Lakes District

It was getting late enough in the year that it was a bit of a gamble to go camping but for Nikki, Julia, Kat and I it was a risk we were prepared to take. We scrambled into a train to Liverpool after work on Friday 13 October that was so packed we had to stand most of the way.

We set off from Liverpool early on Saturday morning for the Lakes District, with the aim of climbing the highest mountain in England, Scafell Pike which stands at 978m (so pretty pathetic by NZ standards). We made it to the campsite without too much drama but were disappointed to see that Scafell Pike was covered in mist so we got set up while we decided what to do. After much debate we decided to climb to a tarn and have a bit of a wander around the hills.


Julia, Nikki and I set off looking very underprepared compared to all the other walkers but flew up the hill to the tarn, then up the peak behind it, along the ridge and down again with only a few navigational problems (I still maintain that the map was wrong......). There was some pretty good scenery but nothing quite as impressive as home. The most impressive viewing over the whole trip were the rock fences which were everywhere. The paddocks were really small so there were a lot of these fences and to construct them must have taken years.




After a few drinks and a meal at the local, accompanied by some live music, it was off to bed for a good sleep before the half marathon which we planned to do the next day. On Sunday we packed up and got away in good time (or so we thought). A couple of hours later we were still on the road, a trip which we thought would only take an hour and a half. When we pulled into Cumbria (near the Scottish border) the leaders of the race were running past us so that was a bit disappointing. To make matter worse, we had a long drive to Liverpool which finished in another race against time to catch the train back to London, fortunately we just made it this time. Overall, we'd had a good weekend, seen a lot of country and had a great time camping.

Anglesey Marathon - 24 September 2006

It didn't even take a few drinks for Nikki and I to foolishly decide to compete in the Anglessy marathon in an attempt to qualify for the London marathon under the 'good for age' catagory. With just 4 weeks to train we knew we would be pushing it but if we could make it into the London marathon without having to go in the ballot (about a 1 in 10 chance) or trying to get in with the aid of a charity, it would be worth it.

It was fair to say that training didn't exactly go as planned either. After too much running in a short space of time I hurt my knee and had to have about a week off and Nikki was just too busy. So when we showed up at the train station on Saturday morning to go to Liverpool, we weren't feeling terribly confident. To make matters worse, Nikki forgot her young person's railcard and had an argument with the ticket collector but somehow managed to not get kicked off the train.

Nikki's friend Julia was there to meet us in Liverpool and we filled in the Saturday afternoon wandering around amoungst the bustling Liverpudlians. After a hefty home cooked pasta meal it was off to bed early in anticipation of the big day ahead.

Julia performed brilliantly as driver and navigator on the 2 hour drive to the Isle of Anglesey located in the far NW corner of Wales. We arrived with plenty of time to get organised and warm up and get nervous. Finally it was time to go - my aim was to go under 3 hours to qualify for London and Nikki's time to beat was 3hrs 45 (but due to lack of training she was just hoping to finish).

There isn't much to write about the race, except that there were far more hills than expected, it certainly wasn't a flat race. I was well ahead of my time limit at the half way mark but as the hills strated to take their toll I started to sieze up and slow down. The last mile and a half was all uphill and the feeling crossing the finish line in 5th place with 2 minutes to spare before the magical 3 hour mark was sheer relief.

As for Nikki, she had eaten too many carbo shots and was sick half way through the race. Julia and I drove back to offer her support and watched her power home over the last couple of miles, looking surprisingly fresh for someone who had clearly had a tough day out. She didn't make her time but did extremely well to finish.

Meanwhile, Julia had got 2nd female in the 10 k race so it was a reasonably good day out on the roads of Wales.

Traffic back to Liverpool was terrible so it was a mad dash to the train station (and when I say a mad dash I mean hobble). We didn't arrive back in London until 11:30 and the last tube I tried to catch had stopped running so it was a slow walk home at midnight to cap off a long day. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot done at work on Monday.

The photo below is of the three of us after the race.