The Lakeland Trails Marathon was one of poor weather,
exhaustion and complete lack of preparation and knowledge of the course….but
one of my favourite runs of the year and I’m rather sad that I won’t be doing
it again this year, but maybe next!!
I’d begun to learn that in the marathon world, the route
being described as “undulating” means “f*%cking brutal”, so on the Saturday
evening when I decided that a bit of pre-race prep, was better late than never.
Maybe it should have just been never. Looking at the race registration times on
the website, curiosity got the better of me and I decided to do a bit of
exploring. Seeing the course map and the words “will you be a survivor” I
remember thinking, what do they mean I thought it was only meant to be a little
bit hilly. Oh how wrong I was.
Getting to the registration in the morning, I remember
looking around Coniston thinking, ah they’re going to make us run around the
lake, looking at the “hills” around me thinking, surely they’re not going to
make us run up those….wrong again (noticing a bit of a theme yet?) Entering
registration was a palaver in itself, due to the extreme weather conditions
they had decided there was mandatory kit, which of course I didn’t have. £40 on
a waterproof jacket that was so lightweight it felt like it was going to rip
just by touching it, later, I was ready to go. Something noticeable was the
event memento on display, a t-shirt with the word survivor on the back….what
was it about this race I thought it was meant to be relatively easy….
By this point the weather hadn’t eased off like it had said
on the news, it had in fact got worse. It was royally pouring it down as I
walked to the start line, feet already sopping wet, still struggling with DOMS
from the Lancaster marathon the week before….I was officially feeling sorry for
myself. The start of the race wasn’t the most inspiring as everyone charged off
and we did two laps of a school field, the grass getting nice and churned
making for some wonderful slips and slides within the first 3-4 minutes.
Eventually we took off and started to explore the trails, slightly undulating
and tricky under foot but just as I thought they would be.
And then we started to climb. I’m not talking a little
climb, I’m talking a rather beasty climb, that led me to question someone on
what the route was meant to be like…”tough there’s over 3000ft of climbs”……we
shan’t go into the expletives that came out of my mouth at that point and the
chuckles that came from a few fellow runners around me at my lack of knowledge
of the course and the pure stupidity of entering a challenging marathon route
with no idea of what was to come. The majority of the marathon stayed the same,
I latched on to one poor soul who without a doubt was the only thing that
helped me complete that run. Helping me back up when I tumbled, coming back for
me when I got lost and generally being a very good fellow runner in ensuring I was
a survivor, we well and truly bonded.
(Troopers together)
It sounds as if the run was awful, and at times it really
was and I wondered what the hell I was doing, but it was also one of the most
exciting runs I’ve ever done. Bounding up and down rocky trails that were
tricky underfoot, wading around a tarn, running In trails that had become
streams because of the rain and seeing some of the best views of the lake
district (at the highest points).
(The part where we had to start wading)
I finished the race battered, bruised, soaking wet and caked
in mud, but with the biggest smile on my face, that despite legs that felt like
led, and the completely wrong footwear on, I’d been a survivor and completed
the Lakeland Trails Marathon Challenge!!!
(Slightly muddy - after being cleaned up)
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