As Steph returns from her early morning swim in Hatchmere Lake I'm desperately pulling my last few items together. The last few days have been very hot and I want everything in order for my run, plus the next few days I'll be living in Sheffield so I need to pack a bit extra.
As bad as it sounds I needed to get out of the house as soon as possible, I was been hunted down by external forces.
I'm in the van and on the road, I breath a sigh of relieve. The odds are better stacked now, this is it, it me against me and there can only be one winner!
Life's getting a bit crazy at the moment and something has to give. I seem to be great at organising people/groups/walls but when it comes to me I sort of just muddle through it and hope for the best!
I did the Outlaw last year, it was my first, and to be my only, Iron Distance Triathlon. With lots of good training advice from Alvin, Bryan, Daniel and Dani (Merseytri), it was the end of 18 Months of preparation. During that time I cycled around Northern Ireland, ran my first Ultra, PB’d marathons, learned to swim, rode some sportifs, dropped 10kg and generally became fit, strong and focussed. I was so happy with my 12:41 (against a target of 15) that I entered straight away for this year.
Little did I know about the Three Peaks Yacht Race when the DVD of the previous year’s event was passed to me one evening. However, when I watched it , wow! I knew deep down that I would love to take part in this fantastic adventure race and it was race I could only dream of.....
I’d been looking for a short race, having decided, in true Spartan spirit, that my niggling injury wasn’t getting any worse and didn’t seem to get better even when rested for a couple of months. Time for a short test – after all “it’s only 9K” somebody had said.
As I was climbing to the top of the Wheel Stones, in the Peak District another runner passed by below, where'd he come from I wondered? Even though I find it hard to pass rock without climbing it, I still get envious when someone overtakes/gets ahead of me! It's not a race, I don't know where or how far he's come but all I know is I need to get off the top of this rock and catch him up.
By the time I get down and find my map, I'd left at the bottom I'm after him. It's not a race, I don't know where or how far he's come but all I know is I need to and catch him up.
