Chris Curtis Web Site

After a lot of messing around I have finally become fed up with gallery2 and killed it on this site. It is an impressive piece of software but has become far too complex for what I needed and maintaining it has become very difficult – honestly, it has become bloatware. I will reinstall a gallery when I can find one that is slick, small and does what I want.

The shoutcast plug-in for WordPress is still available to download and use as people wish, but I have stopped using it and replaced it in my sidebar with some simple html from the Pandora service. This means that I will no longer be supporting the plug-in or doing any more development. Apart from anything else, increasing numbers of shoutcast stations are not providing the interface which allows the plug-in to work. I think many stations want listeners to visit their web sites to see “what’s on” information – probably to do with advertising in many cases.

Removing the plug-in and more significantly the “from my gallery” section of my sidebar has greatly increased the site’s speed of response too.

I was not running today, but having worked with Carlos to plan this event, we were in the forest by 7:30am placing controls and hoping it would all go well.

It had rained the day before (and the day before that) after literally weeks with no rain. The ground underneath was very hard, but the paths had maybe 5cm of very wet, very soft surface which made them extremely slippery. The rain had also re-filled streams and marshes so these areas were very boggy. All this added to the challenge of jogging round with 10 or more stakes, control flags and controls while being very aware of the time ticking away before everyone arrived. Somehow we were ready when people started turning up in numbers.

In all there were about 130 runners and we started to get comments abut 20 minutes after the courses opened as the yellow course runners returned – they were happy. Not so those on the orange course – one control was not there. With Carlos on the start and me on map sales, we could not investigate until registration closed. As soon as I could I went down to the control site – a fat piece of tape still there but no control. I started working outwards and was about 50 metres away, on the other side of a large path when I spotted a flash of white and orange through the trees and found the control, intact, stuck in the ground at a 45 degree angle, not too far off the path. As I started to take it back, runners pounced – they had been disheartened when the control was not where they expected and were delighted to see it, even if it was wobbling down the path as I carried it!

The only other hiccup was that I had allowed a course line to obscure a big path on green – my fault entirely as I just had not seen the problem when I checked.

There were lots of positive comments and the finish times showed that the courses were a good challenge, though we clearly did not catch too many people out completely. It was great to get such cheerful and willing help too.

I had forgotten how much time it takes to plan – or at least takes me to plan. I will leave it for a while I think, but I know I will do it again. The whole process is fascinating and challenging, plus I love having a reason for pottering around in the forest, looking at the terrain very closely and enjoying the quietness and solitude. Having a clear task and reason for being there makes it much more enjoyable, for some reason, than simply walking for pleasure.

It was a crystaline morning – with bright blue sky, sunshine and a very sharp frost. I set out happily for Buxted Park hoping to continue the improvement in my orienteering.

Buxted Park surrounds what is now a hotel and was once a stately home. The River Uck runs across in front of the house, with land rising away on either side from the river and large ornamental lakes. The central part of the area is tussocky grassland, with woods along each side of the valley. It is rather attractive but when I have run there before there have often been long runs across rough open and in the summer the bracken is spectacular.

I was one of the first off. I felt good in the sunshine. I was a little tentative to the first control, but found it easily enough, then things seemed to click into place. The leg to the second control was long, but easy to navigate. I was making good time and felt fine, so decided that I should just settle down and get on with it. The next two controls were basically straight line runs across parkland too but I was surprised to find myself moving along reasonably well. Even plunging into the woods did not phase me. I was at control 10 when I realised that no-one had passed me, which kept me moving right to the end.

I finished in 49 minutes – very close to my best time ever for a green course. What is more encouraging is that my personal best result was a “one off” – some sort of fluke – whereas this season I am seeing consistent times under the hour, with steady improvement from week to week. I am averaging about 5 minutes per km faster than this time last year, and seeming to do this more often than not. I think there is some real improvement at last.

I was humbled, of course, by the winner doing the same course under half an hour, but I still feel good about the result. The challenge now is not to blow it – keep doing the simple things that are genuinely working.