Edinburgh Athletic Club

A trip to the south Lakes at the weekend to visit family proved to be the perfect opportunity to test myself at the South Lakes Half Marathon. In typical, selfish fashion (my family always bemoan the fact that my fitness has to come ahead of them!), I had checked out beforehand what running races were on in the local area and the South Lakes event got the nod.      

I didn’t taper for the race (except for one less rep at the Thursday Meadows session) but by the same token I can’t seem to manage “Just for fun” racing either – I seem to need a certain amount of suffering in my life to thrive. I had discovered that the womens record was 1hr 36mins and although I knew this must be indicative of the hilly nature of the course I thought this time should be within my capabilities.

The course was described as undulating with 1km off road, but hilly would be a more accurate description. At a couple of points I even thought walking would be a quicker option (second helpings of Cartmel sticky toffee pudding the night before probably didn’t assist me here!). The views and scenery, however, were absolutely stunning and more than made up for the challenging hills. I really enjoyed clipping along between the hedgerows and passing through some of the pretty villages (including Cartmel) of southern Lakeland.

Needless to say I was pretty pleased to cross the line first woman (my first running victory) and also to break the womens course record (not by much, less than a minute).

This was a fantastic race, brilliantly organised with over 40 marshalls, magnificent scenery and thankfully no penis shaped medal at the end unlike the Edinburgh marathon! I would highly recommend this as a race to do in the future.

Jessica Wilson Young