May Day weekend sees us off down to the Forest of Dean for some more orienteering. This time Jordan is with us, so we have two rooms in the Travel Inn.. the boys and the girls.

Mark is seriously debating buying a tent for these weekends away. Julie is not so sure about it…lack of sleep, grumpy kids and too much noise….how can that be a holiday, and more than that, how can you run well on no sleep !

Saturday saw the Webster Orienteering relay team, of Mark (long leg, 4.5k), Jordan (medium leg, 4.1k), and Julie (short leg, 3.1k) taking our first relay challenge. It was around a part of Lincoln University; a lovely area with a lake, and lots of open running…. only for the fittest…!

We finished a creditable 10th out of 18 teams, with the star performer on the day being Julie who managed to romp home 7th in her leg !

Keep up the running Julie, it is paying dividends.

Tuesday night now see us orienteering training at West Notts college in Mansfield. It is run by Catherine Hughes who puts on an enjoyable hour and a half combining fun, fitness, orienteering skills and chat about our recent runs. With the lighter nights it has been great for getting outside and practicing around the college grounds

Here is a great picture of Jordan orienteering. Is he making sure nobody has seen him at that control ?

Today I recorded my best ever position in an orienteering event. I got 3rd !

I have been running light green level now for a few months and finally getting a bit more confident with the map reading. I will never be great at it, as I am not fit or fast enough. I am a reasonable map reader though, which is half the battle, and also means I can beat Jordan still from time to time (as I did today !)

I have run a couple of green standard courses. It is quite a step up for me, mainly on distance, so if I can step up my fitness…. who knows ?