Last year I was very fortunate to get an entry, I think they sold out in 6 minutes! And it was always going to be my big race of this year. Training for the climbs was a bit tricky as I don't live near anything that could be deemed to be a big hill. I discovered a few small hills and just ran up and down them. Unfortunately I would discover later that running up and down a 200 meter hill just does not prepare you for the Lakeland hills even if you run up and down 50 times in a session...
We had booked accommodation at the Waterhead Hotel in Coniston and this would be my daughter's first stay in a hotel and her first sleep in a bunk bed. She is not quite 4 so to say the excitement level was high is an understatement. It would also be my first ever trip to the Lake District. On Wednesday afternoon / evening I packed my running backpack. I had made sure the previous week that I had all the minimum kit requirements - no point leaving it to the last minute. Once again I struggled to get everything into my Camelbak Ultra 10. Yes I probably do carry too much but I like to be prepared for most eventualities and in the UK you can never be sure what the weather will do. I've done lots of races with my Camelbak and it's just never been comfortable. I usually get bruised ribs and shoulders from it and chaffing on the sides from its side straps. Also most stuff is not easily accessible. After 4 or 5 hundred miles "racing" in it I have been looking at alternatives but very difficult to select one that fits me and my kit over the internet.
On Thursday morning we all bundled into the car. Me, Catriona, daughter, 3 dogs and a cat and headed up to the lake district, dropping the dogs and cat off at the kennels on the way. It started raining and continued pretty much for the entire trip up to Coniston. Once again a fairly short journey turns into a mammoth effort on the UK's motorways. Over 8 hours... Luckily Isla is very good in the car and although she was tired when she got to the hotel she was still quite happy. A quick change and down for dinner and then a walk. It had turned into a beautiful evening and the Lake District is really pretty.
We headed for bed quite early as we were tired from driving all day and had a big day to come on Friday. I woke up stupidly early on Friday morning (around 3am) but managed to doze a bit until 8am after which we headed for breakfast. mmmm Full English thank you very much. After breakfast I grabbed all my things and we headed off to race registration about a 1km walk away.
I went through kit check with no problems and got my race pack containing my number, map and course notes and got weighed. 83.5 kg which was a bit heavier than I expected and I could only partially blame the heavy shorts for that...
After the weigh-in there was the Endurance running store stand and they had Ultimate Direction backpacks. I had no intention of actually buying right then and there but it was a brilliant opportunity to try the various sizes and see if my kit fitted. The Ultimate Direction rep was great and very patient with me. I didn't get his name but if you are reading this - thanks! From the moment I tried one on I realized just how uncomfortable with Camelbak was and after picking a correctly sized on for all my kit - I do carry a lot... - I decided to break the first rule of ultrarunning: "Never try anything new in a race". With only 7ish hours to race start this was probably not the best idea and after a brief finance meeting / birthday prezzie discussion with Catriona it was decided on. At this moment Jason Sherwood had just completed registration and I said "Hi". He wasted no time in reminding me of the first rule of ultra running. The UD rep was very kind and ran out to his van and returned with some extra water bottles as the vest I'd decided to go with only came with one. That done we headed back to the hotel where we had lunch. Just a sandwich for me this time. Catriona very kindly took Isla for a walk so I could repack my kit into the new bad and just generally take it easy.
Just before 4 we headed back to the race start as the race briefing was at 4:30. I found a nice shady tree and we spent the next 20 mins chatting and relaxing. There were lots of nervous people around and I sort of felt I should be too but just wasn't. Maybe that comes from experience? We were called into the race briefing which was by far the most entertaining race briefing I've been to. Some last minute advice regarding navigation and a motivational speech and we were done. Now just the wait till the race start at 6pm. We sat under the tree and Isla played with some other children. I'm sorry if Isla was hassling your family too much, she gets very excitable. Isla was very excited about the children's race and was practising the Fox's dance which we had shown her a few days earlier. As it turns out I think she got a bit overtired for the children's race and got a bit grumpy towards the end. Another big thanks to Catriona for looking after a grumpy child by herself.
Just before 6 we were called into the start chute and all dibbed in. I hung back as I prefer to start very slowly usually with a walk. We were treated to Nessun Dorma (none shall sleep - very apt) and sent on our way. I managed to locate Catriona and Isla on the side of the road and said one last goodbye.
