K2B 2015
The Keswick to Barrow is something which stands a great achievement locally and in turn raises a great deal of money for charities close to the communities hearts! With Amy's current situation and a title to hold from last year, the K2B had to be one for my challenge list!
I was going into the event confident and feeling strong after my recent accomplishments in my other events. The weather forcast didnt look too great however every time it was checked, it seemed to get better! Either way, I was going to get wet at some point!
Our friends Jamie and Sarah had come down from Edinburgh to stay at ours for the weekend since Jamie had decided to give the challenge a good go too since only starting running in February! This meant I had a carbo-loading partner! He certainly took some educutating on nutrition though...turns out he was eating on average less than 1000 calories a day!! I soon got that topped up to 3000+ and boy was he grateful on race day! ;) Buzzing like a fly around s$%t!! :)
On race day we got up at the dreaded 02:45am so that we could get our breakfast and then pick Adam (my support cyclist) up at 3:30. Its save to say neither of us got any sleep! Jamie loaded his pre-packed support tupawear into the car (its unbelievable the amount of stuff he had! he had labelled pre-packed bags for Sarah to give him at every checkpoint inc gels, energy bars, salt capsules, drink refills, etc, etc!! I felt sorry for Sarah for the amount of intructions she had!! Although not everyone gets their own personal support cyclist ;-) ) and then off we went.
We arrived in Keswick a little early as usual, which gave us time to "offload" in the portaloos and then have a little bit of a socialise before the official 05:30 start. It was great to be in the starting area with so many local friends and family, instead of the usual large events where you are squashed up against thousands of hairy men in vests that you dont know! The start area was in the usual field it normally is, just so we could all get wet feet straight away! :-) Soon be it though, we were assembled on the start line and after a few good lucks to the fellow runners, we were off!
K2B Official runners start (I'm in the black jacket, middle front, next to Dave in blue)
I'll try not to blab on about the whole event mile by mile. I dont want to bore you all! I'll try just put the points which I thought were key milestones in the race for me but I will appologise in advance! Its something for me to look back on and reflect good times! =-)
Miles 1-4 - Me and Dave Edwards rans these first miles together, alongside some deer at some points too! I wish I had of had a camera! I was looking down at the floor one minute and then the next minute 3 deer jump out of the bushes and start running just in front of us. It was rather peculiar - certainly woke me up at that time in the morning anyway! Rain was coming down however not so heavy. It was rather refreshing if anything! We had made quite some ground on the rest of the group in the opening couple of mile, cruising at a speed of around 6.15min/mile. The legs felt good so a great start! At this point though Dave started to drop off (we had decided to both run our own race as usual).
Mile 7 - Mile 7 found us at Dunmail Raise, where you see the first of the support cars with people cooking breakfast for all the walkers. Now that smelt good! I'd have loved to stop for a bacon butty! I powered on though holding a 6.16 minute mile over the higest point on the route. Now came the drop into grasmere! :)
Mile 10-12 - Grasmere checkpoint followed by red bank - still feeling fresh - 10 mile in 1hour1min. Red bank being first major climb at 25% gradient but I managed to run the full thing.
Mile 15 - Another incline before re-joining the A593. Plodded up to save energy resulting in a slow 7:22min mile (one of my slowest), however grade adjusted pace on strava estimates this to still be a 5:59min mile on the flat.
Mile 17 - Testing trail climb before decending to conistion. Again slowed the pace to a 7:17min/mile to preserve energy
Miles 18-26 - Undulating roads around Coniston Lake. I had physically felt better at this point last year but happened to get cramp at 22 mile. This year though I had stuck to my fueling strategy thus far and continued to do so (gel every half hour, salt capsule every 1 hour, sipping on 0cal electrolyte drink when needed), and the cramp was non-existent. I plodded on at a consistent pace of 6:35-6:45min/mile to conserve energy for the moors.
Mile 26-30 - Lowick checkpoint at marathon distance (2Hr46) brought my first bit of support. My sister and Amy were there to cheer me on...with the dog too! A great pick-me-up to spurr me on! These miles consists of 4 miles of climbing - around 150ft per mile according to GPS. I experienced my first dose of cramp in the 26th mile however I soldiered on, slowed down the pace and plodded my way to the top at 7.30min/mile. This was a huge supprise to get to the top without stopping once. These 4 miles being the biggest influence to my finishing time!
Mile 34 - Cramp getting quite frequent and shoe lace decided to come un-done! Trying not to trip over them (didn't want to stop - scared I woulnd't get going again), I went around the corner and found my sister and Amy broken down in the lay-by! A quick stop to have Amy tie my shoelace and I was off again! I think someone watching over me must have placed them there. I certainly didn't want to bend down to tie my own shoelace! Luckily, Lee Drury came to the rescue for them 2 and got the car up and running for them to get to the finish in time. Thanks mate! ;)
Mile 36 - Finish - By this point my legs were shot. Slight inclines felt like mountains however I shoved some gels down me to give a mental boost more than physical boost and plodded my way to the finish. Turning onto Hawcoat Park, I could see Amy, Fern and my Nanna and Grandad at the finish line all with huge smiles on their faces. I didn't have a sprint finish in me but it didn't matter. I plodded along the matting to the finish and clocked in, in a time of 4 hours 12 mins and 30 seconds. The fastest time in 20 years!
Mission Accomplished! :-)
2nd place ended up being 36 minutes behind in the end, and third place a matter of minutes behind him. Both of their times would have beat my winning time of last year! All I wanted to do at the end was get a recovery drink and get in the shower but as means must, I made time to get some pics for the local mail with the Mayoress and answer a few questions for the report :)
The link below is a great tool strava have just brought out which shows each runners position along the route. Its great to see where I made most of the ground on people!
I would just like to mention my friend, Adam McBernie, who cycled alongside me all the way from mile 7 to the end! He passed me all my nutrition and kept me hydrated all the way, passing me drinks when I didn't even feel like them. Without him, the time I ran wouldn't have been possible. Having someone there at times helps you focus by not having to worry about when the next aid station is or if your going to run out of water/food. It takes a lot of weight off the shoulders, physically, and for that I owe him great appreciation! Thanks again mate!
The rest of the day also went superb! My mate Jamie who has only been running a matter of months finished in a time of 6hour 40! My dad also smashed his PB, well under 7 hours, and my mum completed her first ever ultra smashing her predicted time, completing it in well under 9 hours! I was certainly a proud friend and Son! :)
Me Mother-goose and Nanna!
Donations have come flooding in for Kindey Research ever since and I have had a lot of recognition on social media/in the local newspaper. Both of which are my main goals of all these challenges - donations and awareness! I would just like to use this space to thank everyone who has sponsored so far. You dont know how much it means to us both! Thank-you! :)
I now have a marathon to recover for on Sunday! :/ Silly man! Im certainly looking forward to some good rest after this one though!
Wish me luck! :)
Stats and reports can be found below:
- Grant
Good read mate enjoyed it grant , keep up the good work, enjoying following your success and progress.
ReplyDeleteTurbine Thorburn