Spring in Lakeland.
22 Miles – Ambleside to Coniston and back.
AKA: WHY DID WE THINK IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO LISTEN TO THE IRON MAN TRIATHLETE AT THE GYM CHRISTMAS PARTY?
Never ones to shy away from a challenge – 5.30am Sunday 19th April, found us heading towards Ambleside to take on Spring in Lakeland – something which had been suggested by an iron man triathlete we had met at our gym christmas party! It was also an opportunity to get our team together and get a good idea of whether we are even going to be able to complete the 100KM when we do our oxfam trailtrekker challenge.
For those not familiar with the event, Spring in Lakeland is a 22 mile walk, organised by the LDWA, walking from Ambleside to Coniston and back – over some beautiful Lakeland passes and through some gorgeous scenery.
Also with us today we had the third member of our team for Trailtrekker – Yvonne – who we had recruited for her insanity and fitness – she regularly chooses to spend her Sundays running half marathons.
CAR PARK BREAKFAST
Sign on for the event was 7am – (we had got out of bed at 5am to avoid the traffic, which surprisingly enough was non existent at 5.30 on a Sunday morning). 7.30am found us in Amblesdie football club car park having our breakfast.
Sara eating her £1.50 booths instant porridge.
Both of us deluding ourselves that although Yvonne was fit – she wasn’t a walker like us – so we were going to show her how it was done today. A further delusion was that we would easily be back before all the ‘old folk’ donning their gators around us.
We were feeling surprisingly professional for this walk, having purchased for ourselves (matching) Aldi walking trousers – with vents! All in all the day started with a great deal of optimism, delusion and sunshine – only one of the three remained at the end of the day.
Feeling optimistic, excited and delusional, with new team member – Yvonne, before we started.
Identify SOMEONE to get past…
Our first lesson was learned as we set off – all the gatored ‘old folk’ charged off at a hell of a pace – although obviously we believed at that point they would quickly burn out – we would be taking them later. However, when we found ourselves being dropped at an alarming rate as we climbed the first hill we decided to scale down our ambitions – Sara identified a limping man ahead and stated that we HAD to get past him – and stay past. This was achieved only by the skin of our teeth – and with much puffing and panting. This brought about a realisation that walking with a large group of other people was exposing our competitiveness – leading to this being one of the fastest walks we had done to date. It also caused much disappointment that actually we were nowhere near as ‘walk fit’ as many of the others out there.
Limping man is ahead – heads down we march to overtake him – with much effort.
Having reset our benchmark at beat the limping man, we then had to come to terms with the fact that the newest member of our team was significantly fitter than us – we had to watch her backside disappear before us at every hill we climbed and simply put out heads down to try and catch up at the top. All the while looking over our shoulders as we struggled to stay ahead of the limping man!
Yvonne – the mountain climbing machine – ahead of us, as was the norm for the day.
It was an absolutely lovely day, the lake district was at its best, bathed in sunshine with stunning views around every corner – one of the main reasons we love walking there so much. However, the hard part of being out there on such a beautiful day was walking past pubs and some of our favourite cafes – like chesters – with cold shandies, cakes and tea shouting at us as we did so.
Beautiful Lake District scenery
THE LESSONS OF THE DAY
- Vasaline is vital to prevent blistering. The one victory we had over Yvonne was that she had scoffed at Saras vaseline on the feet suggestion and she was the only one to end up with blisters!
VASALINE!
- We are not as good as we think we are
- Dont underestimate old people in Gators or marathon runners (or limping men)
- Check your equipment before heading off, taking your 11 year old daughters coat is not going to be any good if it rains, is it Jenny.
Its the wrong coat!
- Walking past pubs and tea rooms is heartbreaking
- 22 miles on the flat is nothing compared to 22 miles over hills and fells
- WE BLOODY LOVED IT DESPITE ALL OF THIS.
What a great day, with great friends.
PAIN IS TEMPORARY, PRIDE LASTS FOREVER
If we are honest at the end of the day we were all doubting whether we would actually be able to complete the 100KM challenge. This day, rather than reenforcing our belief in our ability to complete the trail trekker challenge made us fear that each of us would back out. If our feet and legs were really sore after 22 miles, what sort of state would we be in after 60? The thought of walking the course two more times seemed not only unbearable but also impossible.
However, reliving the day with our families. Looking through all the pictures we had taken. Discussing the high and low points of the day and soothing the aches with a glass of wine made us realise how much we had enjoyed ourselves. We were proud of what we had achieved, our families and children were proud of what we had accomplished. We wanted more – we just need to train more, stay positive and believe in ourselves and if all else fails…head back to our lovely delusions – after all ignorance is bliss.
Proud and Happy – also we were not LAST!! There were at least 10-15 people (ok out of 150) behind us!
NOTE: the next morning was not as bad as we had feared. The pain was indeed temporary, so we headed off to circuit training as usual and put our heads firmly back into the clouds.