Finally got the medal

There can be no worse feeling that having to drop out of a race before the end, especially when you’ve put in the training, recced the route and thoroughly tested your gear before hand. But that is exactly happened in last years Lakeland 100. Officially I was a DNF (did not finish) dropping out at Buttermere. Unofficially I managed to rejoin the race at the half way point and successfully completed the full Lakeland 50 in just under 17 hours. (There were special circumstances to my missing the cut off time and I rejoined the race with the organisers consent)

That 50 was one of the hardest races I’d ever completed. By the time I crossed the finish line I hadn’t slept in 42 hours, I’d ran a total of around 80 hilly miles on one of the hottest days of the year, my feet were blistered and I could barely take another step. Frankly I’m not sure if I would have finished at all if it had not been for the support of my brother to get me to the start and Grant Hamilton, with whom I ran with most of the course, but finish I did.

Unfortunately while I may have ran the toughest 50 miles of my life, I had ran it unofficially. My time was not recorded and I did not get a finishers medal at the end of it. Of course i’d known right the start that there would be no medal at the end but none the less it still felt almost as bad as getting the DNF to watch the people i’d ran with all getting their medals while I sat outside the finishers area.

It was completely irrational to feel that way, I was really grateful that the organisers had permitted me to run the 50 at all and I’ve never been bothered about medals or certificates, I have draws full of those at home that I barely look at. But I still must have looked pretty miserable as I hobbled back to the car, mumbling about getting a damn medal next year.

Following my DNF I’ve went on to complete the 100k Northumberland Ultra and the 70 mile Race Race Wall, but I somehow hadn’t been able to muster the same enthusiasm for the this years LAKELAND as I had for last. I only made it over to the Lakes once for a training run, almost all of my training had been on the roads, with practically no hills at all, in fact I’d hardly thought about the race. It was as if something somewhere inside of me was stopping me from taking it seriously this year. Was I was preparing to fail, again?

All of that changed on the morning of the race. I was up at 3am, checking the overnight progress of the 100 milers as I ate breakfast my breakfast, then I was off driving through the dawn to Coniston, on arrival at the car park I wasted no time heading straight for registration, weighing in and going through kit checks. It suddenly seemed all to real… The magic was back. The adrenaline rush of the ultra, of facing the unknown, of pushing your body to its limits and trusting that you’d come through the other side.

I found Ian Young and David Best of Black Hill Bounders sitting outside their tent with the kettle boiling and sausages already in the frying pan. They’ve been running well all year and while I was going to start with them I wasn’t sure how I’d keep up. I joined them for a cup of tea and a last minute discussion on kit selection before we joined the others for the pre race briefing and boarder the busses to Dalemain.

Unlike last year we set of at a much more sustainable rate and thankfully it was a little cooler this year which was making it easier going. My the time we’d reached Mardale Head I could feel myself falling behind, but once we reached the checkpoint and I got a bowl off soup and a couple of cups of flat cola inside me i was feeling back on form and the three of us managed to stay together pretty much the rest of the way around.

The Lakeland is regarded as one of the toughest Ultras in the UK and its for very good reason.The course really put you and your kit to the test, with a wide variety of terrain, your forced to constantly change tempo, from speed walking grassy hills, to rapidly descending rocky trails or pushing along pacey sections of road.

Possibly the one thing more varied than the terrain are the checkpoints going from a collection of tables in a farm in Howtown, to army style tents in Mardale Head car park, I’d go as far as saying Kentmere is infamous as checkpoints go with smoothies a mobile disco and even massage table, Ambleside is also a welcome site often with crouds of supporters at to an outdoor store and who could forget Chapel Style with its warm stew and open fire or the patio chairs at Tiberthwaite before that big final push. Each one a mile stone along the route, each one with its own character and charm, each one a part of what makes the Lakeland unique. [side note - Kentmere was a particular high point for me, as I not only got to have a much needed strawberry smoothie but I also got to catch up with Jo Allen of team Montane. - Jo and I used to work together].

We finished in just under 13 hours and I finally got to picked up a finishers medal. I’d completed the course almost 4 hours faster than last year. While the medal will probably end up in the draw with all the others, I will wear my Lakeland 50 t-shirt with pride. The tech t-shirts from Sponsors Montane are amongst my favourite t-shirts and this year we even got a choice of colour. I went with red.

With a drop out rate of around 60% again this year on the 100, I guess I’ll not be the only one that has to come back a second year to pick up their medal.

If the truth be know, while I might say that I came back to finally get a finishers medal, the reality is I put myself through it again not because I missed out on a medal last year, but because at heart I’m an ultra runner and the Lakeland 50 and 100 are amongst the finest ultra races in the world, so why wouldn’t I do it again, and again and again…and who knows one of these day I might have another go at the hundred.