When at first I was contacted about doing a bit of press with the Daily Record to promote Tiso’s new dedicated Adventure Running Departments, which have recently opened in seven of their stores, I was a bit perplexed. I didn’t really have a clue what ‘adventure running’ was. Adventure Racing: yes. Trail Running: yes. Hill Running: yes. Adventure Running: eh, no, sorry.

For me road running has always been a bind. My only marathon to date was a disaster and I hate counting lamp posts which is probably a legacy of one of the frequent runs I did at university. The Tay Road Bridge, is 2.2 km long, and each lamp posts is numbered. The monotonous grind of ticking off lamp posts as you ran up towards Fife (the bridge rises from 9.75 metres above sea level at Dundee to 38.1 metres in Fife) demoralised me with the metronomic checking of progress.

It was thinking about that run and reading a bit on Tiso’s website that I realised that ‘Adventure Running’ is pretty much what I now do week in, week out and could probably be extended to encompass the Yukon race we did earlier this year.  Adventure Running is about getting off the beaten track (read: pavements) and into the woods, fields and hills. We’re lucky in Scotland to be in the enviable position to be so close to some truly stunning and epic scenery. Adventure running challenges you in ways that road running can’t: different terrain, varying underfoot conditions, rivers, altitude, wildlife. Around every corner there is a new obstacle to overcome and, critically for me, in loads of scenarios you can’t see where the trail’s taking you. Psychologically all this is a massive plus and means you can push harder as you’re thinking about your foot placement, watching out for low branches, staring at the scenery, so you don’t focus on how hard you’re breathing or whether your legs are sore.

Chris Tiso, chief executive of Tiso said in the article: “Despite it’s name, adventure running can actually be safer and better for you than road running in terms of sustaining sports injuries…Every step is different rather than repetitive, so muscles don’t get the same wear and tear as road runners experience.”

Call it what you will: adventure running, trail running, hill running the evidence seems to be stacking up in favour of getting off the roads and into the countryside. Get out there. Adventure is just around the corner.

In the following images I wear Gore Running Wear’s Air SO Shirt and Reaction Shorts and a pair of (now well-loved) Salomon XT Wings.

All pics are courtesy of the extremely talented Lesley Martin. All ridiculous expressions are my fault and mine alone…