Chris Curtis Web Site

Perhaps this is one of those times when I should have taken notice of feeling “not in the mood”. I had felt rather icky all day but decided to go along to this event anyway.

It was rather low key, with maybe 30 people congregating around a couple of cars in a tiny car park before walking half a mile or so along town streets to the start, inside the entrance to Knole Park . The atmosphere was a little strange too. It was very much a “club” affair – fair enough for a low-key evening event – with the in-jokes and banter among people who knew each other and the terrain very well, but I was not the only “outsider” by any means and some folks did not seem entirely sure what to do. I felt a bit “odd” but that was probably more to do with how I was feeling generally.

The view from the start was stunning – broad sweeps of rough grassland and mature pockets of woodland rolled across landscaped hills and valleys while large herds of fallow deer browsed across the whole area. The whole terrain was simply lovely, though the overcast evening worried people that it might be dark before we returned.

The first part of the short course was sharply uphill towards the house, then along the outside to the corner of the garden wall – just under a km in all. I was there in about six minutes but was in trouble. I was dizzy and feeling very sick. I carried on, coming across a valley and up the other side, round a large fenced enclosure into very heavy bracken, but I was losing it. I was unsure of the map – and found myself thrown by the 1:15,000 scale – and going slower and slower, watching all the short course runners that I had left behind coming past me. I kept stopping to study the map convincing myself that I was miles off-route though the GPS later showed I was actually spot-on. I was feeling disorientated and distressed. After a bit more than 2.5km and shortly before I got to control 2 I did the sensible thing and walked slowly back to the finish to retire before heading home.

I do not feel dreadfully ill but something is not right.  This is the first time I have ever retired from an event. As well as the physical feelings, I was very confused and disorientated – this is normal sometimes when orienteering, but this was much worse. Whether this is a virus, mild food poisoning or whatever I want to be over it before Saturday and the next “Sussex Sprint”.

Two runs so far this week. I felt great on Sunday and ran the first two km (of 4) under 12 minutes, which is much faster than usual for me. I did not feel quite so good today but still managed 5.75km under 40 minutes. I get stiffness and mild pain where I had the big hamstring injury last year, but everything works and nothing seems to get worse so “I am listening to my body” but it is telling me to be careful, not to stop.

No running at all for the last two weeks though I suppose backbreaking physical work might count as some kind of training.

Our old bathroom is gone: piled up in a skip (dumpster) by our front door and we have a fabulous new bathroom. Although most of the work was done brilliantly by our kiwi builder I have been running around fetching and carrying and most recently up and down the stepladder filling, sanding and painting. Anyway, we now have a walk-in power shower, wall-hung loo and bidet and a corner bath – luxury! I have had the gas board back to repair the central heating they installed two months ago (which needed a new hot water cylinder) and everything works brilliantly. We need to buy new curtains and flooring and everything is done.

I am using the summer “down time” from orienteering to put in some semi-serious training. I want to share how I am doing, so will be using the “custom fields” feature in Wordpress. This post is here to see if the data appears.

UPDATE: It works! Look out for further updates on how the training programme is going.