Coniston 14 (25th March 2017) by Laura Edwards

So this is the race which inspired me to write a blog; I’ve done a lot of races by now, but this one just felt a bit special. A year ago I made a brief return to Coniston, where I’d spent a lot of time as a child, and was chatting to a lady who ran a fudge shop who asked me if I was there for the race the next day. I didn’t know anything about the race, but she said it was one of the annual highlights in the community, when people came from far and wide to run the 14 mile circuit of Coniston Water. It sounded awesome! I said I’d make sure I came back to do it next year, and so, 12 months on, it was race time! Happily for me it fits in really well with my training for the Liverpool Rock n Roll Half Marathon at the end of May, where I’m on a mission to get a sub-2hr time.

I found a willing road trip and race buddy in Sam Scarlett, and we set off from Leeds bright and early to make our way up to the Lake District. It was a cold and frosty start (I even had to scrape the ice off my windscreen) but the sun was shining so we took the scenic route up the A65 and enjoyed the springtime landscape. Eventually the snow-topped mountains loomed ahead and the pre-race excitement started to take hold. We entered Coniston along the very road we’d soon be running along, catching glimpses of the Old Man (the imposing mountain behind Coniston village) and the lake itself.

We arrived in good time at the local school which was the race base (and cake hub – so much cake!). Sam was able to pick up a new race number with no problem, as hers hadn’t arrived in the post, then we had about an hour to chill out, get some fuel in our stomachs and enjoy the sunny views. It was the most relaxing race start I’ve ever had! As we queued up at the start line with the 1200 other runners (most wearing club vests too) we were informed that the start was delayed by 15 minutes due to a cycling accident somewhere along the route. Luckily for us it was really quite warm by this point, with no breeze at all, so it was actually pretty pleasant standing in the sun waiting to start, accompanied by the sound of a samba band.

Then we were off, straight up a gentle hill and out off the village, cheered on by the spectators basking in the sun. As is usual it was a bit of a squeeze at the start as we all tried to settle into our paces, and the first mile was a bit awkward as I tried to find some space to run at a comfortable speed. Sam and I got separated almost immediately in the crowd, then found each other again briefly, but after the first mile we were running solo. I aimed to stick to about a 9:30 min/mile pace; I’d been happy doing 9:20 at the Canal Canter a couple of weeks ago, but this one was going to be a bit further and a lot less flat! Given the undulating nature of the course it was hard to keep to a consistent pace, but I didn’t worry too much about it and just went with what felt comfortable.

The first 3 miles or so took us from the top of the lake southbound, but the road was quite a distance from the water and we couldn’t see the lake at all for a while. The mountain was behind us too, so this part could almost have been any country road, just simply pretty and peaceful. There were no crazy hills, but it was quite consistently gently undulating, just to keep things interesting! There was some passing traffic on this road, including some very impatient drivers, resulting in us occasionally having to squeeze around cars (these roads barely fit two cars side by side, let along a bunch of runners too!) but mostly it was quiet and we took over the road. The warmth of the sun was quite a surprise after the cold week we’d just had, and my mouth was dry very quickly. The first water station was a sight for sore eyes and I stopped to gulp down half a cupful; normally I hate stopping for a drink because I don’t like to lose my rhythm, but I knew that today I’d have to take full advantage of the refreshments or I’d collapse in a heap halfway through!

After the first water stop we turned down a smaller road towards the lake and soon we were running alongside the shoreline. It was such a calm day that the water was like glass, and I kept thinking how lucky we were to be here in such uncharacteristically gorgeous weather. We passed spectators here and there and a couple of school groups on kayaking trips, but mostly it was pretty quiet and the miles started to clock up in a very relaxed manner. After 6 miles we reached the south point of the lake, curved around the bottom and started heading northbound again, with the mountains back in view. I was feeling comfortable and averaging about 9:20 at this point so I decided now was the time to practise a bit of running form, which is not something I’d known anything about until a couple of weeks ago when we did a drill at a club Strength and Speed session. I tried lengthening my stride until it felt like I was running in slow motion, except I was still somehow going at the same pace as before. I noticed I was using significantly fewer strides than the woman alongside me. It took quite a lot of concentration because I’m not used to it, and I couldn’t maintain it for more than a couple of miles, but I’ll be practising it a lot more in the future!

I was really enjoying the countryside and the atmosphere and even by mile 10 I was feeling good, which is usually where I start to flag a bit. Mile 11 was where it started to get hard, as we climbed a long hill up to Brantwood. There was a water station along here and I thought we must have reached the top, but no, there was still more hill to go. One woman who I’d been chasing for miles came to a halt, declaring “Shit, shit, shit!”, which gave a few of us a giggle as she was saying exactly what we were all thinking. (She still beat me in the end.) As I plodded up this neverending hill I wished I hadn’t done my shoes up so tight, as my left foot had completely gone to sleep by this point. No point stopping to sort it now though, this was the time to dig in and finish it off. Finally we reached the top, and started to descend immediately. My positivity returned as I knew that around the corner was my old stomping ground and I’d soon be passing the house where my grandparents had lived – even better that it was on the steepest downhill section of the whole race! I gave the house a little wave as I passed it then continued down the road that was so familiar to me, which we’d carried kayaks down and cycled down many a time. At the bottom of the hill was the area where we’d launched our boats from and jumped off the jetty, where I’d learnt to row and skip stones, where I’d cut my thumb and nearly fainted (I can still see the scar), where our dog had swum to follow us in the boats, where my brother had been chased by swans. All too soon I had left this behind me though, and although it was now pretty flat it was starting to hurt. A mile and a half to go now, to get back to the village. Just a case of getting to the finish line, whatever it took. Despite the crowds starting to form to cheer us in, this was by far the hardest section for me as my energy had nearly run out. A lady in front of me stopped completely, and I patted her on the back and encouraged her to keep going; we headed past the little village shops, down the hill and into the school ground, finishing together. She gave me a big hug and a thank you after we crossed the line. I had a massive drink of water, collected my lovely Coniston 14 slate coaster (no medal or t-shirt for this race) and got back to the road in time to watch Sam flying down the hill with the samba band playing her in.

I was very happy with my time of 2:11:54, with an average pace of 9:32 min/mile. My overall position was 685 out of 1170 and I came 185th out of 459 in my category of Female under 35. As I’ve said before, I’m never going to be ‘fast’ but I’m enjoying achieving my own personal goals and seeing myself getting a bit faster and a bit stronger.

The event as a whole was absolutely lovely- you can’t really go wrong with scenery like this – but the community spirit made it a little more special and it was an honour to run somewhere very dear to my heart. We finished the trip by sitting at the lake shore eating whopping great ice creams and basking in the sunshine. A pretty perfect day in my book! Thanks to Sam for being lovely company and enduring my music choices for over 5 hours in the car!

A very brief background

Laura Edwards