Ticked it

Well I did it, but it wasn't pretty.

3 Peaks race yesterday in glorious but very windy weather.  I arrived at Horton and was surprised to feel really quite nervous - which is odd as I didn't have much of a target other then to get round without getting timed out.  I lined up with several other Harriers, and we were soon off and climbing up Pen y Ghent.  I found I was able to run most of the initial climb, which meant I passed quite a few people - no trouble from my legs at this early stage.

I hit the top of PyG in about 40 minutes, so slightly up on 4:30 schedule, and made good time to Ribblehead where I was a good 25 minutes inside the cut off.  The only problem was the underside of my heels were sore, which I assume is my compression socks sliding about in my shoes - whatever the cause this meant I was struggling to run quickly downhill from very early on.

After a quick slurp of water at Riblehead it was off to the second peak, Whernside, via a route I've never done - straight up the middle to the summit.  This was all walking, and in my case pretty bloody slow walking too!  On the way up here was when my legs realised that this wasn't another steady recovery run after London and decided to let me know they weren't pleased.  I got to the top having dropped a few places, then struggled on the descent with my dodgy feet.

Me and Rebecca M-W just after the Hill Inn - before the pain really started...Photo Terry Lonergan

 The main objective for the day was to hit the Hill Inn check within 3:30 to be allowed to finish - which I did in under 3 hours, so apart from being absolutely shagged out with sore feet and dehydration there was nothing to stop me.

I ran quite a bit of the initial section, but once we hit the paved section I was pretty much walkign everything, and I really struggled up the last steep bit before the ridge.  A kind bloke saw my problems and gave me a quick drink, which helped get me the last bit to the summit via another slurp from a marshall.

Just the descent then - which I'd secretly been hoping would be my moment of triumph as my marathon trained legs took me down the last 4 3/4 miles in about 40 minutes.  Erm...no... What actually happened was my shot at legs and agonising feet ran-walked it in 48 minutes and just failed to get under 4:30.

My left foot - note blisters on the heel and the ball.  Ouch.

Would I do it again 13 days after London?  Of course I bloody wouldn't - that'd be stupid.  Would I do it again if I'd trained specifically for it and rested properly ? Abso-bloody-lutely.  I suspect I could get under 4:15 without too much bother, and a sub-4 should be feasible if I did a proper "campaign" of lots of hills and longer off-road runs.  Which gives me a dilemma for 2012 - do I give London another bash, or do I give the 3 Peaks a proper go?

Decisions, decisions...