Maggie's Guided Running
I am in my late forties and have been running off road for about 3 years – for my own enjoyment and to improve my overall fitness. I was looking to extend my skills to begin some fell running and wanted to gain confidence in a mountain environment. I also wanted to enjoy beautiful scenery.
I considered myself a beginner and did not wish to hold others back in a group. For me confidence was important as well as tangible new skills and I wanted to be able to assess my own level on a 1-1 basis before joining a group. I also wanted to learn to navigate so that I could plot my own routes back home and feel assured that I was not placing myself at risk or just getting lost. Also, to start to do the odd race I needed to be able to read maps.
Sarah was an inspiring guide and teacher. Over the space of two days I learned the theory of navigation, ran two 10k routes, one of which I plotted and led. Sarah accompanied me throughout and tested the skills I had learned, ensuring that I immediately put into practice the theory and could test and expand on what I had learned. She also constantly advised on general running skills, how to deal with different mountain terrain and weather. We had both sunshine and snow over the two days.
Sarah was really together on basic health and safety matters and I learned quickly what to take running, how to regularly do a kit check and where to acquire the sort of gear I might need. Anything I did not have over the two days she brought with her. She even made some home made flapjack to keep the energy levels up and was reassuring when I had to resort to walking pace to keep going.
The real added touch for me was the good company that Sarah provided and the ease with which she adjusted to my level, gave me confidence to push myself and keep motivated.
We consolidated each day over a scrumptious café meal, (during the meal she hauled out the power point to reinforce stuff) and even managed some night navigation to end the first day.
I came home very fired up to keep going and improve over the next year or so. Sarah sent me a follow up pack with all course notes, some really cool photos of the two days and hints on kit. A great two days.