The good news is that I didn't come last (again)!
Although I am listed on the last page of the official finishers at 412th out of 437, which isn't exactly a sparkling performance.
Just to get my excuses in, it was very warm on the day - the hoped for cloud cover and showers didn't materialise, and the new course has an easier start than last year, which meant I was fooled into running way too fast (for me) over the first three miles, and so I struggled a bit on the bits I was quite confident I would be ok on. And I'm now officially a veteran runner, so I should expect to be overtaken by all the young whipper-snappers too. Ho Hum! 
Anyway, not to be too negative about the whole thing, I did achieve a couple of good things - like I managed to complete the entire climb up the Garburn pass without stopping (something I didn't manage last year). Just in case you're wondering why that's an achievement, here's a height profile of the course (tracked using my Garmin - its still a cool gadget! 
) which might give you a feel for the challenge:
That big spikey bit in the middle is what I'm talking about 
Other good things aboout the event were that I also completed the course without any injuries, blisters, breaks, cuts or insect bites. . The view was again spectacular, and for reference, here's what the course looks like from space:
The dark blob on the left hand side is Windermere - which is apparently not a lake according to a recent episode of QI
My legs have now stopped aching 4 days after the event, which leaves me to think I might have to do more training for next year...