In retrospect starting right at the back was a bit of a mistake as a lot of the first hill was perfectly runnable. Still over 105 miles a few minutes makes absolutely no difference. I've never been in a race where walking poles were allowed and quickly learnt to avoid them. In my opinion they probably should be banned on the first hill or until the field thins out a bit. Towards the top of the climb I spotted Jason again and we chatted for a while. On to the first downhill and I spotted a pirate coming past. One of the Enduronutters. Sorry I didn't remember your name Rob! As soon as you said it I was wondering how I could possibly have forgotten... Rob introduced me to Matthew who I don't think I've met before and shortly afterwards Nick Reed came flying past looking very strong.
Unusually for me I started to get a bit of cramp in my right quad on that first downhill. It wasn't a technical descent but it was long. I didn't panic, just slowed down and stopped for a stretch at the first checkpoint which seemed to help. My checkpoint technique has improved over the years so now I almost always walk into one, get my "nosebag" out, refill water bottles and scoop whatever looks yummy into the bag. Thank the checkpoint staff and move on. The checkpoints in the Lakeland were superb and the volunteers were so helpful. Not once in the entire race did I have to refill a water bottle myself!
I tend to just focus on the moment in a long run and have very little idea of when the checkpoints are. They are always a welcome sight when they appear but I'm not obsessed by them and before the race I had no idea where they were or their cutoff times. Using the road book was quite fun though as for once I did have an idea where they were. Follow the instruction on the page of the book and get rewarded with a biscuit, soup, sandwich or some other welcome snack.
After checkpoint 1 I sped up a little to catch Rob and Matthew and we ran together for a while until I left them on a slight uphill. I was feeling strong on the flats and uphills so thought I'd make the most of that whilst keeping the heart rate nice and low. There was a very steep downhill on the way to checkpoint 2 and someone behind me fell quite heavily. I stopped to check he was ok which luckily he was, he had only just missed a huge rock. Then not even 10 seconds later he fell again, winding himself but luckily otherwise unhurt.
This served as reminder to be careful on the descents as a wrong move could not only result in the end of the race but possibly a trip to the hospital. Around checkpoint 2 (Boot) I found #4 and we ran together for a while. Having #1 certainly prompted a number of comments. In fact one guy, I think/hope jokingly, thought I was one of the elite runners and was questioning his own pacing strategy.
This served as reminder to be careful on the descents as a wrong move could not only result in the end of the race but possibly a trip to the hospital. Around checkpoint 2 (Boot) I found #4 and we ran together for a while. Having #1 certainly prompted a number of comments. In fact one guy, I think/hope jokingly, thought I was one of the elite runners and was questioning his own pacing strategy.
I was being really good with my hydration as it was quite warm but wasn't really hungry at all so had just been nibbling on the biscuits provided by the checkpoints. I was carrying 4 Cliff bars and most of a packet of jelly babies with me with a full restock in my drop bag at Dalemain.
After checkpoint 3 we were going through some flatish boggish area just as it was starting to get dark. At around 10:15pm I stopped and put my buff and headtorch on. It was still light enough to see without it but it’s always best to have it ready well in advance than trying to struggle to find it later. I always see lots of people who wait too long then struggle to see enough to find their torches.
At Wasdale head checkpoint there seemed to be lots of runners who had clearly been there for a while. Once again I quickly moved through and headed off to Buttermere via Black Sail Pass and Scarth Gap. I mostly walked these and even when walking I was conscious of the heart rate rising so slowed down a bit. On a few occasions on the climbs I stopped to take photos of all the little lights winding their way up, unfortunately none of them turned out very well. The road book mentions the downhill is “rough and rocky in parts” this in no-way does it justice! I had broken my right foot quite badly some years ago whilst running and the rocky downhill was causing me a lot of pain. At the next checkpoint in Buttermere I had to make a decision. Either to keep going at the pace I was for a possible sub 30 hours but with a very real possibility of a DNF or aim to finish. I chose to attempt to finish within cutoff time. The problem was I hadn't actually bothered to look at the checkpoint cutoff times but knew the finish one was 40 hours.
So with a bit of mental maths I worked out I could walk all the downhills, powerwalk / jog the uphills for as long as possible and walk/run the flats as much as possible depending on the pain. With good checkpoint discipline I should make it. Having had this pain before in a long race I knew the other foot was very likely to take quite a beating with knocks and blisters as I was limping slightly. In my favour was the fact I’d completed two other 100 milers in the last 3 months in around 21 hours so I had a bit of speed in the legs if I really needed it
New goals set, I planned to really enjoy the rest of the race and took my time to admire the stunning scenery and took moments turning my head torch off at night to admire the stars. I also managed to take a number of photos which I don't normally do when running. I was vaguely aware of some steep drop off to the side of the path in the darkness but nothing that made me feel unsafe at all.
