Back in The Saddle; The Derwentwater Dawdle

A couple of week's ago, I posted a picture of my kit for the Lakeland Trails Hawkshead race on social media. That race ended rather badly. But I decided to tempt fate this weekend by posting another kit picture. This time for the Ascend Events' Derwentwater Dawdle. A number of people suggested that it's no surprise that I fell over if I wore my shoes the way that they appear in the picture.

Ascend Events are a small company, who run incredibly friendly, low-key races in the Lake District, I can't recommend them highly enough. The Dawdle is basically a run round Derwentwater. However, the cognoscenti will know that a lap of the lake is around ten miles. The Dawdle is 23 and takes in three significant hills and a quick trip to the bottom of the valley, just for fun.

We turned up at registration fairly early on and met up with a few others from the Facebook #run1000miles group. One of them, Ann, mentioned that she and a friend were setting off with the walkers (who leave an hour before the runners) to ensure they had the time to finish. Not feeling great after my tumble a couple of weeks earlier, I decided to join them. Dave and Lina, and my colleague, Alan, hung around to start with the runners. In the end, I spent the day running with Ann and Mel, we were well matched for pace - each of us had slow patches, but we stuck together.

The first few miles up to the base of Catbells, went pretty well, we jogged along at a good pace. It is allowed to go a bit slower actually climbing the fell, as the photo shows.

On the way up Catbells; note the strapped fingers.

To be honest, I struggled more than I expected on the climb. I hadn't recovered as well as I'd hope from my tumble.

On top of Catbells, I took a quick selfie, with Newlands in the background and then Ann suggested that we get one of both of us.

The descent from Catbells is a bit hairy, and I was pretty nervous after redecorating my face on a descent at Hawkshead, but we made good time and the photographer even caught me running.

Catching some air on the descent from Catbells.

The run along the valley and over the shoulder of Castle Crag was most notable for the fact that we were overtaken by some of the runners who had set off an hour after us; it was impressive to see just how fast they were moving. 

After ten miles, we arrived at the first checkpoint at Rosthwaite, where an excellent selection of sandwiches and some hot tea awaited us. More importantly, Sue was there helping man the checkpoint and Zaro was impatiently waiting to join me on the rest of the run. I bumped into Alan as we arrived at the checkpoint and Dave and Lina were just coming in as we left. 

With Zaro clipped into my waist belt, we headed off towards Dock Tarn and Watendleth. Dock Tarn is a wonderfully wild and lonely place within a few miles of some of Lakeland's busiest spots. The reason it is so lonely is that you have to get to it via a very long and steep climb out of the valley. I would normally expect to struggle up that hill, but I should be able to walk up without stopping (albeit, with a fair bit of puffing and panting), but I REALLY struggled. It was hard going and I didn't feel good. My morale wasn't entirely helped by Dave and Lina steaming past me at a great speed and Zaro whining that he wanted to go with them!

The path down from Dock Tarn to Watendleth had a very very wet and rocky section that was extremely slippy. I felt very nervous on this section, especially as I was being towed by a puppy who seemed to be in a hurry to get over the rocks. Ironically, when we got to the bottom of this slippy section, Ann fell over and hurt her finger, leading to a number of comments about it not being safe to run with me. She went on to finish the race, but sadly it turns out that she had broken her finger quite badly - I'm more than a little impressed by her determination!

From Watendleth, it is a fairly easy jog down to the second checkpoint at Surprise View. I had a bite to eat and replenished my water bottles, while Zaro more or less ate his weight in mini-sausage rolls.

From here, we climbed up to Walla Crag, one of my favourite places in the Lake District, with a cracking view over Derwentwater.

From Walla Crag, you drop down straight towards Keswick, through some lovely bluebell woods and then out towards Portinscale. As we crossed the bridge into Portinscale we noticed the event photographer lurking and put on a bit of a sprint; well, a slightly more energetic jog.

The couple of miles from Portinscale to the finish at Braithwaite is probably the least interesting of the whole race and given that you are pretty tired by this time, it does seem to go on for an awful long time, but there is tea at the end!

We also managed to get a photo of some of the #run1000mile group who had taken part.

The Dawdle is a lovely route and I'd recommend it to anyone who fancies trying a longer run in some wonderful countryside. It is infinitely preferable (if less high profile) than running round the streets of London for 26 miles as a lot of people did the following day.

Some Concluding Thoughts.

I'm recovering from my fall, far more slowly than I realised. It took me an hour or so longer to finish than it did a year ago, and I felt a good deal worse. This is a shame, as I was pretty fit a couple of weeks ago. I may need to rethink my plans for the next few weeks. However, Alan and Dave and Lina all finished significantly faster than last year, which is great.

Running with a broken finger is a bit of a pain. It didn't hurt too much as I ran (except when I banged it on rocks), but by the end of the day, it was very swollen and quite sore. However, it is improving and I've typed most of this blog post with all of my fingers - something I couldn't have done a week ago.

Equipment: my Innov8 overmitts were perfect for protecting my hand and keeping the dressing dry in the frequent squally showers. The really are one of my best equipment purchases of the last year. That being said, my elderly Innov8 Roclite shoes didn't cope with the wet rocks at all - but, to be fair - few running shoes do. However, they were very comfortable and even at the end, my feet felt good. I took my poles with me but didn't use them, partly because my had was sore and partly because I've discovered that running with poles and a Labradoodle are not compatible. I think I'd have done better if I had used them, however.

As always, one of the highlights was the people on the race, It was great running with Ann and Mel and chatting to others as we ran alongside them for a while. Trail running really is the friendliest of sports. 

Many thanks to the Ascend Events team for a great day out and for the photographs.

Dave and Lina showing off their Derwentwater Dawdle medals.