Ok, I'm used to running on roads in hilly areas, and I have dabbled with a bit of off-road/made-up track running, but today I took the plunge and ran on Dartmoor proper!! The Mrs and I took the hound out last night to recce a route (and ended up with a late afternoon to dusk walk - which was simply stunning), and today I dropped me son-and-heir off at his school bus-stop and popped back to last night's not-so-secret venue, and ran.
OMG (I think that is the current vernacular amongst the young), I'm SOOOOOO unfit!! It's a totally different ball-game ~ picking a route amongst the rocks and grassy tussocks, trying not to follow gravity and the streams as they head downhill as I struggled upwards. Oh, so different ~ BUT.....it is fantastic, I loved it....try it...
I shall TRY and get better, but I think being rather old I shall face an uphill (excuse the pun) struggle.
Well done you for taking on a new challenge. I am so nervous of off road as my ankles go over at the slightest of change. I like the sounds of it though, it just sounds so freeing (if that a word). Happy running.
As far as I'm concerned, it's a good word!! I shall be careful of my rather thin and 'girly' ankles.
That sounds like a great challenge and a whole new set of things to deal with. I have enough trouble on flat ground keeping the feet moving so can't imagine needing to be too concerned about foot placement just yet...
Having said that, I bet it was quite an awesome experience! Good for you!
It also sounds like a really nice "once a month to mix it up" run that you can take on...
in reply to
I fear it may be more of a regular event rather than a monthly 'mix up'. You know how these things are.
Go steady would be my advice. Crocking your ankles is so easy. I was walking on uneven ground the other week, where cows had churned up the mud and then it had dried. I don't think I've recovered yet, and that was Bank Holiday Monday.
I hope your ankle get better very soon. I shall be ultra-careful, don't worry, but is is SO easy to get out of control going down hills. I nearly managed to run into a brook, but stopped just in time. Lesson learned.
I think that the stunning views may be somewhat overlooked in favour of checking your footfall amongst the tussocks along the way. It sounds lovely though. Good luck for future attempts!
The stunning views will be admired for prolonged periods of time ~ not whilst I am running, but when I am catching my breath as I labour up the hills! Road running now sees very easy [in relative terms] indeed.
That sounds like my sort of running. We ought to meet up for a moorland run some time. Mme Truffe found herself knee deep in a bog at Chagford a couple of months ago and I think she still has nightmares.
Our son was up your way with his D of E group over the weekend. I think they went as far as Moretron, then back to Bovey the next day.
I'm a bit of a newbie as far as open moor running is concerned, and I may well hold you up...but I'm game if I can get some more miles in first....lots and lots...
I 'found' some Salomon Speedcross footprints in the dried mud, so I'm assuming I may need to upgrade from my Brooks Cascadias at some point if I carry on with this nonsense.
Do you find the Cascadia's incredibly slippery on wet rock? I find them rather disconcerting in this respect. On dry rock, they are great; on mud/trails they are great; but on wet rock they are left wanting. As we get rather a lot of the wet-stuff on Dartmoor, and we have quite a lot of rock, I may need to get yet another pair of running shoes!!
Congrats on the 5k. Was it on or off road? Speed is irrelevant, distance is the important one; or, looked at another way, size does matter!!
I mostly find wet sloppy mud on my trails as it's on an old pit site and they put the subsoil back on top when they restored it about so it never drains! Ridiculous! Even in dry weather it's boggy. It's not too rocky at all thank goodness. Lots of tree roots mind you, even on the flat bits of trai,l so you have to keep your eyes open and your head down, which is not very good but there we are. The soles of the Cascadia are fine though and nothing has ever come through.
I did my 5 k on the road yesterday as I switch from road to trail each time to save my achy knees and ankles a bit. It's not working mind you. I'm supposed to be running 8 miles today but I feel that I won't be able to do it with the level of pain I'm in from my ankle. It was my knee last week! I feel I'm falling to bits! I need some decent road running shoes but I'm skint, sadly.
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OMG - I have done it!!!!!
Graduated Run -Wow I have Done It!!! What a Beauty!
I appear to have done this 
How have I done that!
