10 Mile Thriller At Keswick

Race no. 34 - Derwentwater 10 Mile

Grange in Borrowdale - Half way round

Going for it, as Peter Atkinson starts to get away from me.

Pushing on to the finish

 

 

 

 

After putting in some 5K 'fillers' in an attempt to get me back on schedule after my achilles injury, I had to make a hard decision yesterday, could I get round a tough 10 mile course at Keswick?

10 miles is further than I have run this year and that includes pre injury, when I was fit. But, Keswick is one of my favourite places and I have ran the Derwentwater 10 mile race for over 20 years. So it was an easy decision to make, just try and get around.

And so on a beautiful summer's day (November 1st!) with the temperature heading for 20c, I lined up with a field of 500 runners in the centre of Keswick to run through wonderful Lakeland scenery around Derwentwater Lake.

Instead of blasting off as I normally do, I set off at a steady pace, just over 7 minute miling. At this pace I could enjoy views of the lake as we headed for Grange in Borrowdale. 'This is lovely' I thought, 'Let's just enjoy the whole experience and worry about the climb up to Cat Bells ( 5/6 miles) when we get there'. Then a familiar figure passed me. 'Peter', said I, spotting a former colleague at Northern Rock and fellow member of the Northern Rock Running Club(now defunct), 'Keep it going, you have given me something to chase'.

'I thought that was you' he replied, ' I bet it will be the other way round'.
'What do you mean?' said I ,'Remind me , how old are you?'
'56', Peter replied, 'A slip of a lad compared to you'.

 With that he started to gain on me. After a split seconds thought I decide to go with him( see image above) as the pace was comfortable and it would help to get me around.

Having picked up the pace, I quickly caught him and we ran together for a while before he started to slow, just a fraction. 'You will catch me on the climb' I said as we parted company.That is what I thought would happen, as I am not the climber that I used to be.

Oh , it was tough climbing the road up to Cat Bells, but what a view over the Lake as the 888 feet of ascent was endured. Now my pace was suffering, but at the 5 mile marker  I realised that my gloomy prediction of a 1 hour 30 min. race should be improved upon, with a little effort.

Now the highest point of the race was insight at the 6 / 7 mile mark and I felt strong, but my achilles was sore.  'Just keep going' I thought , as I passed on the downhills the people who had passed me on the ups. Now the mile markers were passing more quickly as I got the pace down from the 9 minute plus mark. At 9 miles I wondered if I could get below 1.20. There was only one way to find out, 'push it! That is what I did, as I went for it into Portinscale and through the line in 1.19.29 .

'Ow, my achilles is sore', was my first thought as I crossed the line. 'Where is Peter?' was my second as I queued for some urgently needed water. There he was, coming in a minute or two after me. Thanks Peter, you did me a big favour appearing when you did, there is nothing like competition to make me work.

Today, my achilles is still a bit sore, hopefully it will sort it self out for race number 35. That may be tomorrow, South Shields Monthly Mile, but only if it is ok. Otherwise, the weekend will do for my next race.

Statistics

Finishing position 211 in 1.19.29from a field of 436.
5th V65 in a big field of old toughies.