Well I have to admit that when my alarm went off this morning and all I could hear was the rain on the caravan roof, the idea of going out and running was not really at the forefront of my mind. Temperature in Keswick was about 3 degrees and I hadn't brought my running jacket. Probably just as well I had Grandad to get me out the door! After breakfasting on toasted tea cakes - as the race didn't start until 11.30 - I had a mosey on facebook to see what was going on in the world of Good Run Wall etc. A friend who lives quite close by in Johnby had written some Winnie-the-Pooh reference to snow (he does have a nearly-three-year old) but we laughed it off. That was until we drove out of the campsite to see the surrounding hills COVERED in the stuff - Henry hadn't been joking ....
After a quick trip into Millets for some emergency gloves, and having dodged some road closures we were finally on our way to Bampton where the race was to start. Heavy rain overnight had obviously affected their parking plans as it was a tad chaotic, but we did manage to find a space. Toilets though were definitely lacking! For a race that was expecting up to 500 runners, they'd provided 6 toilets in 2 locations ... the queues were terrible and as Grandad offered to take my layers back to the car (after registration) he pretty much missed the start of the race - I only made it by the skin of my teeth. However, he ran as close to the start as he could and then waited for me to come through ... rather than bunking the whole course off as lost.
As my aim was simply to get round, I started nicely out of the way at the back of the pack (where I did of course stay!) and plodded off at a steady pace. After a tiny downhill, the course was flat for most of the first mile, but from then on it was a pretty steady (and steep in some places) climb up to the Haweswater reservoir and along it. Being a there-and-back route of course meant that much of the return was downhill apart from a couple of steepish climbs. Water stations were reasonably frequent (4, 7 and 10ish miles) although the runner who promised us jelly beans at the turnaround point was LYING!!! Luckily I had my own supplies.
There was a vet at the back of the pack who I was told (by his lovely chatty daughter-in-law who I will call kind lady as I never asked her name) was usually whizzing off ahead but hadn't done any training so was finding it a bit hard. His son and daughter in law stayed with him the whole way round, and she was great at encouraging me - especially in the middle of the course - by chatting and running with me. They ended up finishing about 5 or 10 mins after I did, but he got round (79 and not run since January!).
Made a slight jelly bean mistake somewhere around 9 or 10 miles - I had been restricting myself to a couple at a time, but in a moment of madness scoffed about 4 or 5 in one go and ended up getting a stitch that was with me until the finish - meaning I walked rather more of the last 3 miles than my legs really needed. I got a second wind somewhere around 8 miles, and in fact miles 9 was my fastest of the lot (it was on one of the downhills!).
The returning pack were great at being encouraging as were all the marshals - although there was one on a bike who was annoying the hell out of me for some reason - partly because he kept whizzing past me (in both directions). The finish was getting a little difficult by the time I went through, as the cars were starting to leave, but cheekily it was quite handy getting a short breather before sprinting the last 400m - I know that's slightly cheating but hey ho!
Got one large but not sore blister under my foot again, and a diddly one on my toe - which frankly I don't think is too bad considering how blinking damp it was (got hailed on at least twice - and ran through several puddles). Now looking forward to some posh beef ready meal, a bottle of red wine, and the gin and tonic what's in the fridge cooling .... THAT'S what I call a good post-race treat!
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