#AOLtakes3Peaks

On Friday the day we'd all been waiting for finally arrived for us to take on the 3 Peaks Challenge.

It was an early start for us, all making our separate ways to Gatwick Airport to meet at 7.30am before boarding our flight to Glasgow.

After arriving in Glasgow, our coach picked us up and took us north-east towards Ben Nevis but first we had to make a pit stop at Tesco to pick us up the fuel for our challenge.

The views during our journey were amazing but in between taking photos we did manage to get a few Zzs. 

Finally around 3.30pm we arrived at Ben Nevis and we had time to prepare, carb load, stretch, warm up and have a few  last minute panics.

Before it was time for us to start our ascent and we were lucky to have pretty clear views the majority of the way up! 

Then we spotted a few patches of snow and we guess we were doomed from there as the further we climbed the more the fog/mist came in and the spottings of snow became one just mass of snow and we felt like we were at a ski resort minus the skis with only dodgy poles, to help us trudge to the top.

The actually top with the marker was impossible to find and after bumping into some others we found out we were at the top anyway. With time being of the essence, we had minimal time for photos so a couple of selfies on the go had to work.

For me and others in the group the descent was harder, with our knees struggling to take the pressure so we weren't as quick we I thought we'd be. However we still managed to make good time with just over 5 hours, after a quick wet wipe down, a toilet break and change into comfy clothes we were on route to peak numero 2; Scafell Pike.

After a quick snack we all crashed and tried our best to get as much sleep as possible and it appeared that our coach driver decided to take advantage of that by taking a pretty hefty break of his on. Despite the fact that he and the company he worked for were fully aware of our strict time deadline. Meaning that we arrived at our next point way behind schedule. But our bad luck didn't stop there, we also came across another obstacle, due to thin, country roads running to the base of Scafell we had pre-booked 2 mini buses for the transfer and surprise surprise only 1 turned up! And the journey from our coach to the base and back from around 45 minutes. Talk about nightmare. So we had to work with what we had. We decided the slower group should go first because the faster group had the chance to catch up. Hindsight is always a great thing, so in hindsight we probably should have had the faster bunch go up first as we were have had more of a chance of completing it. 

So unfortunately due to time restrictions (yet again) we didn't have the time to complete Scafell Pike but we found out afterwards that (the faster group) we were only 30 minutes from the top, but as I'm sure you'll understand it was pretty frustrating. Congratulations to our fabulous bus company, chin chin! 

Because of the early start, it felt like I'd done a day's work by the time we got to the bottom and the worst thing, by the time we eventually got back to coach we found out that the rest of the group had had a bacon sandwich!! After living on a diet consisting of cereal bars, grapes and cookies I think you can understand how were were feeling unless of course you're veggie! 

Back on the bus it was key for us to get some more sleep before our 3rd and final peak; Snowdon. Here's our final group shot. 

Forgetting the snow on Ben Nevis I actually think Snowdon might have been the toughest. We picked the shorter, steeper route for time and some parts were particularly steep, meaning we literally had to climb and it was also the busiest so we sometimes had to go a bit of the beaten path. And the further we ascended the foggier it got so when we got to the top our view was a little less than spectacular.

After taking a few too many selfies it quickly became pretty cold but we had to wait for the rest of the team to reach the summit. Finally luck was on our side and there appeared to be a cafe with 'panoramic' views (not that we could see anything). We stopped for a quick hot drink before preparing ourself for a speedy retreat. 

Haha oh dear, but it just wasn't that easy. After serious lack of sleep, no proper meals and achey legs we were bound to take a wrong turn at some point and it would be now. A few of us (8) headed off in the wrong direction but we didn't realise until 15 minutes down and after one of the group properly hurt her knee. We found out that we were going down the miner's route a.k.a the longest and almost flat route. Great for those with injuries. We tried to get in contact with the rest of the group but to no avail, we'd just have to meet them at the bottom. 

Oh and it was pretty freezing...

And then finally the sun came out and we got to see some cracking views.

We then reached a cafe and decided to try and make contact with the group and it also made a perfect picture opportunity, captioned 'lost ramblers'. What we didn't realise was that the others didn't have signal but they rang us through the pay phone. 

We were at the bottom apparently but an epic 7 miles away from the others so we got a taxi to join them. Finally we made it, only an hour and a half after the others. It was time for some well-earned beverages, some dodgy bus songs and an extremely long journey home! 

Honestly it was an amazing experience and I 100% want to do it again. Maybe in hindsight it was slightly overly ambitious to bring 24 people so recommendations would be; I reckon max. 12 people and drive yourself don't rely on others and take it leisurely. 

I write this on route Valencia, so keep posted for my next post... 

