'm actually ok at running off the bike and even though I was wrecked from the fight with the wind, I managed to overtake runners as I went round the lap. 

This makes you feel like you are doing something well, at least! I knew that I wasn't running particularly fast, but I wasn't overtaken by any women so that was good. I knew that another Mallorca friend, Liz, was ahead of me and a few others but I had no idea of my actual position in the race. Over the wobbly bridge and the run was almost over. It seemed a short run as the longer races have a 10k and it was pleasant to get it over with 'quickly' i.e the pain doesn't last too long! 

I saw Liz at the finish and she directed me to the results printer. I was surprised to be just outside my prediction of 2:30, considering it wasn't the greatest performance by me! We compared finishing positions and Liz was hopeful that we had medalled. It hadn't crossed my mind! 

I felt shattered and in need of fuel and warm clothes, so I got myself sorted, saw a few One Lifers, and had a coffee with Katherine Davis, who had run well but sadly realised she had done the wrong amount of bike laps - grrrr! We waited for the presentation. Liz gave me the thumbs up, part way through and she was right. She was National Champion and I was runner-up! Totally unexpected by me. Medals also for the rest of the Copehagen crew - Angela, Hedley and Rose! Also a silver for John. Well done guys! 

The Bog-fest and the Birdie

The time for worrying was over as it was almost time to start the bog-fest that is the Allendale Challenge. The walkers start from Allendale village square at 8am followed by the runners at 10am. A bit of pre-race chat with some familiar faces, the standard panic about what to wear and how cold it would be on the tops, a last minute decision to put an extra t-shirt on and it was time to head down the hill towards the river and then up, up, up to the fells. I had felt quite sick before the race, as I know that it isn't really the best route for me (too boggy!) and I hadn't done enough long runs. I'm also mindful of the inherent fatigue that I have from a few busy years of running ultras which hit me hard after the Lakes Sky Uktra and has taken most of the winter to fade. 

I felt surprisingly good running along the road and found myself alongside Geoff, Bernard, Gary, Nat and Dave (Coxon). Although the pace was decent, it felt fine. My thoughts turned to just getting it over with. I noticed Geoff running the up hills to which I commented that he wasn't following BG procedure. He informed me that BG rules did not apply ! It's probably only funny if you are there at the time but it got me round and made me push on. 

                                     Thanks to Gary Mason for the photo

As we headed off onto the fell, Geoff pulled away with his flexible ankles but he wouldn't be surprised to find me back on his heels at the Ninebanks road crossing. As we hit the rougher up hill track, I saw Geoff reach for his food and knew that it was a wise move. I slowed down and made sure that I ate and drank - there was a long way to go. Geoff and Bernard moved away from me along this track and onto the fell. I knew there was little chance of seeing them again as they are both much better than me on the rough ground. I pushed on to the summit at the Chimneys where some of the walkers were sitting enjoying their picnic in the sunshine. No time for stopping, I just tried to enjoy the down hill, passing a few walkers along the way. The pleasure is short-lived as this is the start of the really rough stuff, crossing the moor with only a very faint path, and either heather or bog underfoot! I was trying my best to keep running but it is tricky with a dense population of walkers and bogs to try to dodge! I kept close to the wire fence at times, hoping that at least I could hold onto it if I was going in - you know it's going to happen at some point, it's just when.... I had a moment of deja vu at the wall corner where a lady was temporarily stuck fast in the same location as I had been 4 years previously! If Geoff hadn't pulled me out, I would still have been there! I managed to cut across quite well but it wasn't long before a wide stretch of bog slurped me up! Alerted to the extra wet section by a group of walkers, I chose a dodgy squidgy section and hoped it held - it didn't! I went in chest-deep! A nano second of panic and the realisation that I had chosen a clumpy bit of bog so that I could pull myself out ( as opposed to the black peat bog which sucks you in!) and it was actually 'fine'. I slithered out covered in yucky stuff, tried to wipe my hands clean on my trousers, realised they were too dirty to accomplish any kind of wiping, considered rolling in a dry section to get clean, settled for wiping my hands in some dry grass and carried on smelling delightful, I'm sure! As the Black Hill check point was approaching, I walked up the short grassy hill and round the corner eating, hoping that there would be a drink available to wash it down with. I trotted into the checkpoint, grabbed a cup of water and straight out again and onwards to Killhope. If the bogs are tiring, the peat hags along this section are possibly more energy sapping! The up-ing and down-ing as you try to find a route through the deep hags makes progress slow. I'm not sure what the optimum line is, and with the mast blown down in the storms, there was nothing obvious to aim for. I tried to make my way alongside the walkers but skirting round the hags as much as possible to minimise the undulations. I soon got to Killhope and was delighted to be greeted by Neil and Bob the dog. They offered to trot down to the next checkpoint with me which was lovely and raised my spirits as I was feeling a bit cold after my bog dipping! Neil is always very encouraging and has lots of experience. He checked with me that I was eating enough, pointed me towards the drinks and said he would try to meet me later after Bob had eaten his lunch!!

