Lakeland 50 27th July 2013

View from tent at finish

We arrived in Coniston on Friday afternoon greeted with glorious sunshine and warm temperatures.  Not exactly what I wished for – cool with cloud cover would have been perfection.  We headed to the main field at the John Ruskin school to pitch the tents which we would be falling into after the race on Saturday.  Friday night was intended to get a good kip at the local hostel... if only!

We met up with John M and checked in at the hostel then returned to the school to watch the start of the L100 and get ourselves registered.  I watched with admiration as the L100 runners got underway, what an epic journey they were about to embark upon.  Massive respect.

I got weighed and had my mandatory kit check – all the boxes ticked.  We had plenty of time to relax and get some food before turning in.  The hostel itself was adequate enough but some of us didn’t get a great amount of sleep with the amount of snoring going on.

I was up early for a quick shower, change then a quick pot of porridge.  I thankfully got a lift to the start at Dalemain rather than spending an hour on a full bus.  The weather at Dalemain was very warm and humid with the sun blazing down.  There were L100 runners coming through to a well-deserved round of applause.  I tried to get under some shade to cool down before the start at 11:30am, a little stretching of the niggling Achilles to warm it up.

All the L50 runners congregated at the start having dibbed in and the butterflies began to start.  A 4 mile loop around the Dalemain estate the off on the adventure to Coniston.  We were off at a brisk pace around the fields surrounding the estate and back through the crowds at the start.  I was already starting on the water bottle at this point, why the heck didn’t I wear a white t-shirt to deflect the sun! 

We passed through Pooley bridge and then climbed up above Ullswater taking in the cracking views on a beautiful day.  John and I unintentionally found ourselves running around the same pace. It was good to have the company.  The first checkpoint was at Howtown at 11 miles.  Bottles topped up and a bite of flapjack and then off up Fusedale.  This section up to High Kop was tough and involved lots of hiking but once at the top (the highest point of the route) it was good running along to Low Kop and descending to Haweswater.  The heat was sapping and found myself constantly taking on liquid. I remember from the recce a couple of months ago that the section along Haweswater to Mardale Head went on and on.  I tried to block that out and just focus on putting one foot in front of the other.  I was glad to reach Mardale for some refreshments and an attempt at having a pee. (only one pee all race was a little worrying).

The next section headed up Gatesgarth pass, another hike but I knew the descent was nice and steady pretty much all the way to Kentmere.  I ploughed on passing a few L100 runners offering my best wishes.  Only 20+ miles to go.  John and I had parted company at this stage as he was having some stomach issues at the top of Gatesgarth. All of the checkpoints were fantastic with a wide variety of food and drink and the support was brilliant.  I thought Kentmere was my favourite after necking a banana and apple smoothie.  Delicious at just over half way.

which way now

By this point runners were few and far between so I whipped out the road book to make sure I wouldn't go wrong.  Sadly that didn't work out as planned, in the wood section before Ambleside I went off track and came out onto the main road about a mile further out of Ambleside. Bummer.  

I ran through Ambleside with cheers from the pub gardens and random folk on the street, a great motivator.  I sat down in the Ambleside checkpoint and John walks in thankfully feeling better.  I gave my folks a wave and continued on with John to Chapel Stile.  It was so helpful having someone running with you to give you that encouragement and I thank John for that.  We helped each other for the last 15 miles.  I was also grateful he was there when I took a tumble on the way to Chapel Stile, a lapse of concentration and I was over on my side.  Knee,hip and hand got a bit of a hammering but was fine to continue.  The hand is currently multicoloured and fat!

From Chapel Stile we went on to Langdale and the running was becoming more comfortable. The banter was good and helped the miles tick over.  We reached the last checkpoint at Tilberthwaite and we had one a final push to the end. 3.5 miles to go - not easy by any means with the climb and descent.  We didn't think we would make sub 10 hours but plugged away and had a storming last mile into Coniston.  No headtorches needed.  The cheers from the pubs and the spectators was a huge lift all the way to the finish.  We finished in 9 hours 58 minutes and 7 seconds.  Fantastic!

finished

My folks and Mike S were at the finish and it was good to see them, they must have had a long day.  It was a great race and fabulous organisation and support throughout.  It was brutal and challenging but we made it.  Joint 21st place.

I had no sleep that night as the rain started soon after we finished and I was in the tent.  I was up early passing the finish gantry and surprised to see Fergus' wife there.  Fergus was running as a team of four and was still out - due in at 8:15am.  He'd been out all night in the rain.  Unbelieveable.  If he'd ran the race on his own he would have been top 20.

A great event, now looking forward to a few days off before getting some short stuff under my belt.  I have the points to enter the CCC at UTMB in 2014, just need to picked out of the hat now!