The best "cancelled" weekend ever :o)

There's been some weather the past week. Allegedly. Can't say we've seen much to get excited about here in Birmingham, although there has been just enough snow and ice to give our F-lite 230s an opportunity to demonstrate their excellence in slightly slippery underfoot conditions. Between Monday and Friday I ran 60 miles, and the only time I hit the deck was when I accidentally trod on some greasy chips that had been dropped on the pavement.

One unfortunate casualty of the alleged weather was the training weekend at Brathay Hall. With the local roads unrunnable and some of the participants coming from parts of the country in which driving conditions were treacherous, it was thought best to postpone the event.

Leon and I had already made arrangements to be free to attend, so we decided that if we could get up to Cumbria this weekend, we would.

On Saturday, we drove up to Ulverston and met fellow-participant Alyson Knowles, who offered us very generous hospitality and took us for a lovely off-road run. We were delighted to meet her. Alyson works at Brathay Hall and supported at the 10 Marathons in 10 Days Challenge in 2007 and 2008, so she knows more about the event than anyone else in the world. She's also, as her e-mails and video had suggested, a lovely warm and enthusiastic person.

Alyson kindly 'phoned Brathay Hall to let them know that we'd pop in today.

We had booked accommodation in Windermere for Saturday night, and our random choice from the internet proved to be an excellent one. We stayed at Cambridge House , whose proprietors, Debbie and Dave, are both runners! We had a good comfortable room and a particularly large and delicious Cumbrian breakfast for less than the cost of a broom-cupboard in Ambleside. Having dined on butties from Booth's and some sugary snash, we were more than ready for our morning fry-up and it was well and truly digested when we started running barely an hour later.

Rather than running an offset circuit starting from Windermere, we drove to Brathay Hall, introduced ourselves and checked that it was OK to leave the car there while we ran. Steve on reception told us that they'd had another 10 Marathons in 10 Days Challenge participant staying there and he'd (surprise!) gone out for a run. We hoped we'd meet him.

We wore cold-weather running-kit, including gloves, and hi-viz vests. Leon had a bum-bag with our Montane windproofs in it. For sustenance, we planned to stop for coffee and cake along the way. Memo to self - there were times on the run when the psychological comfort of a Werthers Original would have been welcome. Don't forget them again.

Two miles in, we met Tom Giles and stopped briefly for a chat. He'd run to Hawkshead and was on his way back.

I had a bit of a hard time psychologically at the start of the race. There was absolutely nothing to come over all mardy about. It was a perfect day - cold and clear, not icy underfoot, and with beautiful views. I was fine, give or take a bit of calf stiffness, and was running well. My head, however, wanted to quit, or at least wanted me to accept permission to quit early at a distance it considered "safe". Five miles in, I took my first walk-break up a little hill. I walked a lot of the seven-mile hill, notching up a 12.47-minute mile. I talked negative stuff to Leon. He talked positive stuff back to me. I accepted that, far from struggling, we had actually done a respectable number of hilly miles on tired legs at an average pace of around 10mm.

We'd discussed stopping at Newby Bridge (with the option of a second stop at Bowness), but I suggested running on and stopping after half-way. If I'd known how far after half-way the next coffee-stop opportunity would be, I might not have made that decision. At 17 miles, we came upon the Beech Hill Hotel . It's a rather elegant establishment, but we couldn't have been given a warmer welcome. The coffee was plentiful, we were given glasses of tap water on request, and the shortbread biscuits were a million times better than gels for mid-race fuel replenishment.

I told Leon that I was having a bad dress-rehearsal, and he pointed out that I was running strongly, and that we'd averaged 10.06mm pace so far and were in line for a big course PB if we maintained that.

Sometimes stopping during a run just results in difficulty in getting started again and, for me, it's one of the few situations in which I get hypoglycaemic. On this occasion, it was a very successful strategy. Most of our fastest miles came in that last 9-mile section, and I only walked a small part of the 21-mile hill. I even managed to run that last nasty little upswing into the grounds of Brathay Hall.

We ran 26.46 miles (the extra is because we started in the grounds rather than at the official race start) in 4:26:41. Our 26.22-mile split was 4:23:04 - my fourth-fastest "marathon" ever. We had a 2-minute negative split. And our average pace of 10.03mm is my "dream scenario" average pace for the event itself.

As an experience, it was very successful. I didn't let my head sabotage the run. We didn't hit the Wall. My intestine was a model of placidity. I had no aches, niggles, cramps, blisters or ... well, anything, really. I also don't think there's any risk of me getting lost running the course on my own now.

It had started to snow when we were about 6 miles from the finish. Running through the light snow was lovely, but it was getting heavier so we didn't linger. We headed off home, eating our way through our stash of fruit, flapjacks and the Trek bars that Aly had given us, and stopped at a service-station for coffee and sandwiches.

This week's training ... no, I haven't forgotten!

Total mileage: 93.29 miles, average pace 10.03mm.
Profile: 86.19 miles of road-running, average pace 9.58mm, and 7.1 miles of hilly off-road running, average pace 11.16mm.
Longest run: 26.46 miles, average pace 10.03mm
Cross-training: None.
Niggles: None.
Sofa-spud days: None.

I have never, ever run over 90 miles in a week, and don't intend to do it regularly. If I can sustain 60-70mpw, I shall be delighted.

We'll just tick over this week. For our next long run, we'll be heading back to Cumbria, this time further north for the "slightly bumpy" Keswick to Buttermere 34k. I feel far more confident about that race now :o)