2023: wot no orienteering?!

It's been a looong time since I last posted about anything orienteering-related and there's a good reason for that: I've not done any for AGES. Daughter the 1st has given up on it and we've even handed back the club top she was borrowing (that was very cringe). I've also been putting all of my efforts into parkrunning instead, as those events are typically closer to home, start and end earlier, and so consume less of a weekend for me (and the family). So... yeah... no orienteering. 😢

No offence meant to this guy, but it's impossible to look cool while orienteering, isn't it?

While I suspect this means I won't renew my club or BOF membership for 2024, I do still miss getting out for it occasionally. Maybe next year, I'll try to run once or twice as an independent.

Also, 2023 isn't over yet and, looking ahead on the NATO future events page, I see that there's another urban event happening in Cramlington at the start of November. Let's make that a target. It'll be interesting to see how I get on and whether the running has made much of a difference to my ability. If I'm going on past form, however, I suspect the bigger issue may be the navigation. 😂

Oh, and what got me thinking about orienteering again? The building desire to get to the Alnwick Pastures parkrun before the end of the year and the associated thoughts of whether I need to get some trail running shoes for it. If I did treat myself, those shoes would be ideal for orienteering too. But... I may well procrastinate on that for a while yet even though I work just a few minutes from various outdoors shops!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Parkrun #24: Windy Nook

Image
YESSSSS! It's not often I come away from a parkrun with a time only just under 28 minutes (to be confirmed) and feel elated, but today is one such day. Finally bit the bullet today and attended Windy Nook , reputed to be one of the hardest parkruns in the area, wi– Sorry, I'll have to pause this blog post. My time's just come in on SMS and it's a 27:48. Woohoo! 😁 Anyway, as I was saying, Windy Nook is a parkrun with a reputation for being a bit of a killer. So, I was actually more concerned that I'd get a time in the 29's and at least be getting my worst parkrun to date, especially considering I'd been struggling to get under 28:30 during the week. In the end, I was delighted enough to get round without walking, let alone getting under 28 minutes. Normal attendance is around 30 runners, but Saltwell Harriers descended today Why Windy Nook? Last night, I was thinking again about doing Carlisle Park in Morpeth. Ever since doing it the first time, I've bee...
Read more

Midweek: Hawksworth, LS5

Image
Another day, another pre-breakfast run. Hard to believe, but it happened. Today was the final day of our trip to Leeds and I was granted another pass out, which was most welcome. 🙂 This time, I decided to avoid having a ruinously steep hill near the end of the run and so just planned to run around the Hawksworth housing estates rather than dip down towards Kirkstall Abbey again. I briefly checked Google Maps to plan the exact route and then headed out. The idea was to head north till I hit the ominous sounding Butcher Hill, then take that road east as far as Spen Lane. From there, it would be south until I passed under the railway line and then west back up Vesper Road to the Airbnb. Everything went exactly to plan... until I got to Butcher Hill and saw fairly well worn but unofficial tracks leading into an area of scrub and trees. Curiosity piqued, I headed off into the wilderness instead of sticking to the road. I'd be rubbish in a horror film. This wooded area, whic...
Read more

The 2023 Great North 10K

Image
Well, I did it. I finally bagged last year's only failed goal: to finish a 10K event. Finished 10K: ✅ Ran the whole way: ✅ Got under an hour: ✅ Beat my time from April: ✅ My official time was 55:07 in the end, which is frankly crackers. I've done plenty of five kilometre parkruns where I've not even managed that pace. Steve Harper and Brendan Foster getting ready to release the green wave. There's so much I could write about today, but it's already quarter to eleven at night and I don't want to be sat here when today becomes tomorrow. So let's just bullet a few items: The warm-up . I surprised myself by really enjoying and appreciating the orchestrated warm-up. I normally hate being manipulated (that's how I see it), but the guy leading it made it clear it was the best way to avoid injury, so I just went with it today. Being overtaken. Lots . I started very close to the front of my wave, as we were all people who'd said we'd take an hour or more...
Read more