Another PB! Another Coniston Trail Challenge!

The Lake District in Cumbria is massive. I have only seen a very small part of it, but find it wonderful. The hills or should I call them mountains or fells, rise up all around and surround you. On a day like the 7 October it was perfect weather to spend a day exploring the majesty of the area. I did so by competing in the third annual Coniston Trail Challenge/Race event. The start was at the Historic Coniston Hall which sits on the beautiful Coniston Water.

I had prepared intensely for this race and the others in the Lakeland Trail Series. I was familiar with this course as I had participated in the previous two. It would be tricky going in several places but I knew what my goal was: to see how far I could get before the faster participants in the Trail Race caught up with me. I also wanted to finish before my good friend Linda who was in the Race. I wanted to snap a photo of her coming to the finish.

The day was clear, warm, and felt like late summer rather than October. The first part was through the small village of Coniston and I felt good, that was until we started the assent on the gravel road up towards the trail head. It was steep going for two miles and at one part I thought I would loose my balance, but good shoes and hill training kept me moving forward, even if it was hands on my knees kind of forward.

I really enjoy the trail when it opens up and I can get a good run. I felt like a goat jumping over rocks and dodging puddles. The views were not disappointing. I felt good and my breathing was strong. As the time approached the 1 hr 23 minute mark I kept my senses keen as I was anticipating the sound of fast approaching foot strikes. None appeared. I ran through the shale quarry without having to give way to any racer. It was great getting beyond where I was overtaken the past two years. It wasn't until the 10K mark when I heard the lead runner closing in on me. I gave way and shouted a "Well Done" as he flew past.

From that point on I knew that I would need to keep alert and be able to step aside for these faster competitors. Still I kept my pace up, enjoyed the well deserved downhills to the lake side and the run to the finish. with only 3 minutes left to the end I was overtaken by one of the racers I had driven up with. However, as I crossed the finish line in 2:13:33 I had arrived before Linda and hurried to find our cameras. It was then I saw her approaching the line. I wasn't able to get a picture of her before her finish, but I did get one as she was processed through the finish funnel.

The real bonus of this fantastic day was watching UK running legend, Ron Hill finish the race and get a photo taken with him. It was almost as good as my 17 minute PB from last year!