This week I was lucky enough to be invited to the Ordnance Survey (OS) HQ for a tour of their mapping facility and to find out more about their campaign to get people outdoors. Myself and other “outdoor” bloggers have been seen encouraging people to do just that so it was interesting to hear their thoughts as well.
We followed a surveyor outside the building to see how he mapped the area “on foot” and then we heard that their airplanes cover a third of the UK every year taking photos with their 196 mega pixel camera !! The images are then combined (some in 3D) and processed along with inputs from the cartographers to arrive at the final product of their OS paper maps or the OS Maps download which is your digital guide to the countryside. As well as the OS having a twitter account they now also have an OS Leisure account too that’s used to support their #getoutdoors campaign.
We had an interesting and informative few hours with the OS guys and what really struck a cord with me was the slide they showed us listing the benefits of #getoutside.
Exposure to more sunlight hours, fresh air, the sights and sounds of the countryside, exercise – whether it be walking, running, cycling etc. The satisfaction of knowing you have made a positive impact on your health as well as probably meeting new friends while you are out. As a spin off once your feel healthier you will probably eat healthier so it’s a positive spiral. When you realise weight loss and stress reduction are natural spin offs then it’s a win/win.
As runners we take most of the above for granted because it’s our hobby, our sport, so keep spreading the word “Running Bloggers”. Live to run, run to live lower !!!
My Sunday run was a steady 9 miles with the Solent Half marathon in mind next week. The Solent run is all tarmac rather than off road but it follows a very scenic route through the New Forest so that’s why I chose to run it.
The training run I followed today had a similar combination of tarmac rather than trails but if you choose your roads you can still have views to inspire you while you run. The changing colours of Autumn were very evident today, not to mention the conkers and falling leaves. I did 9.4 miles today and because I’m a trail runner at heart I saw no need to run 9.5 or 10 just to round it up ….. ha, ha ….. I can hear other runners saying “no” you have to round up 🙂 ok, it’s a personal choice thing.
In summary, it’s just great to be #outdoors.
If you have enjoyed reading my blog can I ask you please to vote for it in the Running Awards. The link is here http://therunningawards.com/vote/109/110#vote
Many thanks. You do have to register but it’s all quite painless !!
irunoffroad 