Great Lakes Race 13m/7000ft

This could definitely end as a 'woe is me' tale if I lose sight of the fact that I managed a 10min improvement on last years' time. It wasn't as much as I'd hoped by a long way, but given the lack of preparation specifically aimed at this race (recce, taper & weight), I think I'll have to accept what I got.

By half-way I was about 15 mins up on last year despite the conditions. Then came a navigational error off Scafell. Found it hard stopping myself from nutting the rocks without both hands free. So ended up drifting off west instead of south (with a few others I'd collected on the way). A traverse back onto the intended route south and then a bit of uming and ahing to check we hadn't over-shot the next check-point.

Some minor quibbles with myself over not quite hitting optimum route choices past Little Stand and off Pike 'O' Blisco, but the others with me seemed satisfied enough. I can't say that I really pushed myself hard on the stretch from Slight Side to the finish, having got a bit disheartened by my errors, so was a little surprised to finish inside last years' time.

Sunday's recovery route was a walk up Dale Head from Seatoller to check out that part of the Borrowdale race route. At least I managed that without any hiccups, but it's easy when you've got a fence to follow and no time pressure! Prospects for Wasdale not looking so good given my performance yesterday, but I won't know unless I try.

TF