Something Wild, a family-friendly trail running festival, is held in Devon on Dartmoor. It sounded right up our street, with trail running, camping, and talks, all aimed at people bringing their kids along. We excitedly read through the pre-event information and researched the running routes – Daddy had signed up for the marathon on the Saturday and me for the 10k on the Sunday.
I’d love to say that the journey there was smooth…but we got stuck in a horrible jam on the M4. Which meant we were running late. So we had to stop off at a service station for dinner. Which made us even later. So we had a pretty dismal experience, arriving after dark to try to find the camping spot and put up the tent in the pouring rain. At least we’ve camped a lot this year, so can put the tent up speedily. And Daisy was already asleep, so we managed a smooth transfer from car to tent.
Unfortunately the weather did not improve…long, heavy bouts of rain were to be a feature of the whole weekend. On the plus side, there was a huge cow shed with catering facilities and a bouncy castle, so we could hunker down there when not running. On the down side, it turned already challenging trails into something more akin to fell running. So much so that I actually switched to a shorter distance on the Sunday so as to avoid having to negotiate the bog on the 10k course! I would caution that the routes, especially the longer ones, aren’t really suitable for beginners. And confident navigation skills are a bonus; even though the routes are marked it is possible to miss a marker in the bracken.
Something Wild, a family-friendly trail running festival: Overall
It was great to find an event that allowed us both the opportunity to run. So often all distances set off at the same time. And it was great that kids were welcomed, including to the talks. For older kids, there was a forest school, but the bouncy castle and playing football in the cow shed kept Daisy entertained. I suppose the bad weather even had a plus side in that we got to experience how dramatic the Dartmoor landscape can be…
Oh we love the sound of this, after running our first half marathon in September we are on the hunt for some great places to run. I love running 10km, it is my fav distance! Love that it is family friendly too 🙂 Thanks for adding to #ThePlacesWeWillGoLinky xx
Well done on your first half marathon!