2 Peaks of Yorkshire

My friend Steve is doing the Three Peaks race next Saturday and I went along with him and his dog Moss, on his last long training run yesterday. We caught the train from Horton to Ribblehead and set off  up Whernside. The initial ace was just a shade faster than I would have liked but I put it down to the fact that nowadays it takes me quite a long time to get going, and sure enough before we reached the summit I was going ok. For me the summit of Whernside turned out to be the high point of the day in both senses of the word. We didn't even pause at the top which we reached in under an hour and started on the descent. At first all went well, but on the steep rocky part (not my favourite bit anyway) I went over on my ankle and struggled on anything steep after that. However, the rest of the descent was fine and we reached the Hill Inn after 90 mins running.


Ingleborough was tough, especially the last steep climb and the very strong wind on the summit. On the way back to Horton I really struggled, firstly on the initial steep descent and then when tiredness set in, even short rocky bits were causing me grief. Eventually we reached Sulber Nick and the going got much easier and I was able to run the rest of it without too much difficulty. Over 14 miles and 2800ft of ascent in 3hrs 15mins. So Ingleborough took me 15mins longer than Whernside which is not even paced running. Perhaps I was too ambitious but having run a similar distance with t'Y ten days ago, I thought I'd be ok.


I intend to do the race in 2017 to celebrate being an OAP, and I now realise that the training will have to start months in advance. In the meantime,if anyone fancies doing one or two of the Peaks, please get in touch. it is glorious running country and I am lucky to be living in it.