The riverside path was narrow but soon weaved its way out to the road crossing at the bottom of the Drag. I had hoped that there were 4 miles left but the marshal said 6 and a half! Disappointing! The Drag lived up to its billing, and although I was running up, overtaking walkers and runners, I still was conscious that the other ladies could be close behind. I allowed myself a little walk around the bend, got myself together again and pushed on. No matter how tired I felt, I wasn't going to slow down and let people catch me up and then regret walking! I also knew that my friends ahead would be feeling the pain too and wanted to catch them if I could. At the final checkpoint ( Ladywell), I grabbed an orange juice & some jelly sweets and swigged it down as I walked up the path and onto part of the Hobble route towards Stobbs Cross. It's an annoying bit of moor at this stage in the race but soft underfoot. I just needed to stay on my feet ( not always that easy) and get to the road first and then I hoped that I could win. Since I saw Neil, I had been desperately hoping to win the lovely trophy as I knew that my kids would like it! 

As I came through the fell gate, Neil and Bob came into view again. I was hoping that they would make it - it's always nice to see a friendly face ( or 2!). Next I saw Fiona, waiting for Marcus and Jules and further down the road were Nat's family. I was overtaking walkers and runners going down the hill and I was pretty sure that I was the first lady runner back to the village, but also slightly worried that I wasn't. I pulled my route card out for the final time and sprinted across the grass and back to the village hall. 

Thankfully I was back first, after 5 hours 10 minutes of challenging running. I was tired but delighted to be presented with the lovely golden birdie trophy. Many thanks to the North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team for a great event, certificate, badge, tshirt and not forgetting the pie and peas in the pub afterwards - yum, yum!! 

The golden birdie (aka red grouse) trophy much stroked by my little people who love it! 

Winning Weekend

I really enjoyed the first of the Dales Trail Series races on Sat - the DT20. I had reccied part of the route in Feb but some of the route was a rather muddy surprise!! Setting off from Fremington and heading up hill for almost 20 minutes certainly ensured you were warm ! It was much calmer than I had expected running along the 'Edge' to the Pile of Stones. 

A sneaky and slightly technical descent brought us to the road crossing at approx 5 miles. A long and greasy slope took us up to the water station at halfway, reached in a steady 1hr 15 ish for me. They must have picked the windiest place for the poor marshals to stand! The remainder of the climb was wet and breezy up to the summit, through the heather. I recognised the path off, heading down to the main track and knew that there were about 3 miles still to go. As I had paced it conservatively, I was able to move quickly on the better ground and back onto the moor before we crossed the road and found ourselves on a sneaky up hill drag through a farm then back across the mud to the finish. I kicked up enough mud to ensure that I ended up with a couple of clarts in the hood of my jacket which was round my waist !! 

Crossing the line in about 2 hrs 9, I was delighted to find myself awarded a £30 voucher for Swaledale Outdoors at the presentation, for 1st v45 lady - an added bonus, along with the fab goody bag and hot drinks and cake! 

For this race, I tried out a new pair of Scott Kinabalu trail shoes which proved to have an amazingly good grip, not slipping once on the very greasy muddy surface or the tricky stony descents. I wore them with Injinji socks which were very comfortable even in these testing conditions. Thanks to Tony at The Ultra-runner Store for his continued support. 

