Its rare I run on the road, but I am trying to convince myself to do it more with another road marathon on the horizon. So it seemed a good time to return to the Langdale half marathon which marries the Lake District, hills and road running in an almost unique way (see post on hilly road races).
This Langdale marathon and half marathon are held every October to raise money for the Brathay trust. The full marathon labelled the hardest in the UK due to its high DNF rate, probably related to the fact you have to run past the finish and do a second loop of the half marathon course. Psychologically, it would kill me. It also has a heck of a lot of climb per lap, with elevation ratios of up to 1:3 in places. Very little would be described as flat: it is nearly always undulating.
I haven't done a lot of long continuous running recently so was very nervous going in to the race. Strava keeps highlighting how unfit I have gotten. My last 3 months of training is mostly easy dog jogs with lots of stops, or super slow, or non-existent. I haven't run a road half race since 2020 I don't think. But that was to change to today; maybe this would be the kick up the backside I needed.
The drive up to the Lakes on Saturday morning was without incident. Given storm Babet was raging across the rest of the country, I was expecting chaos, and even a cancellation email, right up until the last minute. It was such a good run, we even had time to stop at Chesters bakery to pick up something for after. I say we; Martin was driving and not running, but walking the dog instead. We had a very short queue to get in the car park (five pounds but its for the charity so I didn't let Martin park at the NT car park) and then headed to registration at the New Dungeon Ghyll hotel. The queue to pick up half marathon numbers was quite large with 30 minutes to go, but we all got registered and I got to the toilet in time. Its quite a low key event - may be 500-600 runners across both events- so you don't need to be on the start line too long.
The race briefing was preceded by a message by Rocket Ron, who set the event up 35 years ago. He was there with his roller walking frame and advised everyone 'not to go off too hard' which were very wise words. A few words from todays organiser about sticks in the road and it was time to go. We shuffled under the gantry and on to the road.
The first mile is probably the flattest of the course, along the road towards Old Dungeon Ghyll. There was a lot of shuffling and changing of positions as, being a small event, we'd all gone off higgledy piggledy. I tried not to go too fast, sneaking a peak at my watch. I caught snippets about what was to come; evidently there were a lot of first timers in the pack.
The start of the climb to Blea Tarn is more gentle than you might imagine, but it definitely begins to take effect in the legs. There were some goats, an unusual sight for the lakes, grazing along the road, taking my mind off the climb to come. I started my headphones and got a podcast on. The first climb is maybe the worst.....but far from the only. As it began to kick, I went in to the 20 paces of walking, 30 of running strategy. This collapsed when some cars went through the race, forcing us all to the sides of the road in relatively single file. I really suspected not difference would be made.
The road way up to Blea is actually less high (and obviously more runnable) than the footpath. So I was pleased when I crested the hill and could see the marshals at the cattle grid. The side gate was mercifully open and a small crowd were gathered. There were two red Labradors like mine. I felt better for being at the top but aware it was still a long way to go. That said, I pulled in my core and enjoyed the first down hill. There was still a lot of place changing as the hill had suited some more than others, and marathoners were naturally taking it very easy, as well as the odd car. The cars are the downside of this race. It isn't closed road.
I don't think I really enjoyed the view of Blea Tarn as I was still very worried about getting through this. As we went out the other side I made a point to look across the stunning valley of Little Langdale and its autumn colours. The cloud was now lifting a bit more off the tops giving way to a lovely day. I was starting to warm up as we tilted in to the long down hill down from Blea.
The section through Little Langdale undulates along, and I mostly kept running, except when cars forced me to slow. There was a small crowd outside the Three Shires head pub and I remembered a lovely day when I visited there with Martin after out engagement photos. I enjoyed knowing where most of the paths went off too, and the startled look on walkers' faces as we came past in our droves. Most clapped or smiled but the odd one got grumpy. A set of motorbikes came through, en route to Blea, and clearly not enjoying the runners in the road.
