The 3 Peaks Race 2014

[glaconman]

The Joy of Winning
3 Peaks Preview


I fell in love with this race last year. I almost didn't make it to the start line but was put back into the car by Mrs G and told to man-up and enjoy the experience. Which I'm pleased to say I did. I got around in a modest time and with only moderate suffering.

This year I was seduced by the mesmerising, comfy chair of complacency. I didn't train properly for the race. So it punched me to the floor then battered my legs with a heavy bat until I could barely walk.

I did some training. I was doing tempo runs and speed sessions twice a week with the juniors. And I did a couple of 16 milers. Not enough. You need to do the distance with this one because you can never replicate the terrain. The near vertical ascents; the long, steep limestone descents; the long approaches in-between; the cold, sapping winds high up.

I was running in the same trainers I'd run in last year and I felt every stone underfoot. I relied on gels and felt sick after the 3rd. I'd been on the sauce every night for the previous week (I was on holiday). I forgot to take suncream or a hat. I could go on with the schoolboy errors and lack of respect I'd shown this race.

Yet despite all the problems and a badly executed plan it still sits in my mind as a wonderful memory. As I was picking my way between one painful footfall and another on the descent of Ingleborough I promised myself I would never do it again. Never. But I'm already planning next year and what I need to do to put in a good run.

Fifteen minutes before the start all the 900+ runners were crammed into a marque nervously chatting and adjusting waterproofs as the rain came down outside. In the corner was Tom Owens checking his kit and looking very confident. BB's fave runner (and Zagamara record holder) Rob Jebb was here and in good form. As was Ricky Lightfoot who had probably shown the best recent form. Victoria Wilkinson had parked opposite us and looked very calm. The outstanding women's favorite.

The difference with these guys is probably more marked after the race. They stand around having a beer looking no different to when they set off. I feel and look like the charred husk of a human being. It takes 3 days for the veins to go down on my forehead.

Just before the start and squeezing into the marque comes Mrs G and Junior G. I'm really pleased. If you read the article above (The Joy of Winning) the record holder for this race talks about watching his Dad doing the race and being in awe. I wanted my own son to experience this spectacle. I want big adventures and challenges to be normal for him. And who knows? I hope he runs it one day.

Before we know it we're off. The quiet clatter of studded shoes pushing through the streets of Horton heading for Pen-y-gent.

It's often been said that great Art has the ability to make you feel alone and together simultaneously. And that's what I feel about races like this when I'm running for my club. That's why I've transformed from the archetypal Outsider into a Club Runner.

On the first hill there is wonderful cameraderie as we push easily upto the summit. My training has at least made this summit feel effortless. On the final descent before the finish I stumble across a teammate. A legend in his 12th Peaks race but in some trouble on this one. I stay with him and we pull each other along, the time irrelavent now. It's time to talk about races done and learn a thing or two. It's a pleasure. Then the sound of the tannoy in the field below. Indescribable.

But at the final valley check-point I'd never felt so alone and desolate. Deserted by my body and literally with a moutain to climb. It just seemed totally effing pointless.

Next time I really need to do this race justice. Loose the weight. Do the long runs. The mile repeats. The 10 mile tempos. The hill reps. The core strengthening. The beetroot juice.

Or I could just grit my teeth and hobble around for a couple of days afterwards. Either way is fine actually. As long as I can make it to the start line and make the cut-offs.

[Sweder]

Loose the weight. Do the long runs. The mile repeats. The 10 mile tempos. The hill reps. The core strengthening. The beetroot juice.

This should be engraved on our eyelids. It's the mantra - and will become the epitaph - of a generation who've found life's carousel too fast, to overwhelming, to make time for what really matters.

Well done for getting out there. I was umming and ahhing about running the Seaford Half, a rather modest event by comparison. Not enough (any) training, too heavy, blah blah blah. Reading this I'm reminded that's all just bluster and nonsense. What matters is the taking part. If your under-par performance makes you feel inadequate, or ashamed of your lack of self discipline, so be it.

Suck it up, big fella. Be glad you can still get those old bones round.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Yep, if you must compare yourself to others, compare yourself to the people who didn't even bother, not against those who do the race with nary a concern. As Sweder often says, those champions are another breed apart from us mere mortals. No, you are a hero in your son's eyes, and rightly so. Whether he one day runs that race or not, you have done everyone who knows you proud.

And a day in the mountains to boot! Score!

[Charliecat5]

The Joy of Winning
3 Peaks Preview

Next time I really need to do this race justice. Loose the weight. Do the long runs. The mile repeats. The 10 mile tempos. The hill reps. The core strengthening. The beetroot juice.

Beetroot juice? I was with you until the beetroot juice...

[glaconman]

Thanks for the comments guys. I think there were some mixed messages in that report. What I was trying to get across was that despite all the wrong turns, suffering and lack of prep the event is bigger and better than one man's moaning; and doesn't let you come away feeling anything other than positive.

And there's definitiely been a sea-change in my perception over the last couple of years. I'm not disappointed with performance anymore, just philosophical. And wanting to take other things from it like the wellbeing and shared experience. Although, to be honest, I wouldn't want to lose the fire in my belly either.

