It was time for another race trip weekend away. This time up to the North of England in the scenic Lakes district. The crew consisted of Myself, Richie, Mel, Sarah, Dan and Simone. So we got off work a bit earlier on Friday, I trained, then biked then trained and it was a miracle that I made it on time. We jumped into the people mover with a few snacks and supplies. Richie and I were in the cheap seats and we attempted an impossible Kendoku. We stopped at the Welcome break restaurant and filled ourselves with soup and toasties. Picked up a crossword book at the WHSmith. With our crossword book Richie and I were entertained all the way up to Cartmel. With a tom-tom in hand directions were never an issue. Even driving in at night we could tell that Cartmel was a very quaint country town. Our cottage was very tastefully English, characterized by its low ceilings and creaky wooden flans. Poor Dan who was at least six foot four struggled a bit. Had a quiet night in because tomorrow was race day. Awoke early and downed a couple of energy drinks. Then Mel and I went for a nosey around sleepy old cartmel. The air was fresh apart from a faint whiff of horse manure. We walked through the main square past the race course and out into the countryside where encountered some friendly horses. Back at the cottage we munched on oat bars and bananas for brekkie. Then we went back to the race course to pick up our race kit. We were in different race catagories with Richie, Mel and Sarah starting off at 11.30. There was very laid back atmosphere at the start of their race, I took a few photos of them as they sped off. Then Dan, Simone and I went back to change and get in our kit. I had been for maybe 3 runs a week for the last 4 weeks, so I felt reasonably fit. The start was a fairly reasonable pace, and I somehow found myself in the front bunch for the first couple of K. The field spread out quickly as soon as we hit the first hill, I powered strongly up the hill and managed to nudge into 4th. The hill kept going and going and the legs started to burn, I was kind of wishing I had done some hill work training. Then we reached the trig after a nasty final steep bit. I was a bit worried I had exhausted quite a bit of the tank and I was only 5 k into the 16 k race. Thankfully it was pretty much down hill the rest of the course. There were tight tracks, mudholes, and sealed tarmack, so it had a bit of everything. I got passed by a couple of people but managed to guts it out. It came down to a sprint finish between me and the leading lady and I just managed to pip her, that was a psychological victory for me. I collapsed after the finish line and forgot to record my number (so I didn’t officially get a placing) but I did remember to claim my sticky toffee pudding. We all dissected the race course as we hobbled home for a shower. It turned out Richie and Mel got top placings in their category’s so they were expecting a prize, unfortunately it didn’t eventuate. At the prize giving we were told the course was actually 18k, so I was pretty happy with my 1:17 minutes. Then we went back to cottage and watched Ireland win the grand slam over a few beers and crackers and cheese. Then we hit the cartmel night life, a nice meal followed by drinks at the racecourse then a few beers in town. Sunday was our tiki tour day. So we were told by the locals the night before to check out wast water. We drove through barrow then along the coast taking in the views. We stopped for a bite to eat just before wast-water and I had my chicken sandwiches. Wast water was a nice lake surrounded spectacular shingle cliffs, we stopped for a few pictures and a jumping contest over a little stream. We took a b-road over a pretty gnarly saddle, the road was windy and very very narrow. Popped out of the countryside into Ambleside a town with stately grey stoned houses. Got caught in a traffic jam around lake Windemere and Dan told us a long-winded joke which was memorable for the story telling rather than the actual punch line. Back on the motorways we cruised back into London after stopping for KFC at the welcome break. Great weekend with a good crew.
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