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Oct 30
(via thememegeneration)
The Mighty Deerstalker: Recap
Apr 02
Here's a recap of my evening of hell participating in the Mighty Deerstalker event.I was a little apprehensive at the start of the 10km Mighty Deerstalker as I had watched the leaders of the 5km run come in and they had all looked like it had been a fairly stressful challenge. These were all serious runners so how I was going to fare was not looking good, as I'm very much a recreational runner and was just doing this event for a laugh.The race started out at the back of 7:00pm with a small sprint to an obstacle made out of straw bales, about three bales high. Due to the sheer number of people taking part most of the field had to stop at this point and await their turn to climb over the bales. Once over the bales it was a matter of getting as far ahead of as many people as I could before reaching the next obstacle, so as to minimise waiting about.About 1km in and we were onto our first water encounter of the evening. I had expected the river crossing to be an ankle/calf deep affair to break us in gently but much to my dismay I was submerged up to my waist and was nearly bundled over headfirst into the water by the stampede of competitors behind me. Once out of the other side we were onto our first ascent.The ascent of the first hill followed the route of the Traquair XC cross-country mountain bike trail which was a reasonably steep incline, but I managed to run most of the way up. This stood me in good stead because once I got to the obstacle course near the summit there wasn't too much of a queue of people ahead so waiting time was minimal.The obstacle course itself was pretty tame, however, just before the summit there was an obstacle called the badger set to crawl through which had music blaring and reminded me of the scene at the Do Lung Bridge from Apocalypse Now. Luckily there were no flashbacks to Nam for me and I was able to check in at the summit in a respectable 39 minutes.The descent was reasonably uneventful but I found it much worse than the ascent, as I hadn't done much training involving such steep slopes and so my thigh muscles were taking a battering.After the first hill the route involved wading down a river for a couple of hundred metres before starting the ascent of the second hill. I found the river wading pretty tough as it was starting to get dark and it was very cold and slippery. I think at this point I might have hurt my left ankle but was unable to tell at the time as my feet and lover legs were numb from the cold water.The second hill ascent started off on an incline not unlike the first hill, then traversed across the hillside until we reached a very steep scree. Unfortunately this is what we had to climb up and I can only describe this as one of the worst things I've ever had to do in my life. I think the main problem was that I was stuck in a queue of people some of which were scrambling up the hill on hands and knees so were dislodging quite a bit of loose stones and rocks which were then falling down the hill onto the people below.After the ascent I was finding it quite hard to to stand up as my legs were beginning to turn to jelly. What better way to make yourself feel better then than to walk across a log bridge with approximately 10 foot drops either side? Remarkably, I made it almost the full way across the bridge before falling off and jarring my legs some more for good measure. After the log bridge was the summit and the second check in point.The descent down the second hill was not too arduous but required concentration as some parts were quite rocky and you had to be careful not to turn an ankle over in the darkness that had by now enveloped us.Once the descent was complete it was back into the same stretch of river as before for another couple of hundred metres. By now my legs and ankles were destroyed and so I managed to fall face down in the river on a couple of occasions due to the lack of light and the slipperiness of the riverbed. Unbelievably there were some poor sods still going in the opposite direction on their way to start the second climb. I couldn't help but feel sorry for what they had coming to them within the next few minutes and would have been surprised if they didn't complete the route until close to midnight.By now I was finding it increasingly hard to jog – never mind run – but at least the terain had levelled out and I was on the home stretch. Once more into the water to go through a tunnel, along the river bank then across the river for a final time and I was on the home stretch. I'd briefly considered just walking from here on in but the sound of music coming from the campground spurred my on to one last effort. All that was left was to crawl through some tractor tyres in the closing straight and I was finally home.I finished a provisional 158th with a time of 2 hours 21 minutes and I am very pleased with myself.To summarise I found the 10k very tough – but fun at the same time – and had a feeling that it was in fact a little bit more than what was advertised. I don't think my cause was helped by the fact that my running kit seemed to soak up a fair bit of water so I was effectively carrying around an extra half stone for much of the distance.As I sit here today typing this I'm not sure whether I'd like to put myself through that again, but I'm sure given a few days (or weeks) once the pain has subsided I'll think differently.Anyone care to share your views on how it was for you?
The Mighty Deerstalker
Mar 30
Tomorrow marks the start of my build up to this years Nairnshire Challenge when myself and my good friend David travel down to the borders to take part in The Mighty Deerstalker.The Mighty Deerstalker bills itself as a "10km Adventure Run with obstacles" so I don't really know what to expect. No doubt my worst fears will be realised and it will be akin to a 10km army assualt course up a mountainside.Here's what the organizers have to say about it:
Those who are not satiated by this challenge (the 5km race) can opt for the MIGHTY Deerstalker. You too will start on loop 1 and complete the same 5km course, but whereas the Deerstalker runners will cross the line in the event village and finish, you will cross that line, keep going, pick up a head torch and tear off again out of the event village and into the dwindling twilight. You'll do a second loop of another 5km and this one will be tougher than the first - rock and scree, sharper ascents and the added element of the dark to contend with...! As the lead runner reaches the high point of the course darkness will have fallen and he/ she will light the Deerstalker homecoming beacon atop the mountain, to show all those awaiting their return in the event village that they are homeward bound. The beacon pyre will roar with flame as the racers pass it high on the mountain and then make their way back to Traquair in the eery half-light of their head torches.
Wish me luck, because I think I'll need it!
Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated!
Jun 06
Sorry about the huge lack of posts recently. Hopefully I'll get a break from work and kids to post one or two things I've been mulling over in the next couple of days.