darkness

With Grim Night Terror less than 3 weeks away, I decided now was as good a time as ever to order a proper head torch. I had a silly little one that was enough to use for changing a fuse in the dark but nowhere near substantial for an 8 mile run around MOD property in the pitch black.

So good old ebay was trawled and a suitably cheap (£12) and suitably bright alternative was purchased. Once it arrived, there was nothing for it but to take it for a night time test run. Out and back along the canal towpath should do the trick so I set off a little after 5pm for an 11km trot. I was worried that the light would slip off my head once I began to work up a sweat but it stayed put and worked admirably. The only modification required was a dab of Blu Tac to hold the adjustable lens in position – a trick discovered whilst training for last years Dunwich Dynamo. 

There was something very peaceful about running along in the darkness with only about 3 metres ahead visible. Bushes to the right of me faded away into the darkness and to the left of me there was about a metre of mud and grass before it all dropped away into the inky (and no doubt icy) blackness of water flowing along the canal. Steam from my breath occasionally caught the beam from the headtorch creating ghostly glows in front of my eyes. It was all very surreal.

Good fun though… and now I’m looking forward to Grim even more than I was. I just need to find something to strap my (weak) right ankle as if I can twist it running Grim in the daytime, imagine the damage I could do to myself in the dark.

Soundtrack to this post: Orbital – Dr Who

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