Ennerdale Fell Race (and edale country day)

(Pic from kirk fell on a recce)

Last Saturday I completed my first lakeland classic race, Ennerdale (23miles with 7500ft climb). Before starting I didn't really have a clue what to expect of myself having never raced anything over 17miles in the peaks before. I decided to run in my mudclaw 270s which worked out well even in the dry conditions. I had a rough plan of aiming for 5hours ish and aimed not to run too hard until I was over pillar. This plan worked well to begin with - I felt comfortable and strong to kirk fell, not running too fast and had some good chat along the way with other runners!
I loved the scree descent from kirk fell and set off up pillar fully expecting to be able to up the speed a bit for the final 7miles after the top.
Just before the top however I started to feel a bit sick and I had to go really slowly over to Haycock. The slow pace continued until after Iron Crag when I felt a bit better and ran ok down to the final climb up caw fell. There I felt aweful and a mouthful of water at the top finished my stomach off.
I finished in 5hrs34 with my bumbag over my shoulder (the only way I could run into the finish) having lost 7 minutes (to nathan) on the final descent alone....
Still, I really enjoyed the route and I am happy to have finished it as 21st woman. My legs felt ok at the end which I'm sure they shouldn't have so now I need to work out what made me sick so I can run faster next time (yes I will be doing it again!). Maybe I was dehydrated, maybe the gel I ate was a bad idea, maybe my bumbag was too tight and heavy with water in it....
On Sunday Stu from accelerate convinced me to run Edale short race (4.7miles 1300ft climb) with the words 'what do you mean your not completing the gritstone series? Your leading it!'. I never intended to try in this race as that would be silly! Points are calculated on time behind the winner so it wasn't going to be my highest scoring race but worth a go! As it turned out I didn't feel half as bad as I expected and took it steady but still managed to finish in 6th place, about 3/4mins off my normal pace! Unbelievably I got a PB by 3minutes! A good finish to the weekend, now time for a sit down!