Sunday 22 January 2012

Badger Spotting (Night Run)

My second outing with Jerry and those others crazy enough to join a night run. There was a little trepidation after the last run, where we came across a field full of bright eyed badgers and I was unceremoniously sick in the bushes - after visiting the witches cavern - on the return part of the route. I was hoping this run would be a little more successful for me. I am not so sure that was the case.
We arrived at the meeting point, where one by one the other cars starting to arrive, there was a slight moment of fear that people may suspect this was some sort of dogging car park as we all turned up on queue and resisted the urge to flash out lights at each other. As everyone emerged their vehicles in high-vis we knew we were safe and at the right rendezvous point. The number of females had tripled since the last run, taking the numbers to 3 but we were still outnumbered by the fellas 3 to 1. Setting off down the road out of Shoreham the pace was pretty fast and my legs took a while to get working, so as it seemed did my torch as the batteries seemed to be fading, this got more worrying as we got further away from civilisation and I was relying on Ian and Dave for so I could share their torchlight - true gentlemen so thanks for that guys (who said Orpies were all bad!!).
A few miles into the run we reached the much talked about 'water feature' which appeared to me a stream lined with blocks that looked like big lego pieces, some of which had been stacked above the waterline as stepping stones so we could make out way across. This was a little disconcerting on the way out due to my lack of light and much better on the return when I was at full beam.
We reached the halfway point - a lovely pub that was packed full of slightly bewildered and tipsy looking locals enjoying their Saturday night out. The service was friendly but I was slightly concerned re the 15 charity boxes on the bar - do gooders! I switched my batteries, we took the obligatory night run picture courtesy of Clive and hit the paths again, this time at full brightness I was able to see more than 3 inches ahead of me. 
Not long into the return route and my tummy started to play tricks on me as per last time and I started to feel very queasy, my pace dropped off a little. Soon there was a shout behind me and I turned to see Ian perform a sort of shouty commando roll and he twisted his ankle - I suspect the badgers had been out making holes in the fields. The lights started to appear in the distance and we knew we were in time for another drink in Shoreham before hitting the road home, in thanks for his organisation and a lift I treated Jerry to some fizzy pop and a packet of Chicken crisps - generous I know!
I arrived home, pretty shattered and still a little queasy. I still very much enjoyed the run but | need to figure out why running at night seems to make me ill... maybe it was the strap from my backpack or maybe my body trying to stop me from running out of control at night-time, lets hope the next run I can break the rut.







2 comments:

  1. It could be similar to motion sickness - it is a bit surreal running at night, depth perception is different! Not much to anchor your vision to. How were you on the Thunder run?

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  2. thunder run was fine but I was terrified having never run at night so maybe fear (of werewolves and hill-billies) kept me safe from sickness!

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