A Lovely Night in the Lakes for Race no. 58

Round the houses Keswick 10K

Fitz Park Keswick

Castle Rigg Stone Circle, Keswick, looking towards Skiddaw

Keswick in the evening sunshine

Another trip across to the Lakes and another race completed, no. 58.

Just a mile from the start of last night's race in Keswick I stopped off at Castle Rigg Stone Circle to enjoy the magic of this beautiful spot. I have always taken inspiration from a visit to this ancient site and on one occasion, consolation. This was in 1998 when Sunderland AFC had just lost out , on penalties, to Charlton Athletic after drawing 4-4. I had watched the match in Keswick and was disconsolate - I hope I will not be having that feeling again in the next few weeks!

Anyway,  in 1998 I came away from Castle Rigg feeling rejuvinated. Last night I was simply recharging my batteries before the off in a tough 10K road race.

Tough, because there is a steep climb, between two and three miles, which just when you feel you have reached the top, starts climbing again. It was also tough for me personally, because I had had a seven mile run the previous night at harriers, with a climb of over 500'.

With this in mind I started further down the field, at Fitz Park, than I would normally. At the gun away the field went and I felt hemmed in by the crowd on the narrow park path. A glance at my watch told me the pace was nearer to 8 minute pace than the seven minute I prefer. Was I going to jog along with the crowd? Nickers to that, I was here to race!

Stepping onto the grass, I was soon sprinting after the faster runners. As the numbers thinned out I found  room to stride out amongst the quicker runners and watched the time of the first mile come down from 7.33 to 7.08 for the second, then we hit the hill! It was hard, very hard - did I really used to be a fellrunner? The pace for the third mile was 8.57  and that is a lot faster than my watch was showing on the steepest bits of that hill.

Turning onto the Windermere Road, it was a lovely stretch for downhilll running as I watched my pace increase to 6.45/ 6.30/6.15 - that's more like it! Looking at my Strava statistics today I see that I was second fastest of the Strava users on that downhill stretch, not bad for an oldie.

Was I now going to suffer for that tough session at Harriers? Well yes, and no. At the finish I was forty seconds slower than last year, but I was a clear winner of the V60 category. That will do for me.

There was to be no prize for me, but I was more than happy with the decision of the Organisers, Keswick A. C., to donate the prize money to the flood fund to restore Fitz Park. The park had seen devastion in the floods which hit Cumberland this winter. Work is already well in hand on restoration. I was also happy to see Keswick was busy with visitors, that is what the Lakes really needs, our spending. Get there it is magical

I was so pleased with my run