Unhealthy Obsession

Today it's the Mathew Walker Christmas Pudding Run at Shipley Park where all runners get, yes you guessed it, a Mathew Walker Christmas Pudding. These usually hang around our house all year long as we're not great Christmas Pudding eaters.

Unfortunately due to my unhealthy obsession with getting injured I deferred entering this race assuming that the inevitable would happen. By the time it didn’t, the race was full.

L does it though, as does Daughter and L's sister. Naturally the boys and I go along to offer up our support although unfortunately I forget to take the balls to keep them occupied. I resort to sticks, none of which the Lad will let MD have. Instead he tries to cram as many into his mouth as he can.

It's not the most exciting of races and I'm not training for anything at the moment, so I can't say I'm jealousy of the girls doing it but they all seem to enjoy it. 

(Sunday 18^th November)

Lakeland Essentials

Today is my fourth day in the car this week. Yikes. Today though I have a good reason, we’re off to the Lakes tonight where I might, or might not, run in Saturday’s traditional pre-Christmas 10k race.

After squash last night I can barely walk this morning and no, it’s not the injury, it’s just stiff legs that haven’t been used enough recently.

After work I head home to collect L and the dogs, pack up the Lakeland essentials e.g. mulled wine and we head off up the M6, which is blissfully quiet for once. Well, as quiet as it gets outside of 3am in the morning.

We arrive at Langdale and at first we think the campsite is closed. We appear to be the only tent on it. Yes it’s December but usually there’s still around thirty tents pitched. The curse of Friday the 13^th perhaps?

Then we see the weather forecast which predicts extreme gales but they’re due tomorrow, so we’ll worry about them tomorrow then and anyway everything will look a lot rosier after a few Old Peculiars. We head off to the bar at Old Dungeon Ghyll. 

(Friday 13^th December)

The People’s Choice

It’s not particularly cold, although there is snow on the hills, but the winds are not as low as they could have been and the tent does take a seriously romantic battering from the elements. Still, we’re snug and dry inside it.

By mid morning things have calmed down and the weather turns out dry with little wind, just in time for the Great Langdale Christmas Pudding 10k which kicks off at noon. This is the self styled ‘people’s choice 10K winter run’, hmm maybe. L’s only here for the mileage, I’m only here for the beer but it has become a bit of a tradition.

There are as usual two races over two days with the Saturday proving more popular than the Sunday. Race organisers who run practically everything on a Sunday take note. Just under 300 today but nearly 430 yesterday.

They encourage entrants to dress in festive costumes and as I recall I got defeated by a green elf last time, although I was just coming back from injury. That’s my excuse. There’s no repeat today, as far as I know. There are plenty of Santas and even the odd pudding but I think they’re all behind me.

L looks very fetchingly festive in her red top, Santa hat and Christmassy ear rings. Something is missing though. Those little red skirts with the fur trim have a certain something... Perhaps I’ll get her one for Bolsover next week.

The course is the usual out and back along the valley road starting and finishing at the Sticklebarn pub. It’s not the greatest of runs for me, terrible actually. I was supposed to be taking it steady but not that steady. My time of over 44 minutes is two minutes slower than on this course in April but depressingly also slightly slower than two years ago when I was injured and ‘allowed’ to take to easy. I’m a massive four minutes off what I did in 2008, when I was a youngster obviously but we won’t talk about that. Good job half marathons are where it’s now at. I hope.

Every finisher gets a Christmas pudding, this year from Mathew Walker which is a big step up from the usual Asda/Tesco ones. It’s still a bit odd though, us coming up to Cumbria to collect a pudding made in Derbyshire, near from whence we came. I’m sure they could source some Cumbrian ones if they really wanted to.

L is slower too but at least she’s got the excuse of coughing and spluttering her way around.

The queue for refreshments is a bit huge at the Sticklebarn, so we head to Chapel Stile and the Wainwrights instead to sample a new Hawkshead dark beer which is disappointing and the hot lamb cobs, which aren’t.

The problem with camping is we don’t have a hot bath to rest our weary legs in post-race and have to chill out in the tent instead.

We have tomorrow off work so that we can toast our disappointing times this evening, which we do in the Old Dungeon Ghyll, which is surprisingly busy for a Sunday night in mid December.

So which is better Snecklifter or Old Peculiar? L and I can never agree, so we have to go through the rigmarole of sampling both, again. This happens every time. It’s still inconclusive. L says OP, I say Snecklifter. So we’ll just have to do it all over again at New Year.

(Sunday 11th December)

Should Be Quicker Tomorrow

The race is a 12 noon start. So plenty of time to work off last night’s overindulgence or alternatively to shred the pre-race manual some more. There was no pre-race pasta last night, only ham and cheese rolls. Then on top of last night’s alcohol, I’m even drinking coffee this morning which is usually a no no. Breakfast kind of goes out the window as well. Instead L’s munching on Pringles which I don’t think features on the must do list. At least I’ve brought an energy bar to go with one of the bananas.

The Great Langdale road races started in 1988 with the Christmas Pudding Run. There is now also a Marathon and a Half Marathon as well as these races in April, the Saint Georges Day 10k's, now in their 12th year. One race on Saturday and another on Sunday. It's a week early for Saint Georges Day but we'll let that pass.

The course is an out and back, slightly undulating route, along the Great Langdale Road. Starting at the Stickle Barn pub, running through The Langdale Estate before emerging in Elterwater and returning to the finish at the pub.



Conditions are almost ideal and it's not a bad run, considering my preparation, which couldn’t really have been any better. It just wasn't honed for running. At around 42:20, I’m 90 seconds or so slower than my best time here two years ago. Oh well. They do say 'the older you get, the better you used to be'. Perhaps if I’d been on OJ and water all night things would have been different but never mind.

L is running again tomorrow, whereas I prefer just to concentrate on one race per weekend. It will be interesting to see what her pre-race approach is tonight compared with last night. I think it’s going to be the Stickle Barn this evening, which have possibly the best line up on the bar I’ve ever seen in 15 odd years of coming here. Hobgoblin (although not very Cumbrian), Cumberland, Coniston Stout but I think the winner is the old fave Jennings' Snecklifter. Only 5.1% to OP's 5.6%, so L should be quicker tomorrow. In theory.

(Saturday 16th April)