20100223 Asda Run, GPX

When I reached three for the second time I then had a little tow behind Anthony Squire. I couldn’t keep up for long though and by number nine he had disappeared off in to the distance leaving me to trudge up the hill to ten on my own. I made a bit of a dubious route choice 14 to 15 but needed a bit of a break from the forest which the track run provided. I stumbled again at 17, following one of the myriad of unmapped ditches off to the east. Overall I enjoyed myself though and didn’t do too badly in the results. You can see my route on RouteGadget. Perhaps what made the day was the glorious sunshine. Despite the snow on the ground, it really did feel quite warm standing in the clearing by download with just a short-sleeved top on.

It was, however, hard work persuading Christine to go to the event the following day at Lydney Park and in many ways I wish I hadn’t. Due to snow on the parking field they were bussing competitors from an industrial estate in Lydney and that was always going to be a bit of a nightmare with split starts. Christine was off first and, as there was little to do around the car park, I decided to take Emma and Duncan on the bus. It was a bit of a trek from the bus stop to the finish area and Emma didn’t seem too interested in doing the string course by the time we got there. She sat down in the snow eating her snack and complained about having a cold bottom and the bright sunshine reflecting off the snow in to her eyes. When Christine came back she wasn’t exactly filled with glowing praise for the area: steep, muddy and brambly. I was glad to hand Duncan over at this point having been carrying him around for about two hours.

When the time finally came for my run I felt very sluggish climbing up the hill to the first control.  I then managed to overshoot the fourth control due to being too far up the slope (although the control I hit on the knoll beyond must have been further up the hill than shown on the map). By the seventh control I had been out half an hour which might not have been so bad if there weren’t 34 controls on my course. I had already started to think about where I might cut short and concluded that if I hadn’t done half the course in an hour then I’d miss out the last 10 controls. Unfortunately I reached the mid-point at around 61 minutes and decided I should plough on.

I made a bad route choice to 25 and found myself sliding down a steep muddy bank on my bum when I should have crossed to the other side of the valley much earlier. Then on the way to 28 I found myself wading through a mixture of young conifers and brambles in the open area. I was pretty gone by this point having had nothing to eat but a homous sandwich since breakfast about six hours earlier. The next two legs were a complete disaster as shown on RouteGadget. On the way to 29 I was far too far east and found myself staggering through the dark green and had to relocate off the open. Then 30 was just a nightmare. I must have run with three metres of the control (a supposedly large boulder) on my first pass. I then took me around another 20 minutes to find the control which was in a pit in front of the boulder. NGOC are renowned for hiding controls and they had surpassed themselves on this one.

I eventually finished in 2:13, absolutely exhausted and not best pleased at having to wait ages for the return bus. Then I discovered at download that I have a version 5 SportIdent card and I should have picked up a loan card at registration as mine wouldn’t register times for any more than 30 controls. (I’ve ordered a new one now!) At least the results were better for Christine’s family. She won W21S and her brother won my course (which I shall never live down!) We eventually got home about 6:30pm with Duncan having grumbled half the way. Not the best day of orienteering I’ve had.

We went to SOC’s local event at Anderwood in the New Forest today. No string course this time so I took Emma and Duncan round the Yellow course whilst Christine nipped round the Green. Duncan nodded off half way round and Emma spent most of the time in the running buggy. Christine passed us on our way from the last control and came back to meet us. This meant I could head back to the car with dozing Duncan whilst Emma climbed about on a conveniently placed ring of tree stumps. They had only just made it back to download (Emma with a big stick in each hand) as I set off for the start to do the Blue.

It wasn’t the most exciting of courses. I think I was suffering a bit from giving blood on Thursday as I didn’t really have the speed to make the most of the runnable forest. It was pretty cold too and I had to move my Emit brick from my little finger when I could no longer feel it. I took just over 40 minutes for 6.5km or so which is reasonably respectable. I’m not sure whether there will be any results published for the event. The best bit had to be the fact that we were back home within 4 hours of leaving having both had a run.

2010021 Anderwood Blue Course GPX

20100202 Sainsburys GPX

I was running Black/M21 which, at 10.8km was theoretically on the short side but plenty long enough for me. The going was fast with the bracken having been killed off by the snow and ice so generally there was no excuse not to go straight except for the odd minor deviation to take in to account the short sharp inclines (Star Posts is one of the few areas in the South East where you can actually navigate by the contours). Extra interest was added to the course by the addition of a film set (Harry Potter supposedly) and coming across a mountain biker being tended to by paramedics which had been joined by an air ambulance the next time I passed.

