Virtual Lakeland 50 Day 6

I said yesterday that I was having an (almost) rest day today, with just 2.1 miles to cover to take me to the virtual Tilberthwaite checkpoint.

Then last night, for no objectively good reason, I thought it would be nice to finish the 50 miles in 6 days rather than 7 (in fact, if I hadn’t been so tired after my second 4am start, I probably would have gone back out right then, to finish in 5 days), so when I woke up at 0550 this morning, I crept out of bed to do exactly that.

I’d not got as far as the bedroom door before I realised that my shoulders and neck were really sore. My assumption (incorrect, as I’ve now worked out*) was that I must have slept funny. As I got dressed I kept under-balancing** and in a conversation with Mick before I set out, I repeatedly got my worms words mixed up. It didn’t bode entirely well, but except for the sore shoulders, I felt fine, so at just gone quarter to seven, off I went.  

Ten minutes later I was having an intracranial debate as to whether I should just revert to Plan A. My legs felt fine and I was alert, but just why was I doing more than necessary, when I could be back home in another 10 minutes, leaving myself fresh for tomorrow? My route gave me the option of cutting short after 2.5 miles, so I told myself that was my decision point – a cunning ploy because not only is the half mile before that point downhill, which would give the illusion of ease, but also I knew I’d have got into my stride by then.

So, of course, I did cover the whole 5.6 miles, although not without a phone call to Mick when I realised my watch was set to kilometres again, and I wanted to know to *exactly* the distance I needed to cover in km, as I didn’t want to overshoot today.

I overshot. Hey ho.

As for where this leaves me virtually, although I’ve been given a certificate for having finished the course, I’m claiming that I both took an accidental detour between Chapel Stile and Tilberthwaite…

Must have taken a wrong turn because that doesn’t look like Blea Tarn behind me!

… and that I doubled back to the checkpoint when I realised I’d overshot it. So, I still intend to go out and run the last 3.5 miles (including ‘Jacob’s Ladder’) tomorrow.

<sup>(*It turns out that running whilst holding a phone in the air at arm’s length, as I did yesterday, can put a surprising amount of stress on the shoulder and neck muscles. Makes a change from DOMS in the thighs!

**I acknowledge that the correct term is ‘overbalance’, but it’s always seemed strange to say that you stumbled because you balanced too much. Surely you stumble because you didn’t balance enough?)</sup>