A minor issue was that I'd twisted my ankle pretty severely a couple of weeks ago. So badly that I thought I'd broken it for a short time. (til I hardened up and walked off the hill- it was pretty impressively swollen for a while though). In the last couple of days it had begun to feel a bit better though- but there had been no hard training on it for a while... today could be interesting.
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| My ankle 2 weeks ago. |
Once more I was on leg 4 along with serial running partner in crime- Chris Webb. There were a couple of minor issues getting to Patterdale- the first being a closed road JUST outside Chris's house which meant a 20 minute diversion for me to get there, followed by a bit of a smash on the M6 where an airambulance was landing on the road- meaning no traffic flow in either direction for a considerable amount of time.
It didn't get too fraught, even with my "wanting to be EVERYWHERE early" head on, and we arrived in Patterdale in plenty of time to get our numbers from Zoe and Immy (our lovely leg 1 runners), get changed, grab a cake for afterwards (rookie error from last year- finishing leg 4 and ALL the best cake was gone... we weren't about to make that mistake again), and a bit of a pootle over to the start of Leg 4 at Sykeside campsite.
Prior to the race I'd sat down with the times from previous years and had worked out a very very rough schedule based on the best/average times. As it was, underfoot was waaaay more wet than other years that I have raced it, and times were a bit slower than I anticipated... so we got to Sykeside for the best case scenario, and waited. Which was fine, because this year it was fairly still and relatively warm. We chatted with runners from Pennine, and wished them well as they headed off into the distance, wondering if we were going to be set off soon enough to catch up with them.
Soon enough we were joined by Matt Crompton- team captain, and Immy and Zoe turned up very vocally, just as Mark D and Dan S came crashing down the end of leg 3, Chris grabbed the dibber and off we went.
Fairly fast. Faster than I'm used to running at this point. We passed a couple of teams, and before we even hit the first checkpoint I was saying to Chris "we might want to tone it down a bit"- to which he nodded. And then we went at exactly the same speed.
We called back a Todmorden pair who missed the dibber by the bridge and launched our assault on the hill. Chris Jackson and partner were somewhere up there with a huge lead on us, so it was a bit of a challenge to see if we could catch them. Up the hill and far in the distance we could see a number of brightly coloured vests scaling the steps and the steep part to Hart Crag.
There isn't a lot to say about this bit apart from redlining it all the way up and wondering if I was actually going to be able to run when we got to the top. Chris and I ran together- rarely more than 5 metres from each other- so a real team effort in terms of keeping each other going.
The stones were slippy on the way up, and as we got to the top of Hart Crag we finally begun to catch teams- overtaking another 2 or 3 near the top, with another just in sight. The clag on the top meant there was not a lot to see, and we really couldn't tell who was much more in front of us than a hundred metres or so. As the air was so still, despite the fog/mist it was still ridiculously warm, and I was glad to have only a vest on.
We came around Fairfield and took a good line, absolutely nailing the entry to the scree, and bashed straight onto Cofa Pike. I don't know the "borrowdale" line that everyone seems to take these days and was not about to have a go at a race/recce in wet, claggy conditions, bashing it as fast as possible over treacherous rock on Cofa seemed to be the best way forward.
I was a little concerned that we might catch up with a load of people on the Pike and be held up, but as we made our way across it, there was no-one... odd! really odd.
Down the steep part where I took a minor tumble (first of 3 of the day) there were some runners coming in from our lower left... from the "borrowdale" route... all the teams I had been expecting to come across on the Pike. Hah! We'd caught up and overtook quite a few teams on that section. Brilliant.
I nearly turned around and High-5'd Chris, except for the fact I was having issues keeping my legs going and lungs breathing.
A run/walk/run/walk up St.Sunday, and then, gathering ourselves, a plunge off into the mist on the other side, down to find the trod off the hill.
Despite the sweat stinging our eyes, and the fact that we were going eyeballs out, we could still see a couple of runners who were WAY off course down in the valley... is it Chris? No idea, I'm not slowing down to take a closer look.
Down the hill and across numerous bogs. I was slipping and sliding all over the place. Rocks were slippery, the grass was slippery, the mud and bog was treacherous, there was just no way to really open up and go as hard as possible. Brain power was being used up by a bit of navigation and a lot of trying to run as fast as possible while staying rubberside down.
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| Mark D, Zoe, Me, Chris, AndyO and Jules. Immy and Dan had already dashed off. |
Down some more and after a couple of minor falls, Chris was in front and stayed there to the final dib point as I begun to struggle slightly with a stitch. The final descent off to Patterdale showground was a horrorshow of slippery stone steps. If another team came screaming past us at that point, I'd have let them go. Losing a place or going at a speed where a broken something might result? I think I'll lose a place, thanks.
But no-one did, and we ran into the showground in 1:19:37. 16th fastest on the leg- 11 mins slower than the fastest- which was ridiculous if you ask me. We were 4mins slower than last year, but considering we were 17th fastest then and 9 minutes slower than the winners- I'll call that a fairly decent day out.
And the ankle was fine. It's a little tender today- it knows it was run hard yesterday, but nothing more than that. Excellent.
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