Lockdown Challenges (whilst none of us can race!)

I made the mistake of looking at the FRA calendar for this weekend to see what I was missing out on. It would have been a busy weekend! I could have raced the May Queen at Hayfield on Friday, had a rematch with the Fairfield Horseshoe on Saturday (I DNF'd this a few years ago and for my ego's sake need to finish it), returned to Hayfield on Sunday for a dash up Latern Pike, followed by Shuttlingsloe Monday, and if all was going well done That's so Hebden on Tuesday before the annual pilgrimage to my first fell race at Harrock Hill on Wednesday.

I jest of course; I could never run that much in a week and would have inevitably had to work for the whole bank holiday plus I would be only a week or two post marathon and so probably nursing some kind of injury. But oh, to be super fit and have plenty of time and mostly, be in a parallel universe free of Corona virus/ Covid-19.

In the absence of racing, people have been extrordinarily imaginative in their quest to compete/ be motivated.

This weekend, Chorlton Runners Blacksheep are supposed to be doing a tribute to the May Queen race, either as distance or elevation or simply other (involving multiple pictures and videos of people dancing around with flowers in their hair). We have also done challenges to complete the elevation of a double Bob Graham and the UTMB. The first elevation challenge was the Old County Tops which a couple of teams from our club were supposed to be doing but we chomped through that pretty quickly so we upped the ante. The guys living in South Manchester bravely went out and ran hills reps up the relatively small bits of elevation in the otherwise flat area, I contributed a few feet with local inclines and a Rivington trip and one or two are currently living in hillier areas so contributed a few more to help us on the way. It was motivating in its own way.

But there have been some much more mental challenges in lockdown including the Staircase Summit Challenge  which captured the hearts of quite a few people who went on to climb the height of various peaks including Scafell Pike and Snowdon on their staircases. One or two did Everest but there is always someone who takes it too far! This was more of an option if you lived in a detached house. There was the Sofa Circuit Challenge which involved laps of the sofa to a set distance, often a marathon. @morningcoffeerun did both of these and is well worth a follow on instagram for being a bit of a sucker for punishment.  Ultras in the garden were another favourite.

Other club and groups did more outdoor things. For example, fancy dress running (see @fellrunlikeagirl and @therunninganaesthetist) or finding a theme such as post boxes (see @whatleanneran). Another popular one was to find the first letters of parkrun or your name on street signs.

For me, its been following those footpaths you sort of know where they go, but have never actually followed. I don't mean the ginnels between streets, but those down the woods. Some have been good, some have been litter strewn and unpleasant. But its been a way of avoiding the crowds on the main tracks whilst still using the woods (though I have done way too much street running over the last 8 or so weeks). Admittedly I am having to go a bit further to find the paths now but that's a potential good thing in itself as I have to run further. Below is yesterdays which was lovely to start but did have some litter strewn sections.

I suspect a lot of people who never really explored their local area have taken the opportunity to over the last few weeks, which is great. But finding your nearest not-travelled footpath is a very simple challenge to get out somewhere. We are spoilt in a lot of Manchester's suburbs for greenspaces, though i appreciate this may not apply to everyone. 

I am actually planning a bit of a longer run up some footpaths I haven't used before next week. It will be a miniadventure. Its not fellrunning or trail running, but its  getting me out the house, which is a start.