Dawdling around the Daffodils
A trail run you say?
An adventure in the countryside?
An opportunity to hang out with my running buddies?
Well why the hell not I say!
When someone suggested that we did the local Daffodil Dawdle it certainly ticked all the right boxes. The event is arranged by the Norfolk and Suffolk LDWA. Their main focus is on walking, but have recently started to allow us crazy trail runners to start taking part.
This event is just one of many organised throughout the year by the group. So ....please....if you get the opportunity to attend one of these in the future - jump at the chance! You will have a blast!
We were informed during registration by some fellow runners that this would be one of the best organised events that we would ever attend. They certainly were not wrong! From the moment we turned up to register, to the moment we hit the finish line it was fantastic. Constantly met with smiley, helpful volunteers while also being fed and watered the whole way round. The effort and thought gone into supporting the participants was immense and it certainly helped us all have a thoroughly enjoyable day out.
Now that I have grabbed your attention by suggesting that you can eat your way around the course I should let you know some more specifics about the actual event. The starting location is in Stradbroke, Suffolk ~ taking us around 45 minutes to drive there from Ipswich. The registration takes place in the community hall, but the parking is over the road at the high school. We got there just before 9am though and the parking was already very limited. Luckily Ezmarelda the Fiat is only small so we squeezed in!
Todays event offered two routes - 18.8 miles and 26.7 miles. We decided to opt to do the shorter distance ~ not because we were lazy, but it fitted in better with the training everyone was doing. The majority of runners did the longer distance though and it was tempting to upgrade to go further. In fact some of our fellow runners did try and twist our arms along the way to switch to the longer distance. We didn't budge though and stood strong keeping to the plan of action. I think once you have told your mind how far you need to go it's hard to change it. If we had switched to the longer run I am convinced my brain would have let me down - in fact I may have just sat on the ground and refused to run any further.
This is also one of those events where there is no specific start time! This 100% makes it more of an event rather than a race. Totally takes the pressure off! The basic rule is that the runners were only allowed to start after 9am. This is to ensure that the first checkpoint was set up for our arrival. Walkers got to start off a little earlier ~although a number of them were certainly walking very quickly.
I have attached the route here in case anyone is interested in running it in the future.
Although the event is very casual it is really important to register before heading out. If you don't do this and pick up a checkpoint card the organisers won't know who is out on the course. It only took a few moments to register and once we had been assigned a start time we were off! Now the challenge was not to get lost! GULP!
We had initially planned a Run For Your Life girls adventure. With one member down through injury (Sad Face for Clare B), myself/Claire and Deborah quickly looked for new recruits to join us. This was easier than expected as we quickly adopted a fellow runner from Norwich (Tim) and the trail experts (as I like to call them) Keith and Joe. We were all doing different distances, but the route layout meant we could all run together for the first 11 miles! With the assistance of Joe and Keith we had new faith of not getting lost for the first 11 miles at least!
The course is all self navigational, but the directions are relatively straight forward! At the top of the instructions it sets out certain codes used throughout the course.
" TR = Turn Right and XFB = Cross Foot Bridge "
There are quite a few codes and it is hard to remember all the variations to start with. We have now attended a couple of events like this and it does get easier the more you do. You need to keep the instructions in your hands the whole time though so you have access to them when needed. This was ok to do today as the weather was in our favour, but if you did a similar event on a damper day it would be worthwhile laminating the directions in advance. Nobody ever wants soggy directions hey!
I am normally quite good with directions and maps, but I do struggle on these events. This is mainly because I can't multitask while running. Its so hard to read directions and know which section of the directions we are on while running and not falling over. This is a key point! It needs to be taken into consideration when you are setting expectations on how long an event like this could take. Trail running is often more stop start than road running, but when you throw in some navigational confusion it changes the dynamic even more. We knew this type of navigating would be harder and it certainly did add on some time to our run. This didn't matter though as we were here for fun and not for speed!
Biggest issue! Fighting the urge to just follow people in front of you! If you time leaving the start or a checkpoint at the same time as others it is hard to make your own navigational decisions. It is very easy to trust others, but they may not always be right. We had to shout at several people on route to get them to turn around and try a different option. We certainly would have been lost on several occasions if we had continued to follow them.
The below picture certainly takes into consideration the amount of times we had to stop and re-read the directions. I certainly did anyway! Memory like a goldfish!
The terrain was tough under foot, especially as some of the footpaths were covered in vegetables, but with the fantastic weather we were very mud free. We had to go easy over a couple of sections where the tractors had left some heavy dips, but the overall course was very accessible and clear. I tried to capture some pictures on route as to the areas we were running in as it was truly beautiful. I think I had been expecting more rolling hills, but for once the course was relatively flat.
So lets talk about the checkpoints! These are every 6 to 7 miles and they are hands down the best checkpoints I have ever experienced. Not only do you get welcomed by the happiest volunteers ever (who stamp your check card and log your arrival), but you are also met by a table full of goodies. Even at mile 6 there are options to indulge in flapjack ~ fruit ~ cake! Yes it is certainly an event where you could take in more calories than you wear off! The midway stop however was the best! This was in a local village hall and the volunteers had put on a spread, which included sandwiches, cake, scones and all sorts of delights! We were even offered a cup of tea! Pure bliss to the energy levels!
I am the first to admit that the food filled checkpoints are not the best option for runners. The food is much more suitable for the walkers, but we certainly did appreciate a little sugar pick me up and it help the legs travel for a few more miles. It is quite incredible what is on offer!
Now lets be honest - the route was called the daffodil dawdle so we had certain expectations of what we wanted to see! At times I did doubt the name of the trail run as some sections of the route were very bleak. Literally no flowers at all! But then..... just when you thought we would never see any daffodils ~ BOOM~ we were surrounded by hundreds of them in full bloom.
I naturally was the idiot that suggested we all laid around the flowers for a photo shoot!
It was at this point we all realised that the only reason we ran these things is so we had more time to faff taking photos and mucking around on the way! But hey ho! This was for fun and fun we would have!
After the midway checkpoint our group split off. This meant the remaining few of us had to club together and use our brains to navigate. It was harder than we thought and the pressure was on as we promised Tim that we would try and get him back to the finish in one piece. He certainly was putting his life in the hands of three girls from Ipswich ~ especially when we got super excited about seeing pet alpacas in a field! It was like we had never seen animals before! Deborah did a fantastic job though and became a pro at reading the instructions. We certainly would have been lost without her!
The end of the route brought a further surprise. At the finish line we were supplied with a free lunch! The lovely volunteers provided us with cups of tea, vegetable soup and chunky bread. That was then followed by crumble and custard for dessert! What more could you ask for! It was lovely to end the event with an opportunity to refuel and debrief on the fantastic adventure we had all had.
Now the event would have been topped off if we had received a medal! I know, I know it is all about taking part and not about the bling, but its nice to have a small memory of the event.
We knew this in advance though and thought it would be funny to make our own medals. We tried to keep this on the down low as was only for a bit of fun, but we managed to get snapped by someones camera and it has ended up on the face book page for the event! OPS! I was really pleased with how they turned out! We ordered them via the trophy store online and the daffodils came from Amazon! Cheap and cheerful, but something to laugh about at the end. We had fun taking some funny photos!
All in all it was a fab day! Lovely and chilled! Looking forward to the next one and getting some more lifers to come along for the ride.......
