Ok, it wasn't quite as long as it sounds. It was a run from Carlisle to Gretna for the X Border 10k on the 31st of January. (Throw in a nice medal and he'll run anything!) This run was the reverse route of a run which usually takes place in the Summer, but I think it sounds much more exciting running into Scotland than into England.
It was a bit of a windy, wet and very cold morning when we got up extra early to drive up to Carlisle. We drove up in convoy with 2 lovely Wind Cheetah ladies, K and S. Realising we were making very good time and would be too early for registration we pulled over at Tebay services for a coffee break. We arrived at Carlisle refreshed (somewhat) and Andy and the ladies went to register. The idea was that I would drive the boys up to Gretna and see them arrive at the finish line.
So we said good luck and legged it up to Gretna. I could see the route along a road parallel to the motorway and spotted the 7k sign at one point. I gave William my phone so he could be ready to take a photo of the 'Welcome to Scotland' sign. Well, he didn't get a photo of it, but my phone was full of photos like this when I got it back, hmmmm.
We eventually found the Greens of Gretna Hotel where the finish line was. I was using directions Andy had gotten from an internet route finder so of course we ended up lost (but only slightly and for a short while). To be fair, I had a 6 year old navigator using directions that took us around the back of the hotel. Once I figured that out, we went back out the way we came and discovered that we had passed the hotel as soon as we came off the motorway. We parked up directly overlooking the finish line.
I got Sam out for a stretch of the legs in the rain and wind and William preferred to stay inside with his book. Sam started enjoying things much more when the runners began to trickle in, he even clapped the first half dozen or so!
I spied Andy and the ladies heading up the road and into the finish, across the line in 56.28.
Once group hugs, photos, and examining of medals were done we headed back to Carlisle to drop the ladies with their car before heading back home.
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