Saturday am. I’ve just finished running with Evossi Explore and it is time to go home, re-fuel and get ready for the next run. It isn’t often I run twice in the day. Very rare actually. But I just couldn’t say no to either of these events and there were people I wanted to see and meet at both. So I decided to do them both. Conveniently they were at opposite ends of the day and would be completely different adventures. Where as the run with Evossi was a city run in the morning, the run organised by Wild Trails was going to be a night run, on the trails of Wimbledon Common.

I packed lightly (it was such a glorious day), and headed off to the meeting point, meeting up with Yvette on the way. Shortly after arriving and meeting Weronica and Maggie (again) – the brains and sweat behind Wild Trails – the runners started showing up. It was great to see so many people turn out on a Saturday night to go running. Gone are the days where alcohol and parties fuel my weekends. Now it is mud and sweat.

Weronica herds everyone to the car and hands out head torches (they partner with Silva head torches) and it was good to sample and try something other than my cheapy little Decathalon number. I need to start thinking about decent equipment like this ahead of all my runs and particularly the CCC later in the year where the mandatory kit list is somewhat more serious than most other runs.

Lights on and layers shed we head off to the common. I’d not been to Wimbledon Common before and didn’t know what to expect. Yet again, after a decade(!) in London I’m amazed I haven’t explored such places before. It was a trial runners dream. Winding paths, mud, lakes, hills and trees aplenty. The head torches did wonders to light our way (although some were brighter than others) and we had great fun winding through various paths and routes that Maggie and Weronica had planned out.

Given the numbers (I think there were about 30 of us) the girls did a fantastic job of leading and keeping everyone together. Naturally the pack spread out a little but they were on top of us making sure nobody ran off or got left behind. Great effort!

Finishing up back at the car after about 15km we headed to the pub. So alcohol still forms part of the weekend, only it feels slightly more deserved and satisfactory after a good run! It was nice to sit down and spend sometime getting to know the other runners. You don’t always get a chance to share some conversation when running in such a large group. Meeting new faces, learning people’s stories and adventures and sharing plenty of laughter. It was a great evening and I’d highly recommend tagging along to one in future!

Thanks Maggie, Weronica & Wild Trails!