I was trying to remember the rough distance to the kick up to the Ambleside to Coniston A road, near Skelwith Fold. We seemed to be mostly descending and I knew it was a kicker of a climb once we hit the bottom. I'd had a gel and water at Blea but was trying to optimise the timing of my next gel. I knew water was at the Skelwith farm drive way, where we stayed before, but where was that? I usually run with my own water but was trying something different today (to avoid running with a kilo of weight on my back). I ran past someone who was not looking good, asked if she was okay. I think a few people suffered from the hills.
I took the risk of electrolytes at the water station. The brand of the day was Voom. The portion of fluid was relatively small but the flavour was unoffensive. THe gamble played off as it never came back up.
The section on the A road was mercifully not too busy and made up for by being net down hill. There was a very professional set of traffic marshals who directed us on to the side road up to Skelwith road. I realised I had no real memory of this next section of the race which was both nice (novelty) and worrying (did I shut it out?). I had another little walk as we began to climb again but tried to keep it minimal. There were some gorgeous houses in this section. I remember a cycle I did with my parents, one of the few times they came to the Lakes, which comes up here from the other direction, and was pleased when we started the down hill in to Skelwith bridge. However, I knew I was a tiring considerably and the tough section up on the other side of the valley awaited.
We dropped down down to the A road again and crossed the river by the small crowd at Chester's. Small crowd being maybe 8 people. There was another very professional traffic management team to help us cross the even bigger road and start up the horribly steep section that is the side of loughrigg. The road is also on the Lakeland 50, but goes the other way, which is much more fun. Most people just accepted it and walked, including me. I joked about the comparison with the Lakeland 50 with someone near me.
It was hard to get going again. I tried as the the road levelled off but it did start to rise again. The route heads adjacent to Loughrigg tarn but it isn't very visible from the road. At least, it wasn't when I was starting to worry about my time and how slow I was going. I felt like people were getting away from me here. I'd run well until now but this section definitely highlighted my lack of fitness. This section just goes steadily up (there probably were downs but they were minimal in the face of the relentless up) and I did end up walking intermittently. Eventually I could see the arboreteum and the left hand turn up to the youth hostel. The youth hostel is the top of the hill and I noted it is back fully open and now also offering cafe facilities which is good to know. I had a little bit of a walk as it popped in to view but then got chatting to someone from Cambridge as we tilted down hill past the buildings.
The down hill in to Elterwater was fun. It is steep as we came down the road and could see the village below. It zigzags which is always. A lovely marshal shephered us across the Langdale valled road at the bottom and in to the village. A four by four drove a bit agressively at us but I love Elterwater village and there was a bit of a crowd gathered by the Britannia Inn. I had a bit of a blank about how we got to Chapel Stile but remembered as we were marshalled in to the back gate of the Langdale hotel. I knew the bulk of the hills were behind us but there was still 2.5 miles to go.
After undulating through the hotel grounds past the holiday lets, the race came back out on to the main road that would take us all the way to the finish. However, there is a reasonable amount of undulation to get there. I wanted to run this whole section and nearly managed it but had a little climb coming up the longer uphill out of Chapel Stile. It was now a case of back and forth among a group of people I had been running with a while. I could have definitely run more of this with fitness.
I was now aware that I could do this in under 2hrs 15mins. I had said to Martin, 2 hours 30 as I thought I would struggle more (don't get me wrong, my legs were running on steam and I had had to take a fourth gel to just keep them going). It would beat my previous time on this course. I just tried to keep going as we approached the last rise towards the campervan site. The Langdale pikes were now rising majestically above us. Could I do something I might actually be proud of in my running for once? I kept going.
Martin and Oscar were at the side of the road as I crested the hill and I managed a wave and a smile. The right hand turn and dash across the field to the finish was more of a shuffle than a dash but hey it was over in just over 2hrs and 14 minutes. I came 48th female out of 121 and was glad to take a medal at the end. The medal has a gorgeous picture of one of the Pikes on it. I congratulated a few of the people I had chatted to on the way. A decent birthday run all in. A lot to work on, and very pleased I was not one of the marathon runners heading off for a second lap, but not too bad.
Later that day we went to Force cafe above Ambleside and ate an amazing lunch on their terrace overlooking Ambleside with views of Grizedale. I love the Lakes, and whilst I wish I was fitter, I am not terrible, and its all a starting place for more work for the future. And hopefully, a few more trip to the Lakes next year.
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