Last Saturday 22nd April, I ran with a friend
from work 37.5 miles, following the River Derwent from source to sea.
Start to Feed Stop 1
The start was at Styhead Tarn, which is in the shadow of
Scarfell Pike, this meant a 2.5 mile walk to 1,450 ft before we even started
the run. We met at the car park at the
bottom of the fell at 7.45am, there was some ground frost, which meant a cold
start, but with a good walk in front of us we soon warmed up. It took about 45 min to get to the tarn. After a couple of photos, we set off. The first 2 miles downhill were tough because
of the terrain, but we soon hit tarmac and off we strode.
At Seatoller (approx. 3miles in) we crossed the river and
ran along the banks of the river. It was
already starting to become a lovely warm day.
We kept up a good pace and reached Grange 10km in, where my dad/support
driver was waiting. While we had packed
with rain coats and gloves/warm hats to start with (and were needed for the
first section of the climb) we quickly identified we weren’t going to need them
and were just adding wait, so left them with my dad and carried on.
The next section would take us along the banks of Derwent
Water, there was about a mile or so of road before we could join up with the
path itself.
While running along the banks, Mat missed a root and tripped
landing heavily on his ass, giving him a numb bum for the next 2 hours and
strain to his groin, which unfortunately I had to witness him ‘massaging’ a
number of times!
12 miles in first feed stop in Portniscale. Quick bite, refill of the water bladders and
a change of socks and shoes which got wet on the fells. Matt’s brother David joined us for the next
section.
Feed Stop 1 to Feed
Stop 2
This next section would see us running from Portinscale to
Armathwaite Hall, this was the section I was most concerned about when planning
the route. Firstly, it was the only
section of the route I didn’t know well and hadn’t trained on, along the sides
of Bassenthwaite I had been told can be very boggy and for a section we would
need to run along a busy(ish) road.
Luckily, the first part of this section Matt’s brother had
run previously so knew the route which took care of one of my concerns, and
very luckily (and rare) it had been pretty dry recently in Cumbria which meant
that the first section was fairly dry to run on.
The path from Portinscale takes you across some farm land
across the top of Bassenthwaite crossing the Derwent to Dodd Wood. At this section, we joined the road and kept
as close to the verge as possible as cars whizzed past on some blind bends.
Fortunately, after a mile or two we could cut up into Dodd
Wood and save ourselves from being run over.
I think next time I would try and get into Dodd Wood earlier. A nice run through Dodd Wood took us to a
quiet road which went directly to the lake shore, from here we skirted the lake. One section was very boggy resulting in a
slight course alteration going higher up in a farm before cutting back to the
path.
The section was only 8 miles, but they were difficult miles
because of the terrain.
Second stop outside of Armathwaite Hall, unfortunately no
time for afternoon tea! Bit of pasta,
another change of shoes and socks and a top of water before we set off again,
for our third section.
Feed Stop 2 to Feed Stop
3
This section would see us run from Armathwaite Hall into
Cockermouth. From Armathwaite we were
just staying on the road, which meant easier running. We took the Isel Road, past Lakes Distillery
(again sadly not enough time to stop).
This road is fairly hilly especially when you have 20 miles
in your legs. This was a short section,
the final 6.385 miles to get us to our marathon.
At about 24 miles I could feel my legs going and getting
tired, the last 2 miles into town was a struggle. My wife, daughters and mum met us here which
was a great boost for morale.
We refilled the water bladders and a quick snack, before the
plodding (running finished a few miles ago!) began again, the last push to the
finish!
Feed Stop 3 to FINISH
This section was from Cockermouth to Workington, which means
the first section is a long drag of a climb up to the Roman village of
Papcastle which sits above Cockermouth and looks down on the river
Derwent. I had run this climb a number
of times during training and it never caused me any issues. A little bit different on this day! A long,
long, long, painful climb to the top before we starting winding our way down to
Broughton, before another long climb to Great Broughton.
Just after Great Broughton I cracked a bit and needed a stop
and some jelly sweets, luckily Dad was still following us offering
encouragement and needed sweets. We then
set off again running past the abandoned navel armaments store which seemed to
go on for ever. Finally, we arrived in
Seaton 4 miles outside of Workington.
Matts wife and children met him here for some moral support
and his brother re-joined us after having leaving us at Cockermouth.
I can’t lie the last 4 miles were hell. It just seemed to take soooo long, I knew the
end was near but just seemed to take a long time. The last mile or so was particularly tough
running (or what I would describe as a duck waddling) directly into a head
wind. But after 9 hours of running and
walking we finally reached the sea at Workington!
Since the end
I’ve had the last week and half off from training, which I
think the body needed. The Sunday after
the run, I kept moving going to the park with the kids etc. while painful, I’m
quite glad I did I think I would have completely seized up. By the Tuesday after the running I had
stopped make involuntary noises when I moved. Also think my wife is glad I’m not out
training all the time!
Time to think of the next challenge! Any ideas?
Also let us know if you think we should put this on as an
event?
Cheers
Owen
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