28th June 2014- Lake District 10 Peaks Long

A pleasant morning provided a hint of what the day was going to be like with a dry, cool day and great visibility when the clag lifted from the high tops as the morning went on. We we’re picked up from Keswick FC and taken to where we started at Swirls car park. I felt good goin up and over Helvellyn in the clag and after the first checkpoint up the boggy section to High Raise in the clag.

Ascending Helvellyn in the clag

Descending High Raise I felt tenderness coming no so started on the Ibuprofen. After Bowfell the peaks of Great End, Ill Crag, Broad Crag and Scafell Pike we’re soon ticked off even Scafell wasn’t too much of a problem up Lord's Rake and down Foxes Tarn and then soon found myself on the corridor route towards Great Gable.

Lord's Rake upto Scafell

Great Gable was its usually grind and not much better on the downhill. After the checkpoint it was the long detour to Pillar which despite a few moments of fatigue I was at the summit and then heading back for the Moses Trod path and to the best checkpoint at Honister where I had Spag Bol and a can of coke.

Pillar summit. Great Gable + Scafells in the background

This gave me the energy to get upto Dale Head tarn and then some good running to the checkpoint Nichol End and then to the foot of Carlside Skiddaw. I was feeling alright but that was soon sapped by the steep uphill of Carlside and after that the steep uphill to Skiddaw was very slow interrupted by regular stops for breath. There we’re no rewards at the top as it was very windy and cold and after dibbing in the last summit I managed to run all the way back to Keswick FC to finish in 16:30:08. This was probably the toughest race I'd ever done, but that's no suprise with 73km and 5600m of ascent/descent.

Large summit, Skiddaw