I had only a couple of minor wobbles: following everyone else straight out the start rather than turning 90 degrees left and then number 7 where I wasted a bit of time in the series of gulleys. I was glad to catch Alan Cherry towards the end and, with the addition of Joe Mercer speeding past, this provided some incentive to keep my tired legs going. As the results show, Joe whopped me by around 10 minutes but I’m still fairly happy with 5th place and it would seem that also makes me SCOA Champion! I forgot my GPS but I’ve drawn my route up here.

We finally concluded that the best way for transporting two small children on walks from home (e.g. to the shops) is a double buggy. It’s just a bit too far for Emma to ride on the buggy board and she’s still a little reluctant to give up her seat to Duncan. This really wasn’t enough of an incentive to spend a couple of hundred pounds on what would be our 5th buggy so we bought one second-hand on eBay. Anyway, the point of the story is that this took us over to Portsmouth to collect it and we decided to try out our Culture-all Passport at another venue: Staunton Country Park.

Emma certainly enjoyed seeing all of the animals on the ornamental farm and there were lots of chances to get up close (much to Christine’s dismay). The glasshouses provided an opportunity for us to warm up a bit as the weather, despite being sunny, was still a bit on the chilly side. We were running out of time at this point so didn’t get a chance to explore the country park itself over the road (which even promises an orienteering course). We’ll definitely go back there at some point, preferably when it is a bit warmer. Photos on Flickr.

As an amusing aside, it seems that the first word Emma has learnt to read is… ASDA! She was told what the word was this morning from a cereal packet and then read it back from a lorry on our way home from Staunton.

We decided to make the most of the sunshine today and spent a large part of it at Hillier Gardens. Despite no longer being members, entry is still free with our Culture-all Passport. In some ways, the passport is better as, in my absence, Christine can take any guest along with her for free. I’ve put a small selection of photos up on Flickr. (I’ve decided to make a concerted effort to download photos in a more timely manner, sort them more ruthlessly and get more of them up on the web.) Unfortunately a large number of people had obviously had the same idea and, although they are easily lost in the gardens, there was a long queue to get something to eat.

I’m behind on the blog so this post is a catch-all for our activities over the festive period. Having taken the weeks off before and after Christmas we’ve had plenty of time for visiting friends and family and also had a chance to spend a bit of time at home. On the Tuesday before Christmas we set off to visit Christine’s parents in Monmouth (it’s her Dad’s birthday on the 23rd). We failed to check the road conditions before starting out but were intending to stick to the M4 rather than going via Gloucester and through the Forest of Dean. However, we hadn’t been on the M4 for long before we were informed of the closure of the Severn Crossing. We mistakenly decided to continue on in the hope that the old Severn bridge (which we normally use) would still be open, or at least that it would have reopened by the time we got there.

When we stopped at services we discovered that both bridges had been closed but the old bridge was now open at least westbound. We ignored the warning signs directing us up the M5 to reach South Wales and consequently joined a very long queue on the M48. We eventually arrived having taken about 1.5 hours longer than normal. At least Duncan slept the whole time in the car and Emma was very well behaved and, given the reports of the ice on Hampshire roads the following day, perhaps it was the right time to travel after all.

The next few days were taken up with visits from various friends and relatives and the all-important birthday. There was still snow around which entertained Emma, at least until she got cold. When Christmas Eve came, Emma went to bed much as usual but sadly woke at five the following morning. I don’t think this had anything to do with the excitement of the day – she just woke early and was then a bit afraid of the dark. She did eventually go back to sleep in our bed otherwise would probably have been grumpy for the rest of the day!

Thankfully Emma had not changed her mind since we asked her what she would like for Christmas and the scooter (pink) and wooden train set (shared with Duncan) were well received. Duncan was just happy to have all these people to hold him! As you can see from the photos on Flickr, it was a lovely morning and stayed that way for the rest of the day.

The next day, we went to the Caldicot Boxing Day Run. I had been sold this as a fun run and, indeed, some of the limited number of entrants were in fancy dress. It seemed to be a pretty hard 2.8 mile race round the roads to me but I did manage to come second! From there, we moved on to my parents in Hertfordshire. Again, the plan was to stick to the motorways and this worked well until we started to receive warnings of long delays on the M25 around the roadworks. We cut across to the M40 but still hit queues when we joined the M25.

We had one relatively sunny day in Harpenden but generally the weather wasn’t all that kind to us. Emma is generally happy to play inside but she does start to go a bit manic if not given some fresh air once in a while. When the time finally came to return to Southampton we did check the traffic conditions: the M25 was once again in dire straights. A mad dash cross-country then ensued so that we could try and make a doctor’s appointment Christine had booked. Thankfully, when it was clear we weren’t going to be able to make it and were phoning to cancel, a slot had magically opened up half an hour later.

20090926 Caldicot Boxing Day Race