The beetroot juice was certainly tongue-in-cheek. Although Mrs G is in a 'juicing phase' at the moment. So she's putting together some great beetroot-based concoctions with spinach, apple, ginger, tumeric, chillie etc. Some people swear by it. And us lads seem to be thriving on it.

I think we're back to the shorter stuff now. A couple of up-and-down fell races over the bank holiday weekend. A 5k mid-week series. Plus some cycle sportives to fit-in to commemorate the Tour starting in Yorkshire. Plus I pick up my newly converted camper van this week. So I can have a bacon butty and a nice kip after every race now

[marathondan]

Do the long runs. The mile repeats. The 10 mile tempos. The hill reps.

This is why running is such a great way to keep fit - at least for those of us who "get" it. Those may sound like hideous torture to some, but they sound like great fun to us here. But less so the weight loss and the core strengthening (and the less said about the beetroot juice the better). I dunno, maybe some people get similarly excited about core strengthening - but it's hard to imagine "grinning like a loon" (as the saying goes) after a session of planks and crunches.

Meanwhile sir, I salute you on the completion of another epic event!

Do post pics of the camper van - with all this "small running" going on, there's not much technical talk about kit. And kit doesn't get much bigger than a camper van. I like the sound of "newly converted"...

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

And happy birthday, by the way, for tomorrow, G'man!

[Charliecat5]

Plus I pick up my newly converted camper van this week. So I can have a bacon butty and a nice kip after every race now

Now that is my language... I lived in a 1970's VW Combi (aka the Bongo van) for 12 beautiful months travelling around Australia back in my 20s. What sort are you getting?

My only advice is to keep the beetroot juice away from the upholstery.

[Sweder]

The Joy of Winning
3 Peaks Preview

Next time I really need to do this race justice. Loose the weight. Do the long runs. The mile repeats. The 10 mile tempos. The hill reps. The core strengthening. The beetroot juice.

Beetroot juice? I was with you until the beetroot juice...

Love the stuff.

[El Gordo]

The Joy of Winning
3 Peaks Preview

Next time I really need to do this race justice. Loose the weight. Do the long runs. The mile repeats. The 10 mile tempos. The hill reps. The core strengthening. The beetroot juice.

Beetroot juice? I was with you until the beetroot juice...

Aye, those were the words that jumped out at me too. But nowt wrong with a good veggie juice, especially if you can get enough pepper and Tabasco in there to improve the palatability.

Excellent race report though GM, and the reference to your son witnessing the event was very touching. Am not a dad myself but I well remember seeing a 10 mile road race in rural Ireland when I was 9 (I was on holiday there when England won the World Cup in 66, so i can date it quite accurately). The sight of those guys struggling up a massive hill in the final mile on that sweltering July day never left me. I can't say that it particularly inspired me in one direction or another, but the evident effort and sense of achievement filled me with awe, and the image was branded on my memory forever.

Nice (brief) reference to the club v individual thing too, which had me thinking.

And remember -- when you start peeing blood... before rushing to the doctor, remember that drinking beetroot juice can have alarming (but harmless) consequences.

Well done. Really enjoyed the report.

[glaconman]

And happy birthday, by the way, for tomorrow, G'man!

Thanks MLCMM. The Great Arrow of Time marches on. Another year, same Age Category.

[glaconman]

Plus I pick up my newly converted camper van this week. So I can have a bacon butty and a nice kip after every race now

Now that is my language... I lived in a 1970's VW Combi (aka the Bongo van) for 12 beautiful months travelling around Australia back in my 20s. What sort are you getting?

My only advice is to keep the beetroot juice away from the upholstery.

Hi CC5. It's a Merc Vito high-top. Ex-Centre Parks. 7 yrs old only 15k on the clock. Needed abit of body-work. I've given it to a professional conversion place. Should be good for some years if I look after it. About half the price of a nearly new California. Didn't want to get into classic VWs. But your year down-under sounds amazing.

[glaconman]

Love the stuff.

Do you ever put chia in your Beetroot Juice though? A step too far perhaps.

[glaconman]

Aye, those were the words that jumped out at me too. But nowt wrong with a good veggie juice, especially if you can get enough pepper and Tabasco in there to improve the palatability.

Excellent race report though GM, and the reference to your son witnessing the event was very touching. Am not a dad myself but I well remember seeing a 10 mile road race in rural Ireland when I was 9 (I was on holiday there when England won the World Cup in 66, so i can date it quite accurately). The sight of those guys struggling up a massive hill in the final mile on that sweltering July day never left me. I can't say that it particularly inspired me in one direction or another, but the evident effort and sense of achievement filled me with awe, and the image was branded on my memory forever.

Nice (brief) reference to the club v individual thing too, which had me thinking.

And remember -- when you start peeing blood... before rushing to the doctor, remember that drinking beetroot juice can have alarming (but harmless) consequences.

Well done. Really enjoyed the report.

Thanks EG. Sounds as though you're veering towards a Bloody Mary with the pepper and tabasco.

Interesting what memories stay with us.

I think the lad was pleased to see me after a long wait. But they had a good day cycling between the checkpoints and cheering people on. It's a brutal race but with many soft edges. Unless the weather is crap. Then everybody is miserable . We were lucky. The clouds lifted on PYG just as we were approaching.

[glaconman]