Carlisle Resolution 10k

I ran my first 2019 10k, achieved a personal second-best time and learned the charms of the city of Carlisle.

Why Carlisle

Why was I so eager to start my year off just south of the Scottish border?

I wasn't. It's just that January 10k options are pretty slim. It's not exactly an ideal running month, and every other race I read about sounded hilly, muddy or too far away in a month where I was taking a chance on the weather being okay to travel. Plus, I rather spend the least amount of money in the least nice month (yeah, January, I'm talking smack about you).

That being said, I'm happy I kicked off this year in Carlisle. I got some weird looks from people when I said this was my first race, dumbfounded as to why would I travel there. But as far as an easy-to-get-to, cheap place to go on a run and see an interesting thing or two, Carlisle ain't so bad.

Visiting the castle

I'm aiming to be budget-conscious on these trips since travel, accommodation and a race every single month adds up (great idea, Lauren). 

So I'm on the hunt for free or low-cost things to do. Luckily, Carlisle's castle is an English Heritage property, and as a Historic Scotland member, I get to go for free.

An incredibly uninspiring photo.

As a castle, Carlisle's contribution does the job: it's old, musty-smelling and has a lot of passageways that when you go through them, you end up somewhere totally different and don't remember where you even started from.

It's right at the edge of the town center and along a very busy road, so it doesn't have the greatest views, but one of the workers said you can see the Lake District on a clear day. It was not a clear day.

It's definitely not the most beautiful castle out there, but hey, most of the thing is still intact, so it's a much better castle to visit than other places (I'm looking at you, St Andrews). 

The castle's claim to fame is that it is the most besieged castle in Britain, and that was probably the weirdest part of my visit. I'm used to going to Scottish castles and other historical places that always mention how the English wronged them. In Carlisle, it was all about calling out the number of times the Scots tried to take over, and hanging them all when they ultimately failed. So that produced a slight feeling of discomfort as a Scottish resident visiting Carlisle.

Truly the best part of this castle, though, was the fact that the bathrooms were warm. It was very cold out, and I really appreciated the warm facilities. Thanks, Carlisle Castle. 

I also paid (though not literally, because it was free!) a visit to the military museum on site, which was compact but well-presented. I especially enjoyed reading some of the wartime propaganda posters, which ranged from shaming single men to join military and warning husbands not to tell their spouses any work-related secrets in case she was a spy. Or you know, blabbered to her spy friends. Basically like the Brad Pitt film Allied, or so I imagine. I didn't get to see the second half of that film due to a fire alarm, and I never felt the need to go back and watch it again.

Ah, sexism.

Interactions with Northerners

Carlisle is a place where a B&B is as cheap as an Airbnb, so I stayed at the cheapest, best-reviewed one because I really wanted a full (veggie) English for breakfast.

When I checked in to my B&B, I told the owner I was here to do a 10k, to which he replied, "You're keen". I then told him I was doing one of these a month, to which he again replied, "You're keen". Yes. Yes, I am.

He also very sweetly gave me some Epsom salt in case I wanted to take a bath after the run and soak my legs. I didn't in the end, but I appreciated the gesture. (A day later as I write this, I regret not taking the bath.)

I wasn't aware of what the Cumbrian accent was like, and I learned quickly that it's very broad and very northern. I may have not understood everything I was hearing. 

I had a great incident going out for dinner on the first night where I told the hostess table for 1 and she had a check of the tables on the ground floor before getting back to me, "Someone will be waiting for you upstairs", to which I was like, "No, it's just me". And she said, "No, there will be another hostess upstairs who will seat you". Well done, me. 

The race

The race was called the Carlisle Resolution 10k, and I liked that it had a new year, new you vibe about it, especially since this was starting off my year of embarking on this crazy idea that popped into my head one day.

Carlisle Resolution 10k

The start and finish was at Carlisle Racecourse, which was a 2.2 mile walk from where I was staying. I wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea of walking for 46 minutes there and back with a 6.2 mile run in between, but there weren't any worthwhile public transit options and why would I take a taxi. That would be silly. 

I still felt in good shape to run after the walk there, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the registration and waiting area before the run was all indoors. No waiting outside in the cold. Also, there was no specified place to leave your bag. You just left it anywhere in the room, and nobody stole anything because this was a klepto-free event.

I only saw one other person with bone conduction headphones. Also hot pink.

When it came time for the race, the few minutes before the start were absolutely freezing thanks to an unwelcome breeze. But then this quickly faded once the race started as the sun started to shine and there was a steady incline for the first 2 miles that I wasn't expecting. The course description said it was 'a mixture of quiet country roads which are generally flat or generally undulating'. Personally, I felt 2 miles of not-so gentle undulation was a bit much. It wasn't hilly, but it was definitely not flat. 

The chip-timing was on your shoe.

The course was all along farmlands, which is full of nice rural sights, but that also means not-so-nice rural smells. I don't think this gave me the motivation it should have done to run faster, but I ended up achieving my second-best time for a 10k at 58:59.

Considering there were more inclines than expected, I was very happy with that result. I said in my intro post I don't care about achieving a PB, but I would like to finish each race under an hour. 

"A new year, another chance to get it right."

The highlight at the end of the race was a little girl who stuck out her hand for a high-five, which I most happily gave. 

The non-highlight was paying an extra pound to get my final time sent to me by text, only for them to send the time of this completely random person. This company also sent me the wrong time for a 5k I did in November, so lesson learned, I'll save the pound next time. 

Just a wee bit tired

After the 2.2 mile walk back to where I was staying, I think it's fair to say I was tired. Very tired. There was only 2 hours left of sunlight, but I was not motivated to move my body* and visit something else. So I just continued binge watching the Netflix series You which I started the night before. I like this show.

*To clarify, I wasn't totally immobile to the point of not taking a shower. I took a shower. You can't run that distance and not want to shower. I'm mainly writing this sentence for my siblings' peace of mind.

I didn't want to stay in all night, though, so I, of course, went to the cinema (because going to the cinema is so much more active). I saw Bohemian Rhapsody, not because I wanted to but because with it getting so many awards and nominations, I felt like I had to to make my own judgments about it. My instincts were right. It's an incredibly mediocre film.

On the walk over, I stopped in Carlisle Cathedral for a quick visit. There was a Choral Evensong service going on, which meant I didn't get to walk through the whole church, but it also meant I opened the door to the sound of glorious choral singing. There were no pews - everyone was in small circular groups singing to each other. It was a special scene to experience. 

Next run

Run Aintree

I'm off to Liverpool. At least, I hope so. There are scheduled rail strikes that will likely affect my train going down, so will I even get there in the end? Or will I have to run to my run?

Let the rail worries begin.