Lucy recently rehomed her Sprocker Rowan with us and wanted to give back. We are forever in her debt. Such a generous thing to do and so so rare. Lucy raised just over £1,000 and has written some words for us to share ….

‘Where to even start, Lakeland 50 was incredible. As you can probably tell from the many social media posts, this was the end point of a long slog of training & planning! The rain was torrential on Saturday morning as we waited for the start at 11.30, l wondered what I’d let myself in for! Luckily by the race start it was just a shower…and then after that it was pretty nice and sunny for the rest of the day!

The route was incredible…wet, boggy, muddy and rocky…but wow. The scenery… to be honest I have no words, hard though 50 miles is, what an utter joy to be able to run in places like this! When the going was tough I had to remind myself how lucky I was to be able to be here, and also the great cause I was running for. On my way to the second checkpoint around 15 miles in I heard a dog barking in the middle of this boggy fell. It got me thinking of Rowan (Dotty) and all the runs we shared and I felt a bit tearful, I also thought strange there’s a dog out here in the middle of nowhere?! As I got nearer to the noise I heard a voice shout Gooooooo Lucy! I couldn’t believe it when I realised it was a running club friend who had come to cheer us on with her dog Peggy! Any feelings of tears disappeared and I was instantly buzzing and motivated after such a good surprise and this honestly kept me going for another 10 miles or so!

Running late afternoon into dusk into dark was stunning! Over that time I saw another friend who appeared to cheer me on, and through Ambleside it was incredible as we made the 35mile checkpoint. The crowds lined the street cheering and there were people yelling from outside the pubs willing us on! It felt like we’d approached the finish given the support…however no, another 15 miles to go!

I had a bit more daylight until the next checkpoint and after that as we descended some woods near Blea Tarn (a popular walking and swim spot for those that know the lakes) I got my headtorch on before I twisted an ankle on a rock or something daft. It was a clear night with no wind (still running in a short sleeve top at 11pm!) and as we approached our final destination of Coniston, we were running up on the fells with only the stars above and the line of headtorches in front/behind snaking across the hill….it was breathtaking.

At this point I dared to dream I would finish with just 3 miles to go! I descended off the fell into Coniston, and with a few hundred metres to go, I heard Go on Lu! There was my sister stood outside a pub cheering me on, she’d last minute come to stay from 5h away, but I had no idea she’d be at the finish, given it was nearly midnight! I actually only just looked at my watch for the first time that day, and seeing it was almost midnight and with the excitement and emotion of seeing my sister I don’t know where my legs found the energy but I sprinted the last few hundred metres to the finish.

Absolutely overflowing with emotion but no rest for the wicked, you cross the line and get marched into the finishers tent and are announced as the next finisher to the waiting supporters! Id had enough time to explain to the marshal why I was blubbing having done this not just for myself, but for SAR having had to re-home our littlest Sprocker. As I walked in she said here’s Lucy who’s run this for charity…in that moment I felt so so proud and grateful to everyone of you who have so generously donated over £1000 to such a worthy cause. I always doubted myself but knew I’d do whatever I could to finish knowing you’d supported….so thank you thank you thank you! And as always the biggest special thanks to Louise and Jason. Here’s to all our sprockers and here’s to SAR

If you are interested in helping us by fundraising please just contact us, we would be delighted to chat to you!