By now the slight cramp in my quad had pretty much gone and I was enjoying running in a lovely still evening. Navigation was going well until we missed a path in the bracken, I was with a group of guys at that time and collectively we worked out the actual path was about 50 meters above the one we were on. One small spot of walking through the bracken and we were back on track. Luckily there aren't many things likely to bite out here although I did stop for a quick tick check. In fact, apart from climbing maybe a little too far on some of the climbs and going for a 200 meter odd detour on the 2nd last leg my navigation was spot on. Even when the Garmin died for 25 mins on the second night I was easily able to navigate with the course notes, map and compass.
On the leg from Braithwaite I met up with Karl and we walked and ran a bit together. He can walk incredibly quickly and I was having to jog at times just to keep up. He has finished 6th in the Spine race and done one of the Yukon races! Just as we got on the cyclepath we came across a man whom we assumed was drunk. He was walking and clutching the fence as we got to him he fell right onto the tar of the path. I asked him if he was ok and he said "No I think I've broken my leg" but he didn't seem to want help and then he did. After a brief discussion with Karl we decided to call an ambulance. Luckily Karls watch gives UK grid references as I would not have been able to give a very accurate description to the ambulance service. We made sure the guy was ok and he said he'd move closer to the road where they could see him. It wasn't cold or raining so we thought it would be ok to leave him. When we were leaving he did appear fine but I still think the best idea was to call the ambulance service, I hope we didn't waste their time.
Some others joined our little group and we kept on hiking / jogging until the slight downhill near the unmanned checkpoint where I got left behind slightly. I managed to catch them up at the next checkpoint where the yummy cake was. I signed the "Thanks for the yummy cake card" and headed out before the others. I found the going on the tar sections quite tough but still managed a few run/walks. The 6km run into the Dockray checkpoint wasn't too bad and I managed to run/walk quite a bit of it. Karl had power walked off and was quite a way ahead by now. I had my Garmin plugged into the battery back for this bit and it was almost fully charged by the checkpoint. Think I had a sandwich and some biscuits here before thanking everyone and heading off.
The last few k's before Dalemain were quite a struggle. In fact even though the last one was entirely flat and perfectly runnable I didn't even attempt to run. The atmosphere going into the estate was fantastic as the 50 milers had just started and we fast guys were completing their first lap. I stopped at the aid station which was made to look like a medical tent complete with people in scrubs and gloves. There I was once again helped with my water bottles, given my drop bag and offered some food. The stew was fantastic and then followed by sponge cake in custard. Yum! I had spare dry socks in my drop back along with merino wool t-shirt. My feet were not in a good state after being in water and limping for so long. A coating of sudocreme and fresh socks helped. At this stage I noticed that my velcro gaiter attachments on my shoes had been pulled off by sinking into the bogs. There were still doing a decent job of keeping the bigger stones out so I just left them on even though they were flapping around a bit. It had just started to drizzle so I put my merino wool t-shirt on and went to hand in my drop-bag. There I found Jason again, he was really struggling with his quads and didn't look too happy.
Running out of Dalemain was quite fun, again lots of support and quite nice to have some 50 milers for company. I was run/walking the flats again so kept overtaking and being passed by the same people over and over. This made for lots of entertaining banter.
The leg from Howtown to Mardale head was fine until I got a little past High Kop where the descent started. This really hurt and I was doing 22min/km. Jason passed me on the downhill just before the deer gates. It was good to see him looking strong again. His quads having been revived with a protein shake. The path around the lake was runnable and I managed to pass quite a few people here but as soon as we got to the short downhill sections I was back to snails pace. At the Mardale head checkpoint I had some soup and spotted a paramedic looking at someone's feet. I asked her if she wouldn't mind looking at mine. And she replied that they don't actually tape feet. Well one look at my feet without socks and she decided that taping them would be a good idea. We raided my first aid kit and found everything we needed. I did say I carry a lot didn't I. She was impressed I even had duct tape in there. It must be a horrible job fixing people's feet and I can't thank you enough for doing it. I'm sorry I didn't get your name. While sitting there looking after my feet I spotted Nikki from Centurion running sitting down next to me. We had a quick chat and she headed off. As we were about to climb Gatesgarth pass and it was getting a bit windy I decided to put my long sleeve baselayer on over my t-shirt. In hindsight this was a bit of a mistake as I was only cold until half way up the climb and then overheated a bit. The 2.5 km downhill after the climb was absolutely terrible. Rocks had been embedded in the road at right angles to stop erosion etc but they really really hurt! After what seemed like forever I got to the bottom. This leg had two wall step stiles in it. Normally they wouldn't pose much of a problem but after 80ish miles I was very very careful I had good footing and handholds as I didn't want to fall at this stage.
