Orienteering

Orienteering is  a strange sport that appeals mainly to teachers and computer scientists. It's very tecky in that you have a dibber (computer chip) attached to your finger which you enter into various posts on the running course, plus on the start and on the finish, and these times are recorded. At the end you go into the finish tent, give in your dibber and the times are instantly downloaded and printed out, complete with your position in the field and any points won for your club.

It's great to run around in the open air following a map, though horrible if you get lost. But people are often kind enough to stop and tell you, if you look miserable enough, where you are on the map.

the bit I hate is that we do this in winter when it's slippery because (mainly) of the mud, and the posts that you have to find are hidden in the brambles or thin trees. This is the most annoying part because you can spend ages looking for one post.

So I didn't get to run much because of all the mud - I am the very reverse of reckless - and I also got quite torn on the shins by the brambles. Really, I conclude that I am very lucky to have suburban pavements to run on and I would do this more often were it not for my weak knees, which get terribly stiff after I run.