Coniston

At Hannah's birthday drinks a few weeks ago, I chatted for a while to her friend, Emma, who told me that she was planning to run the Coniston 14 at the end of March. Originally she had been going to run it with her boyfriend, but then they split up, so her mum said she’d take his place, but then she picked up an injury.

Hannah did suggest that I step in, but I am too overweight and unfit at the moment, which is not unrelated to my knee problem, so I had to decline, which was actually quite annoying.

Anyway, as a compromise, Hannah and I said that we'd go along and support Emma, which we did, today. We drove across to Coniston, parked up at Monk Coniston car park, and walked into town for breakfast, before proceeding to the start line.

I don't think you'd need to be a runner to have picked up on the charged feeling at the start of the race, and I felt both excited and frustrated. We did see Emma, though, who was delighted that we'd come along, and we chatted to her before she went to find a place in the mass of runners waiting to start.

Hannah and I stood by the start line for the countdown, which really was exciting, and then they were off. It was so exhilarating watching everyone run past!

After that, of course, there was nothing to see for a couple of hours, so Hannah and I walked up to the old station, and took a stroll along the disused railway line. Just as it was beginning to get too muddy, we saw a sign for a pub, so we took the opportunity to walk down to the road and have a lunchtime drink, before walking back for the finish.

As we crossed the fields, we saw what looked like a very low rainbow. Maybe you can just make it out in my photo, today.

And then, having watched Emma finish, we met up with her and her mum, and went for a post-event drink, where I enjoyed the run vicariously through Emma's account of the route. Fingers crossed I can actually do it for myself next year!