Coniston 14 - Race Report

When I signed up with my running club last year, I heard a lot about the Coniston 14 race, and after running it this weekend, I can certainly see why it was so raved about!

This race has it all: amazing scenery around Coniston Water in the Lake district; hills, hills and more hills; great atmosphere and support and did I mention the hills? Also, with a 14 mile distance to cover, you're pretty likely to get a distance PB!

Coniston 14

Starting in Coniston the race starts and finishes at a school and takes in the entire of Coniston water giving you a pretty awesome view as you run. We drove up in the morning, and after a quick warm up we were off on our way and immediately climbing the first of many hills. There were lots of ups, but with those came a lot of downs too which I had loads of fun on! It had a great atmosphere and there were little pockets of support throughout the race. The climbs were certainly tough, especially at the 11 mile mark, and I was really pleased we'd been doing some hill running during our marathon training as this definitely put me in good stead. I managed to run them all and even managed faster than 7 minute miles at one point. Oops! I was meant to be taking it steady, but I quickly got caught up in race mode and managed to keep pushing through.

I was really glad when a fellow runner pointed out the amazing view to me at around 7 miles as I'd been looking down until then. What a mistake!

The final mile is a quick one too as you run back into Coniston to lots more support and cheering. There was a lot of pushing to be done in this final leg, especially when a lady over took me from nowhere! I kept going and managed to overtake her again to finish in 1.45.06 - which has really boosted my confidence for the marathon in three weeks time. Maybe my goal of 3.30 might be achievable after all!

Its a tough course, but the hilly route makes it interesting. Ill be back next year for sure!

It was a successful run for the club as we came 1st Men's team, and 2nd ladies team. We were so shocked, we didn't quite believe it was true and almost missed our prize giving on stage! We also had two individually placed men so a good day for the Harriers all round! We celebrated with a LOT of beer and a LOT of food.

Successful Harriers

The worst bit of the race was definitely the fact that after I was finished, I had another 6 miles of training to do. Phew - these were TOUGH! But I'm glad I got them done as that's it for the long runs for the marathon. It's time to taper. Hurrah.

Next up - Cardiff Half marathon. Fingers crossed it's as much fun as this weekend.

Running and racing in 2016

After a year off marathons there was much 'umming' and 'ahhing' over which marathon I would do come Spring 2016. Would it be London again after I loved it so much last time? Paris perhaps, along with a few Harriers? or would I run my adopted home city of Manchester?

After thinking about it at length, the lure of waking up in my own bed and celebrating post race at my local was too much for me and Manchester was entered! Im stupidly excited and am being bold and aiming pretty high for me with a time of 3.30. Yikes! This is massively quicker than my current PB of 3.51 so am hoping a lot of track sessions and hard work will help me get there. But in order to do that I'll also need to run some other races in the lead up to the big day.

These are, so far:

Cancer Research UK Winter Run 10k - 28th Feb Manchester
To run faster, you  need to...well run faster! So although 10k is not my favourite race distance, I figured I'd need a short sharp race to keep my speed up.  After it's launch in London last year, the Winter Run series has expanded to various locations throughout the country for 2016. As this 10k promises on course snow zones and plenty of polar bear hugs, I figured this was a good 10k to opt for and I was very kindly offered my place in it by the organisers. Im also hoping the fun course will help me beat my 10k PB which has been standing for over a year.

Coniston 14 - 19th March, Coniston

When I first joined my running club a year ago, the word 'Coniston' was said approximately 1 million times to me in the first couple of months and they were all to do with this lovely looking race in the Lake District. You get a slate table mat if you come top 10 and the scenery looks amazing. Im looking forward to the 14 mile course in March and it will hopefully act as a good gauge as to how I'm doing in my training. I can't wait to run a course which gets such rave reviews from my running buddies, especially as I'll get to run it along side them (well maybe quite a way behind the fast boys but you get the drift).

And so far, that's it! I'm on the look out for a good half marathon to chuck into the marathon training mix, along with weekly parkruns, cross country, club runs, long Sunday runs, track sessions....phew! I think it'll be a busy start to 2016!

What races are you planning for next year?