Langstrath Fell Race

Last night I headed over to Stonethwaite in Borrowdale for the Langstrath fell race. I'd not done this one before and had spotted it in the calander and the fact that I had a free night so why not. Friends had warned me that it was a little fast and furious and at 4.5 miles its likely to be! But I wanted to see how I was fairing over short distances after all the endurance runs I've been doing.

It was a hot evening with a little breeze, and I had a bit of a fraught time getting there due to having to do other errands first, but ditch one major errand until after the race so I arrived in good time. Not the best way of preparing for a race, and I didn't eat well before hand either. So with all the excuses on board I wasn't expecting much, but went off fast at the start, so much so that I felt sick at the top of the first climb, over Lingy End to Dock tarn. Gathered my self together again and kept pushing til the finish. Previously I've always settled into a hard but liveable rythym on these races, but I've found out that when you're going well and in chance of a placing then you really do put the effort in.

I was worried that I might get caught heading into the finish so pushed hard back along the valley, completely out of sight of any other runners except for the briefest of glimpses for time to time, and came in second woman in about 51 minutes. My gps said it was 4.9 miles! It felt like a long 4.5... Was really happy with the result especially as my legs felt awful. I'm sure I have to run at least 6 miles now before I warm up. Great race and a beautiful night. Only downer was still having that one outstanding errand left to do... so another late night!