On Sun, I took 2 little orienteers to the Morpeth Gathering at Carlisle Park. Keen to perform well in the Family competition, the pressure was on to find all of the controls and to get my tired legs moving quickly around the paths, over bridges and around the play area. Carefully checking off the controls and dibbing, we arrived at the finish in 13 mins 50. It felt quick ! The girls were delighted to find that we had won the Family Trophy - and so was I ( phew !!).

I managed to get time to do the v40+ ladies event, but managed to annoy myself by picking the wrong street and making a mess of control 3. I managed to make slightly less of a mess of the other street control on the way back ! It was enough to place me 2nd but very frustrating nevertheless! Running quickly in the wrong direction definitely doesn't work ! 

Blyth Sands Orienteering with the Little People

With Cutie needing just one more completion to make up her 4 scores in the Winter LOP series, we headed up to Blyth. It is not an area that I know and I was pleasantly surprised to find a lovely sea front with play areas, beach huts and a cafe. 

Today we chose the age-appropriate yellow course, oriented the map at an unusual angle, as North was not shown as vertically up, and headed off towards the dunes! 

Control 1 was easily found on the signpost but 2 was slightly more tricky. In finding it, I realised which map lines referred to which paths and we were then able to race around the route to the exciting sounding 'cave' at 3. The hardest one for the girls was 4 as I took the direct route choice across the sand! We quickly found 5 and Cutie was revved up for a run along the path to 6! We let the Popstar catch up before I send Cutie from the last control at 7, along the footpath to the car park finish. The registration car had had to move slightly which made her slow down enough that I managed to catch her back up and watch her cross the car park and finish. Phew! I went back to collect up the other one who was almost at the car park by now, too. Another great route and super speedy running by the smallest member of the family!! It was agreed that the play areas and ice creams needed investigating! 

Lovely to find a new area - we might return for another ice cream!

Cutie awaits the series results....

Tricky Times at Hutton Woods Orienteering Event

I was undecided what to do this weekend as I had a throat lurgy which was trying to attack the rest of my body and the weather was looking iffy in parts. I almost opted for the Eden Epic Sportive as I need to get out on my bike, but I just don't have cold weather cycling kit and thought 60 miles would be too much too soon! Instead I opted for orienteering which I thought would get me some fresh air at a more leisurely pace! The Hutton Woods course was more challenging than I, and it seems a few others, had bargained for! Not that I find orienteering in any way easy, it's just a more leisurely pace than a training run for me as I'm always stopping and starting.

To score points in my age category, I had to do the blue course which is technically difficult and was described as challenging underfoot. It was definitely both of these!! 

Mother's Day Treats !

The start in the wood set the tone for much of the course. The navigation required was tricky as there were lots of paths and the controls were more hidden than I have previously encountered and also were difficult to physically get to and from. I somehow found 1 and then knew whereabouts 2 was but it was sneakily hidden. Control 3 I struggled with as I didn't know how to tell which part of the bank it was on, but a kind guy pointed me in the correct direction! The controls were hidden so you couldn't very often get a glimpse of them until you were basically at them. Surprisingly I found 4 & 5 easily but 6 threw up a similar challenge to 3. I knew whereabouts it was and what I was looking for but I didn't know how to pin-point it's exact location. After much wandering around in heather, I found it, mainly because other people were looking for it too! In doing so, I had noticed a rather large mound in the distance which was soon confirmed as Little Roseberry as 7, 8 and 9 took me to a familiar place from fell running but not on the same tracks. Control 8 wasn't where I was expecting but 7 & 9 were fine. The long distance back to 10 was something new too and although I don't mind distance, I actually had no clue of the best route to take so I went back up to the gate I came in by and turned left. I thought if I stuck to the path then I would be fine, but no! I still don't know how I ended up so far away. I think I just took a higher path and ended up on the wrong side of some 'fight' and couldn't get back across, so had to run round on the forest road. I must have confused the paths, but even now I don't know which path I missed as they are huge on the map. maybe there were more paths on the ground than on the map?! I struggled with that a couple of times if I got confused as I didn't know which was a defined path on the map and which was not mapped. 

