UTLD 50

The Lakeland 50 started at 11:30 yesterday. I've looked forward to this for months, and after doing 66 miles for the Three Rings of Shap I was confident too.  I had intended to do this event to see how it felt with consideration for looking to doing the 100 in the future.

5:00 -  my alarm went off and I was up, showered and eating breakfast and coffee.
6:30 - left home with Iron Man heading to Coniston to check in.
7:15 - realised last check in was at 8:00 and we were an hour away.
7:58 - arrived in Coniston and the Iron Man got into registration.
8:05 - I was weighed (88.4kg fatty), kit checked, I paid for Iron Man's new waterproof as his failed the kit check, and we were in.  Phew.
11:15 - we clapped though a load of 100 runners whilst we awaited the start. Impressive.
11:30 - after the excellent briefing from Marc et al we set off.

What can I say- it was HOT and I suffered. We got to Howtown in 2:23:39, topped up on fluids and got ready for my least favourite part - Fusedale. On the recce I had my ass kicked on this section because it was too hot.  Same today.  I suffered on this ascent despite dousing my head and cap in streams, but we got to Mardale Head in 3:22:31 (total 5:46:10). Here was the Spartans tent where we had carrot and coriander soup, flat coke and sugary tea. Really great checkpoint, despite the bodies everywhere.

The section over Gatesgarth pass was slow. My legs weren't up to the job, I could only trudge slowly but stubbornly upwards. Once at the top we ran down the valley. Very frustrating but I think the heat had me. After the next brief up and over, the descent to Kentmere went well. 2:29:23 for this section (total 8:15:33).  I had pasta and tea and coke, lamented that the parking charge here has gone from £1 per day to £3 and off we went.

It won't come as a surprise that the Garburn Pass kicked my ass too, 40 minutes from church to summit. However, after this we ran all the way down. The short cut over to Ambleside was a lot of up again, but near the top it began to piss it down and quickly I was soaked. Despite being around 11pm Ambleside gave us a great welcome, and the checkpoint was another good one. Bodies and foil blankets everywhere. Butternut squash soup, amazing at this point. Sarnies and crisps. A real boost. 2:46:01 for this leg, 11:01:34 total.

Off we went for Chapel Stile. This section went well despite the dark and occasionally tricksy nav.  Another amazing marquee, with a brazier outside and sofas inside. More tea, beef stew and a map check. 2:07:36 leg, 13:09:10 total.

Our next target was the self check on Wrynose. We managed to navigate past the worst bog and self checked after 1:47:32 (total 14:56:42), then ran a lot of the section to the Tilberthwaite checkpoint 50:23 leg, (15:47:05 total). Here, we had tea and little else and got on our way up the sting in the tail. Steep and technical ground led to the summit, and then steep and technical ground led down the other side. We were back at Coniston in in 1:30:11 (the toughest 3.5 miles ever?), to complete in a total time of 17:17:16. Slower than what I wanted, but great nonetheless and great food for thought.



We started the drive back, but needs 40 minutes sleep before the M6 so we got back around 7am to find my fab wife was up with breakfast and Bloody Marys for us, what a great welcome.

If I'm going to think about the 100 I need to invest a lot of time and effort. I suspect my bouldering goals will mean a lot more to me. I need to relax and have a good think. In the meantime rather happy.