50th Annual Derwentwater 10 - Keswick, Cumbria UK

This was such an amazing experience. I'd gone into the race hoping for a solid and fast (under 8) race. Saturday morning after having run (2.5 miles on dead legs), spent all day walking about on paths and in shops, I hit the bed that evening and realized my feet and legs were aching! Hunh. I'm guessing this is not the best way to set a PR! The forecast for the next day was for heavy showers and wind.

It was a good lesson. You may have ideas of a goal race, but you just never know how circumstances are going to conspire against you. I knew I would just be running this for fun. yes, I'd be working pretty hard for that fun but one way or the other it was going to be memorable.

I really had not had a good idea of what this road course was like. I'd heard flat with a pretty sizable hill from about 5-7. After riding the boat around derwentwater (the lake that the course would run around), i knew the road was going to be more rolling than I expected. I was right to trust those instincts. Yet the course definitely had more surprises.

The race had a noon start which meant i could pretty much have a normal breakfast at the B&B. That meant cereal, fruit, eggs, toast, coffee, sausage. Good stuff! I passed on the beans and tomatoes for the day. Even though we were eating breakfast at 8:30, partway through the race I was suddenly starved! Another lesson in traveling so far for a race, expect the unexpected with food. I'd be just fine and then all of a sudden voracious. It was hard to plan for that sometimes.

As I walked the mile toward the school and race registration, it was pouring and windy as promised but not too cold (mid-50's). I could see the river was rising and running very fast. With that 15 minute walk, my shoes were already soaked. I figured I was crazy, but then I got to race registration (inside a nice warm school) and saw hoards of other crazy people. I got registered easily and cheaply for day of race. 11 pounds! that's about 17 US dollars which is extremely reasonable for what the race offered.

I went off to change and decide what to wear. I chatted with some fellow women and got asked a lot of questions because of my accent (where are you from, are you here just for the race?) and generally just enjoyed the whole thing. Everybody was moaning and complaining of the weather but ready to run.

I found out once there that the race actually started at the center of town and not at the school. Ok, but it's wet out there! At the last possible moment, I went trotting the half mile to the center of town and huddled in shop fronts trying to stay out of the rain. It was really hopeless.

I knew it would be relatively flat the first few miles so I thought I'd try starting around 8 flat knowing I'd slow with the latter hills. Considering how my legs had felt yesterday, I was really out here just to enjoy the scenery and the experience. the gun went off (I jumped) and we were off through town. It was a bit crowded at first but not bad. I wanted to make sure not to trip or go down on the slippery streets or random road furniture. Soon we were out on the road leading out of town. I got my first laugh out loud moment as I saw a sign on the road warning of badgers. BADGERS! I so wanted to see one. Maybe next time.

After the first mile, the effect of the rain became clear. Quite frequently, we'd run through water which was coursing over the roadway. My shoes and socks were completely soaked and running through that required a different technique to pull your feet out of the water. It was tough running. The road was also not closed. Cars would tuck in with runners until they could get to a place where there was room to move faster. Since I was feeling very confused about what side of the road runners and cars should be on (this is england!) I never quite knew where to expect the cars to go. It was a bit disorienting.

I settled into a good pace and was just enjoying myself. As expected the road started immediate ups and down but not too bad. Once towards mile 4, the rolling became steeper. then we made it around the south part of the lake and suddenly there was a lot more water over the roadways. Seriously it was at least ankle deep in places it seemed. Hard running! there was a water stop at 5 and I did actually walk and had a gel. I was hungry!

then the real hill began. chug, chug, chug on up the hill. the views were good and I just kept at it. Periodically we'd pass groups of fell walkers all wrapped in gortex and many layers. Running was a lot better today. it was warmer and we were going to be done much sooner! Eventually I made it to the top of that hill and was looking forward to using the downhill to my advantage. I'd stopped looking at pace as I knew it would just be discouraging. What a shock to realize the downhill was too steep to run fast! Since my shoes were so soaked, my orthotics started slipping forward as well. I finally got running well again and then we came to a large cattle grate. No way I'm going down for that so slow again and then the road started rolling yet again.

I really think this turned out to be one of the more difficult road courses I've ever run. it was relentless. And towards the end my hamstrings had had enough. With half a mile to go and going along familiar territory, I could not speed up at all. Hamstrings were tight and had been pounded into meek protesting with the hills. Oh well. A gal I'd been chatting with before the race passed me here. I asked her how she was doing. her response? "I'm knackered." and really that summed it up perfectly.

I made the turn towards the finish and started looking for K and K's brother. It was great to see them and I was done. No cool down for me. I was comfortable but knew I'd chill quickly since I was so wet. We walked up to the school so I could go change. And here's where a big difference became aparent. There seemed to be one very large locker room and a smaller women's locker room. Both men and women were chaning in the large locker room. Hunh. You wouldn't see that in the states.

After stripping off wet clothes and shoes, it was so nice to put on dry items. I'd forgotten to bring a plastic bag for the drippy things and bundled it all up as best I could. Hot tea and biscuits (cookies) were being served and it tasted pretty good. I wanted to see the awards ceremondy which was held in the school auditorium. I knew I'd not place as I'd been too slow but was curious as to how the field had held up with the awful conditions.

this is a local race. There were over 400 finishers yet most of the runners were from local running clubs. They started the awards by introducing Ron Hill. Wow! I had spent the day before drooling over some of his running specific clothing for sale in the shops. He's a former winner of the Boston marathon and quite a legend in England. He was there! He ran the course and he presented awards.

I expected the typical US awards ceremony where they give out prizes for the top 3, mention the AG and master's winners and that's it. No. This was the Awards Ceremony. Winners were announced through the 20th place runner for both men and women. Each age group was announced through the 3rd place and masters' runners got the full deal too. Most took away some little prize or ribbon. (not sure, couldn't see) And most amazingly, everyone seemed to have stayed to watch and cheer and congratulate. Runners supporting runners and it was nice to see.

all in all, this was a very memorable experience and I'm really glad I got to do it. I'd love to return to run the trail (fell) races which take place in the area. We also learned a fair bit about trail shoes in the local shops adn I'll be looking for those shoes once back stateside.

And a t-shirt? Nope. I got a cool little fridge magnet. I'm very pleased.

course: garmin connect
race site: keswick ac
results: click here (found out from this site that some races were canceled or altered because of bad conditions on race day)
Magnet: (sorry about the bad picture - it's dark here lately...)