Once I found the little wooded area where 10 was, it was still tricky for me to find. Again I didn't know how to pinpoint it, but got it finally. Loads of time wasted but at least I had dibbed! Control 11 I expected to be hidden and it didn't disappoint! Nor did 12! The underfoot conditions were tiring as you were unable to move quickly in the undergrowth and regularly found briars wrapped round your feet. I came back to the road and found 13 quickly ( it actually wasn't hidden from view!) but 14 had me contemplating giving in! Again I knew whereabouts it was but not exactly enough and although I scrambled along the ground where it was, this was hard work, annoying ( more briars and branches !) and not that likely to be successful as I knew the control would be hidden! Luckily as I ran back along the track, I spotted an opening and found it, but it was really hard to get to on a steep slippery bank entangled in roots and branches. Control 15 I found immediately and it was easy to see. Same again with 16, I knew where it was but ended up on the lower path, turned around to run back on the higher path and saw a small brick ruin, amongst the briars of course! Patience was running thin by now. I knew 17 was a well as they had said at registration. Stupidly, I thought this would be a nice big wishing well! I saw a guy on a different course who had a control at the stream junction and had taken a bearing and we bashed through the the branches together and found the moss covered stone that was the well! We agreed that it had been a very hard course as we scrambled on all fours up from the well to the road side and the penultimate control! Even I couldn't miss the finish from there! 

Well my nice bit of fresh air had been 2 hours 45 of frustration, but that aside, I am quite pleased with myself having finished. I got all of the controls, ok I made mistakes but that seems to be the way in orienteering, and although I took a long time, I finished what was by far the hardest orienteering course that I have ever done. I'm annoyed with 10 as I just don't understand which path I was on but the lesson learned from that is that I should have gone around the other side ( clockwise) as there was no 'fight' so I could have rectified my mistakes more easily and seen the paths around me. I shall have to ask my orienteering friends how to pin point the controls so that I can do that better in future and save thrashing about in the undergrowth!! You learn something new everyday with this orienteering lark! 

Dales Trails Trip Out - what's not to love on Valentine's Day ?!

Seized a 'window of opportunity' between the wind, rain and snow and child care, to have a run around the Dales trails, starting from Reeth on a cool but mostly bright day. I'm thinking of doing some races around here this season, so we used the DT20 route as a starting point for our run. It was nice to run along some interesting new trails, test out my map reading skills and have a natter with Jane. A breath of fresh air that we both needed followed by egg and muffins at a lovely cafe in Reeth village square! 

Half term holiday fun - contours, cake and clarts!

Another great little orienteering event on Sat morning, organised by the NATO team, and very local too - Prudhoe East. I helped the girls get round the yellow course in lovely muddy conditions! We managed to get the best of the weather as the sleet kindly stopped whilst where we were out with our map. Great excitement today as it was the punch-type controls which Cutie tried to work out what patterns the punches were making at every control!! Some ambitious navigating (!?!) saw us cut through the woods and off the path, following a straight line to control 4. The slight uphill was no surprise but the abrupt end to the rise and the rather too steep for tiny legs downhill meant that we had to side-step a bit to find a safer descent. So Joe was correct "contours are crucial"!

We successfully found all of our controls, brought home our fair share of mud and got some more points in the league.

http://www.newcastleorienteering.org.uk/evres/1516/Winter16/Prudhoe0213.pdf

 Following on from this, an uncharacteristic baking session resulted in a yummy banana loaf which should provide a bit of energy for more half term fun 😋

#supersaturday

Urban Orienteering at Cramlington

Really enjoying orienteering at the minute. It's a great way of getting out for a run without focussing purely on "how far, how fast" . I haven't got much enthusiasm for going out for long road runs and the weather out and about on the fells is still not much fun, so orienteering is ticking the boxes for me at the minute.

On Sunday, it was urban orienteering at Cramlington. I was slightly nervous of getting ridiculously 'lost' ( i.e. not finding the controls) as I had tried some street orienteering in Prudhoe before and found it rather challenging!! 

