We arrived in Coniston after a fairly round-about journey up - found out from Facebook that there was a fairly hefty queue into Ambleside, as the roads were getting repainted. Cue a nice jaunt round the South, and up to Coniston from the opposite direction Fun times. Back to the Sun Inn, for the 5th time, and into the hugest and most amazing pub room ever, it was huge!
Unpacked, and then wandered down to catch up with people. Saw the 100'ers off, then got ready for the Lakeland 1! I was allowed to run with Esmee this time, which was exciting. Mel ran with Josie, all 4 of us had a great time, Josie is still obsessed with Mr Fox! I registered a bit later on to avoid the crowd and met up with the others from the TORQ Performance Trail Team - Jon Hedger, Simon White and Tracy Dean. After a quick chat it was off home to bed.
Race morning - up and ready to go after a good nights sleep, so good that by the time I arrived at the event centre, the porridge and meusli was gone, so I had a bacon cob instead! Tasty! Chatted with a few other people, then one of the highlights of the weekend, the race brief double-act by Marc and Terry. These are highly entertaining, and actually useful - the theme for this one was not to get hung up on meeting times and splits and embrace the challenge. And how true it was...
Bus time, a quick bye to my wife and girls (ended up on the wrong side of the bus to wave!) then we were off to Dalemain. The usual interminable wait, along with a quick chat to Nick Wishart, Simon Darmody and Marcos Scotney, then finally we were off. For once, the leaders (Stuart Mills included) set a reasonably sensible pace - which, scarily, I couldn't quite keep with. It was frustrating as my legs felt great, but on the slopes they just eased off. After the fields, we were back on the road towards Dalemain and I needed a burp, and up came some of the bacon cob - oh dear. Swallow, keep moving. Back past the start and off towards Pooley Bridge, just trying to relax and get some rhythm going. Through Pooley Bridge there was a lot more noise than previous years, which was a great boost, then on to the climb up to the Cockpit. This was the start of a recurring theme for the day - legs were dead on the climbs. Lost some places, but then on the descent to Howtown, I gained them back.
Met James Adams (again) at the checkpoint, in and out as quickly as possible, then on to Fusedale and High Kop. Going by the climb out of Pooley Bridge, I knew this was going to be grim, and it was! In short order Simon Darmody trotted past me with another bloke, then another, then Jo Meek, then another...I think I dropped back to 14th or so by the time I go to the top. I wasn't in a particularly happy place up there, but I thought back to Marcs' speech, and something else my wife told me - it's the British Champs, there's no expectation for me to be anywhere near the front. So, doing what I usually do, I tried something new in a race, and this time it was music.
I think my run along Haweswater was the best I've had - and I've had a few. Passed Simon Darmody and Damian Hall and cracked on towards Mardale Head checkpoint, arriving in 12th. The Spartans were out in full force, and very efficient, I was in and out in no time - I arrived after Phillip Hayes (ran with him for quite a bit on the High Peak 40) and left before him. He caught me up pretty quick though, as it was another climb - the massive effort up to Gatescarth Pass. I'd resigned myself to being reasonably useless on the climbs, so I wasn't bothered when he caught me then passed me. There was another catching as well, but I managed the top before him. So, slow on the climbs, average on the flats, what left to do but smash the downs! Nipped back past Phillip, had a great run to the bottom, then set in for the long drag down Sadgill. A quick "hi" to Forest (Anthony) Bethell striking a magnificent pose on the bridge, then up and over to Kentmere Checkpoint.
Arrived in 11th, quick smoothie, then out in 9th. I caught up to Matt Maynard and stayed reasonably close to him to the top (Garburn Pass). Descent time! Put a bit of a gap on him by the time I hit the bottom, then up the hill through Troutbeck and along the trail towards Ambleside. I met Martin Cox along here, who was having achilles issues, which must have been gutting for him - he was in 2nd at Kentmere! A brief chat as I went past, then on toward Ambleside and my family!
I always enjoy the Ambleside stop, as I get to catch up with Mel and the girls, but this time I was also looking forward to getting a bit of salt in - my left calf was starting to feel a little "crampy" on the downs. Hugs, hi's and a couple of cups of Coke (one with a sachet of salt in - tasty!), some encouragement by one of my heroes Ben Abdelnoor then off over the park, maintaining a good pace over the park where there were witnesses! Arrived and left in 7th, with Matt Maynard 3 minutes behind.
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| Arriving at Ambleside, getting photobombed by my youngest Josie. Photo from Anna Roberts. |
Up Loughrigg Fell, still feeling slow on the up but everyone is getting slow by this stage, and the TORQ gels were still going down well - although burning a little where the vomit came up near the start. Down the fell was great, and on the road toward Skelwith Bridge I caught and passed another L50 runner, but I didn'y know who as he had his number folded. I made a concious effort to try and push the pace along towards Elterwater to try and get some time in between us. Another quick Hi to Mel and the girls at Elterwater, with the news that Jo wasn't far ahead, then on towards Chapel Stile. In 6th, with the other guy a couple of minutes back.
Out as soon as possible, then over the undulating section towards Blea Moss, the climb up to Blea Tarn was hard work! Still trying to catch Jo, who I see in the distance every now and again, but the other guy isn't far behind, so I hammer down after the unmanned the checkpoint. I push hard up the next climb, but the other guy is moving faster on the up, nearly catching me by the top of Cloce Hill Coppice, I have to hammer the descent again to gain some more space. Into Tilberthwaite Checkpoint, I can't see him behind me so I grab a couple of grapes, and head off up the steps asap, still in 6th!
I push as hard as I can up the quarry, but not hard enough - The guy behind catches me up on the long steady incline to the top. I was fairly confident I could catch him on the downhill so I wasn't too concerned about keeping up with him. The top, then the plan was to hammer the descent to catch Jo and the bloke just in front. I smash the descent, going nearly as fast as I would have with fresh legs. A quick Hi to James Harris as I nipped past, down to the last road section ready for the fast last mile to take me into 5th.
My legs, however, had other plans. After that little section of indignation, my quads said enough, and I was reduced to a hobble down the rest of the hill. I managed to get a bit of a trot on before I get to the pubs, and a reasonable pace on by the time anyone can see me. In and done, 7th place in 8:45, just behind Jo Meek and the other bloke, who turned out to be Lee Kemp (he ran 6 minutes faster than me over the last section!).
My quads were brutalised, completely rock hard. Had a catch-up with Kevin Hoult who had a cracking run at the 100, but was feeling as grim as me - I had to chill out under a tree for a bit! Managed a few mouthfuls of pasta afterwards, but was in a fairly bad way.
Anyways, I'm going back again next year trying to better my time and result from 2012, and because I don't think I could imagine a year without this event! It is the single best event I have ever done.
A massive thanks to TORQ for fuelling my run, I went through 16 gels without any issues with them, and the kit from Altura was great!
Looking forward to next year...
