This weekend I’ve been in my happy place, the Lake District, for two 10km fell and trail races, the Helvellyn and Ullswater Lakeland Trails series. I absolutely love the Lakes at this time of year, it’s so dramatic and there is possibly no other place in the UK I’d rather be. The backdrop of the lakes and mountains and the glorious autumn colours are fantastic and in true style it delivered four seasons in one day on both days. There were sun, rainbows, storms, wind, icy rain……just magnificent. After a tough few weeks at work and lots going on at home it was the perfect escape I needed.
It started off well on Friday when I arrived at the accommodation that had been booked so long ago. I’d completely forgotten the fact that I’d booked myself in a castle!! I can’t imagine how that happened, my finger must have slipped on the booking button! Yes, a mini castle, but still a castle………it was gorgeous…….and had so much history. It was part of Greystoke Castle where Edgar Rice-Burroughs stayed to write the novel Tarzan. Tarzan also went by the name of Lord Greystoke as Rice-Burroughs paid homage to his stay at Greystoke Castle. I had the most relaxing night on Friday which set me up just perfectly for the first race on Saturday morning, the Helvellyn 10k.
This first race I was absolutely dreading due to the weather forecast so I was so relieved to get up to the most gorgeous blue skies and sunshine. I even recorded a little video for family and friends to show them how wrong the forecast was and to showcase the glorious surroundings. I set off quite sprightly in just my t-shirt as it did not feel that cold. However, I spoke too soon. Just as in any mountainous area the weather can change really quickly……..and it did. Just as it said in the forecast the heavens opened and the smile was well and truly on the other side of my face. The rain was torrential and as we got higher up it got colder and colder and felt like ice as it landed on you. We were all absolutely soaked. It was running down my back, my front, my face, my legs and into my shoes, which by this time were absolutely full of mud. I was running as fast as I could just to get to the end. But funnily enough, I still enjoyed it. The camaraderie of all the runners was just fantastic as we all encouraged each other to just keep putting one foot in front of the other. I like to come in the middle of the field and anything above that is a bonus now I’m in the Veteran 50 class. There are some really serious runners out there decades younger than me. I was absolutely over the moon with my 86th of 209 runners.
Anyone else who had run that race and had another 10km race to run the day after would have just put their feet up and had a nice afternoon in front of a log fire. But not me! I like to live every second of my life as if it’s my last and when I go away, I like to see as much as possible. For me, one of the best views of Lake Ullswater is from a view point called the ‘Memorial Seat’. So, it was bobble hat on and a two mile up and two mile down trek on Gowbarrow Fell to sit on the ‘Memorial Seat’. Now if this isn’t just the best view, I don’t know what is. You could just leave me up there for ever with a book, only it was a bit windy on Saturday afternoon so I did not hang around for too long.
After a long day I headed off back to my castle only to face my next dilemma. By this time, I was aching a little so I decided to take a bath instead of a shower in the lovely castle bathroom and have a good soak with lots of bubbles. The dilemma was this………the castle has the best selection of complementary toiletries and bubble bath than anywhere I have ever stayed. What to choose? I was torn between ‘Feel Relaxed’, ‘Muscle Therapy’, ‘Muscle Soak’ or ‘Stress Relief’. I decided I needed all four so had what can only be described as a bubble bath cocktail with all four, you could not see me for bubbles!
By now my stomach was telling me I needed food badly. So off I wandered, torch in hand for the return walk, to the lovely village pub, The Boot and Shoe. I walked through the door promising myself I would make all the right choices as I had another race to run in the morning……..so no alcohol and something healthy. Two hours later I exited the pub after steak and ale pie and a gin and tonic……..ooops! I’d managed to convince myself that there were plenty of carbs in the pie pastry and a slice of very healthy lemon in the gin and tonic. It was delicious.
It then proceeded to rain all night, and I mean really rain and storm as it does up there. Fortunately, on Sunday morning it had stopped raining constantly and was just raining on and off. The race was still on and the boats were sailing. The Ullswater 10km starts with a transfer the length of the lake from bottom to top on the Ullswater Steamer boat. The race is then all the way down the east edge of the lake, around the bottom and then part way up the west shoreline to the start point at Glenridding. For anyone that does not like hills, this one is a nightmare of a race. You are either going up or down, and the up and downs seem endless. The race started well. It was freezing cold but I felt good. However, no sooner had we got to the edge of the lake that it became apparent how much rain had fallen the night before. The trail was absolutely waterlogged, parts of it would have been better suited to a kayak. The puddles were so wide and deep going around them was not an option, going straight through was the only way. Three miles in I had drunk all my electrolytes, was wet through and had decided that this was just not fun anymore. I absolutely hit a mental and physical wall. It wasn’t runnable………there was lots of slipping, clambering, dare I say it walking and I was really struggling. I didn’t know whether it was tiredness from the day before, pie and gin, cold, or frustration at not being able to run it due to the conditions. I had noticed however that no-one had passed me since the start where I set off reasonably well not too far from the front so I thought maybe everyone else was struggling too. I ran with a lovely gentleman for a while who could not quite believe I was up there having run the day before as he was only doing Sunday’s race. Then I seemed to find my stride and ran unintentionally with another woman from that point until the end. We kept overtaking each other at different points. She seemed to be stronger than me on the flat but I’m a little bit like a mountain goat on the rocky downhills and uphills so together we made quite a good team pacing each other on the bits we each were weaker. We eventually limped over the line and into the finishers tent within seconds of each other, each thanking the other for the unspoken encouragement.
By that time, I was so wet I donned my wetsuit and went for a dip in the lake to cool down my leg muscles which were by now absolutely screaming. The results came in and I was absolutely delighted. I’d actually placed 40th out of 184 runners and 10th Veteran 50 female……. now that, I wasn’t expecting and I’m absolutely over the moon to be in the top 25%. It’s a feat I’ll probably never repeat so I’ll make the celebration last for as long as possible.
Then the icing on the cake, or is it the twist of the knife……..I can’t decide which, was when I read the following post on the Lakeland Trails Facebook page whilst looking for the official photos. Congratulations to Richard on his 40th Lakeland Trails run who to celebrate would generously like to treat the 40th finisher from each boat to a free entry to the race next year! I’ve ‘Liked’ the post but I’ve not yet owned up to being 40th on the 9am sailing, I keep looking at the results to see if by a stroke of luck someone’s timing chip wasn’t working and I’ve been bumped down to 41st when the results are verified. Now I do hope Richard has had an absolutely fantastic 40th Lakeland Trails run without any mishaps and I also hope to goodness he’s moving better than I am this week. I’m still at the stage where if I sit still for longer than 5 minutes I just can’t move. So, it looks like I might be running it next year after all!
