Ennerdale 2008

Sat 14th June 2008, 23 miles, 7500ft.

Well sods law says that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and was I glad I was 45 minutes into the race and past the first checkpoint. The previous 15 or so hours had been a catalogue of memory lapses, which says something about where my head is at the moment. I forgot the bladder for my race sac at home and had to get one in town, I forgot my coat at work and forgot to print off any Arrochar flyers, I forgot my Eccles cakes for the race in the YHA, I forgot my chocolate milk for after the race wasn’t in the YHA but in the back of the car and now on top of Great Bourne I just remembered that I had forgotten to put plasters on my two main chaffing points…you know! However apart from that things were going well.

I was in the Lakes this weekend for the Ennerdale Horseshoe Fell Race, the longest of the Lakes Classics series. The day was perfect for running for the 130 or so sarters, starting cool and overcast but was said to be clearing. On the first ridge towards Red Pike we were in some low cloud, after that there was some drizzle, and there was a cold wind on Green Gable, but then the sun came out by Kirk Fell and the last 1/3 of the race was bright and breezy. Lovely.

The race is hard but never a killer at my plodding pce. We were advised that the gully off Kirk Fell was washed out and dangerous but apart from that it was very dry and largely runnable. I felt good until Kirk Fell summit and was even passing people walking, which is unheard of. Other than a couple of poor route choices I was going well, and even after Pillar when I had lost my group when I stumbled and they pulled away, I was still picking off stragglers and shuffling along bar the odd trip over pebbles or a big blade of grass.

In the end I finished my 2 litres of water on the last climb and finished 109th in 6 hours, an hour over Duddon, which is what I expected. This was a great course, a friendly crowd of runners and marshals, and a lovely…well, memorable…well a day out. If you haven’t done this you should. I am really enjoying this summer in the Lakes so I will be back. However for now I have run a road marathon and 2 Lakes superlongs in a month so I think I have earned an easy week before considering Wasdale. Any takers?