I seem to remember it getting a bit dark now and at the next checkpoint I got my headtorch ready and swapped to my spare battery. I had a bowl of pasta and a fruit smoothy and put my rain jacket on. After this long being awake and using lots of energy it’s very easy to get uncontrollably cold when leaving a warm checkpoint. As I leave the checkpoint, hood on and zip up over the mouth. With a few hundred meters you are warm again and can take the hood off or the jacket entirely. Just before this checkpoint I had started walking on and off with Raj and Roy and some other guys whose names I can’t remember. They were moving at roughly the same speed as I was and it made sense to stick with them. I don’t think there was much chatting at all apart from holding the gates open for each other and the associated “thanks”. The downhills to Ambleside were causing me a lot of pain and I was really struggling to stay with the others. The uphills were causing no problem at all and I was easily powering up them. At the next checkpoint at the Ambleside Parish center I had a cup of soup and headed out again before the others as I didn’t want to stop too long in the warmth of the checkpoint. I just plodded along following the route directions until the others caught me up and then we all walked together.
The section into Chapel Stile was rather pleasantly smooth underfoot. Around this time I was starting to see more animals and people in the trees. I then proceeded to warn everyone of a non existent car that was about to overtake us. The only really odd thing I saw was an eight foot wide green crab moving out of the bushes waving its claws about. As no-one else seemed to notice this I decided to ignore it too and move on. Just before the checkpoint while walking along the road through the campsite I could hear this extremely loud snoring. I’m really glad I wasnt camping next to that person! At the Chapel Stile checkpoint I had another bowl of stew that was extremely tasty. Just as I was leaving the checkpoint my Garmin decided to turn itself off then just stayed in the “garmin” screen for 25 minutes before finally rejoining me. No idea what it was doing. When it did eventually restart it asked me if I’d like to resume, which it did and pretended nothing had happened although the stopwatch was 25 mins under where it should have been.
On this leg to Tilberthwaite I got slightly confused by the road book which I misread and decided to follow what I thought rather than the map which led to about a 200 meter out and then 200 back detour. Actually the timing was quite good, I was ahead to Raj up to that point and as I rejoined the proper track they were just coming around the corner. We found the unmanned dipper and walked to the next checkpoint. I had a sit down and a cup of tea and popped to the porta loo only to emerge to the shouts of “Where is number 1” The others were waiting for me. Although I did find it rather amusing as I was just leaving the loo.
The start of this leg was rather nasty as it goes straight up stairs formed out of rocks and then into some very short scramble sections which I rather enjoyed. Just above this there was a cairn and we stopped to take some photos. The mood was quite cheerful now as we only had about 5.5 km to go and plenty of time to do it in. I phoned Catriona and gave her a rough estimate of my finish time so that they could come and see me limp into the finish. The views were once again fantastic and we started the descent into Coniston. The others left me behind now as I was struggling to go down the really steep bits.
The last 2.5 km’s seemed to take forever but at last I was in Coniston. Marc was on the main road through Coniston helping us through the traffic. At that stage of the race there was absolutely no way I could speed up to avoid a car so this was much appreciated. One last left turn, a small downhill and I managed a half jog to the finish. Catriona and Isla were waiting for me and I was very happy to see them. A kind race marshal escorted me to the hall where I got my timing information, medal and t-shirt. I hopped on the scales to see how much I now weighed - 83.3kg. 83.5 at registration with heavy canvas shorts and 83.3 at the finish with my light race ones. So pretty much exactly the same weight. I am such a piggy! Perhaps I shouldn’t eat quite so much in a race…
I had eventually finished in 39 hours and a few seconds. Not exactly to plan but what an enjoyable few days. I then asked to see the medics to have a look at my feet. There was a bit of an odd smell emanating and having had a serious infection after a race a few years back I just wanted them to check all was good. As it turned out apart from the obvious blisters, badly bruised / bleeding toe and a lot of pain in the old break I was pretty much fine. I didn’t have to test exactly how fine as Catriona bought the car around to give me a lift back to the hotel.
Sadly we didn’t make the presentation at 12 as Isla was getting rather grumpy and I was feeling very tired after being awake for 53 plus hours. It took about 20 minutes to remove the bindings and blisters plasters from my feet without all the skin coming off. Ouch! I had a bit of a snooze, donned my hard-earned t-shirt and had a late lunch with the family. All in all a great long weekend.