The scale of the map is such that the distances are tiny and the detail is incredible - you have all of the tiny paths between houses and individual trees marked on! 

My course had a whopping (for me! ) 25 controls in just over 5km. This is straight line distance, I believe, and the actual distance was said to be up to 50% more depending on route choice.

I was delighted to find all of the controls and had a fair idea where I was and where I was heading, most of the time! 

On analysing the results, it is clear that it takes me longer to get going than everyone else but I'm generally not too far off the pace for the majority of the controls. I had a tricky control where I knew what I was looking for but as I approached from the 'wrong' side, the kite was not obvious as it was tucked into a hedge around a corner and was obscured from my view. 

http://www.newcastleorienteering.org.uk/evres/1516/Cramlington0207/topindex.html

I learned some more symbols, met an old colleague and had a good fartlek-type training run! What's not to like?! I'm already looking forward to taking the girls to the next Saturday event at Prudhoe. 

Winning Wintery Weekend ❄️

The last race I 'ran' (battled!) was the Lakes Sky Ultra way back in Sept. A brutal 13 hours plus in all weathers. Today's race was, in stark contrast, around 13 minutes long! 

The Durham Relays are a popular local lung-buster and at the short end of my range, being only 3000 m long and on mainly flat grass. We made our annual pilgrimage from Tynedale, this time managing 3 ladies' and 1 men's team. 

I was looking forward to the social aspect and teaming up with Kirstie & Karen, once again, but this time in the older v45+ category. 

Kirstie had a strong run on the first leg and brought us in well up the field, hanging on to the youngsters as best she could! I took over on leg 2 and quickly got into my running. I was pleased to overtake a couple of runners and felt strong throughout, although I was worried that fatigue might set in on lap 2.

Karen was away at speed and zoomed round her two laps, as usual. Kirstie & I scrutinised the finishers carefully to check whether they look as old as us or not!! We concluded that we looked the oldest team so far and hoped that we had won the vets relays. 

As the results are complex, there's often a long wait so we've now found some lovely off-road cool down runs. Karen & I treated the Tynedale ladies to one of these - well I think they said it was a treat!!

Coffee and results time soon came around and we were delighted to be announced as NE Champions - yeah 👍

I also managed to sneak in some orienteering on Sat with Cutie who was super quick at spotting the controls on the yellow course. She was a 'winner', too ! Good practise for me and good fun for her. 

New Year, 'new' sport....

After a quiet few months, recovering from the many miles run ( in a small number of races!) , I have been thinking about trying some local orienteering races. I did a bit of orienteering a couple of years ago, which the girls and I all enjoyed for a while, but things get busy and there is never time to do everything that I would like to. 

A fellow Harrier drew my attention to a local event today, which spurred me on to get out in the mud with my compass and whistle! I chose to do the long orange course which, I think, is moderately technical navigation over a long distance which was approx 5.4km (straight line distance) today.

I always have a bit of a panic at the start and a crisis of confidence over finding the first control! Luckily, I headed in the correct direction and found the first 3 controls quite easily. There was a long run to 4 which had me hoping my strategy was correct but it all worked out fine and the control was where I had hoped it would be! The most tricky ones for me, were 6 & 8. I knew where I was going but there was a myriad of paths and lots of slippery mud to disturb your concentration. I was pleased that I found the sneakily placed 10, but wasn't sure about how to get to the finish. After a bit of indecision (should have just gone with my gut instinct) I dibbed out. Returning to registration at the Scout Hut, I handed back my dibber and was happy that it confirmed that I had visited all of the required controls! Phew, mission accomplished! 

Even better, I subsequently found out that I had been fastest over the long orange course 😃

There are lots of great things about orienteering :

* it involves running, but also thinking!

* sociable - great to see my Club members in a different environment

* you are always learning something. Today I learnt that this sign ^ means a ditch and I remembered that white is the area you can run through (would have got me to 6 quicker on a bearing) and that the olive green (RHS of map) is settlement. 

Can't wait for the next one!