Xoxo

My name is Kate & I'm addicted to running

Primarily my blog is a travel blog, but as you can probably tell I'm kind of mixing it up when I have a spare second with everything and anything I'm passionate about and obviously all my different adventures. And today, I'm talking about my true love, running... 

Are you a runner? Training for a race? Getting some more fresh air? Trying to lose weight? 

Do you want to start running, but you're looking for the right motivation? Please let me attempt to help you out/be your motivation. 

I love running, I also hate running but I mainly love running. It's the best! I'm so super passionate about exercise in general, my colleagues are probably sick of me talking about it, but if it helps motivate at least one person we're on to a winner! I love inspiring people to make changes in their lives, to live healthier lifestyles. I haven't got one of those great inspiring stories, like I used to weight 20 stone and now I weight 10 stone. I just love trying different challenges. That's all there is to it. I'm lucky that I come from an exercise-mad family. My parents are both keen runners (mum more than dad) and they both play tennis, in fact we all can play tennis (but after playing for years I'm personally quite sick of it) and my brother is an awesome hockey player and lucky for him is as skinny as a rake.  We both played plenty of team sports growing up; tennis, hockey, volleyball, cricket and I did every type of dancing under the sun. So I guess it was just part of everyday life for us.

Back to the nitty gritty of running after indulging in a little background sharing. 

I first started joining my mum running as a cyclist, for something to do during the long school holidays. She then encouraged me to run with her to keep fit for all my sports. We started off with a gentle 10 minute. I say gentle sarcastically, at the time I saw it as punishment, I couldn't breath and I felt like my chest would explode so I suggested to mum I may have asma of at least a form of sport's asma. She told my dad and they found it hilarious and described it as 'unfit'! The cheek of them, me unfit! No way! Turns out their description of my self-diagnosed 'sport's asma was legit. But it wasn't until a few years later I started indulging in slightly longer than 10minute runs but I wasn't really that motivated. 

Then I joined uni and in my third year I went on my placement year and moved to London for a while. My housemates (found on spareroom.com) were weird and I didn't fancy all evening watching tv in my room, so I started running properly and signed up for my first half marathon (Bracknell 2012) as motivation. I lived in Richmond, so I got the pleasure of running along the Thames, to Kew, and around the park. I was spoilt for choice and I only realise now just how lucky I was. 

Finally the time came to run the half marathon and it's safe to say I was a nervous wreck but I was in the safe hands of my mum and dad and boyfriend who were running it too. Dad and Nath left us to it, being the competitive ones but my mum was a real gem she stuck by my side the whole way. When I wanted to walk, she would let me walk until the next lamp post then I had to run again. It was tough, in fact it was horrific. Although I had been running a lot my legs hadn't experienced that kind of distance, and after attempting to sprint up a ridiculous hill I well and truly hit the wall. This was around mile 8 and I can picture the moment even today, 4 years later. But being a trouper I carried on through the pain and jelly legs. The 11th mile I think I walked the entire mile but for the 12th I got this extra burst of energy, also known as adrenaline and managed to run the whole way even getting in a sprint for the last stretch. I finished in 2 hours and 13 minutes and couldn't even pick my foot up off the ground onto a bucket for a Marshall to take off my chip. I also didn't mention the weather conditions, in one word; horrendous. Torrential rain, tons of mud, wind and it was pretty cold, so that can't have helped! The walk back to the car was the longest 10 minutes ever and I couldn't walk for days afterwards. I hated running in that moment and for a few weeks after (I deserved a break, right?).

But a year later I signed up again and signed up Nath much to his disgust! I vowed to do more distance prior to the race and get a better time. The conditions were far more favourable for the Bath Half Marathon (which I think I may have done a blog about previously) AND I combined it with charity by raising money for Guide Dogs for the Blind (the company I worked for at the time) AND I got a better time of 2 hours 6 minutes. 

Still not quite the goal (minus 2 hours) but I was getting better! Then the year of PBs  arrived! I signed up for a few races; first being the Putney and Fulham Riverside Half Marathon which I absolutely nailed with 1 hour 55 minutes and I wasn't even stiff the next day and I could walk straight after (thank you Kayla - blog to follow shortly about Kayla). Then the Bracknell again, slower this time but still not bad, 1 hour, 58 minutes and it was a family affair again! 

I think you can tell I'm totally addicted, each time you just want to better yourself. The below pictures were from my first half marathon this year, the Wokingham. Working in London and having a mega commute means time is currently of the essence, I try to fit running in whether it's before work, to work, lunchtimes or weekends. However I unfortunately didn't get in enough distance training, so I completed this in 2 hours 3 minutes, I wasn't disappointed as it left plenty more room for improvement. Next race; April 10th Putney and Fulham Half Marathon!

Set yourself easy goals, start with 10 minute runs and build up to 20, then 39 then an hour and before you know it, it will be a breeze and then you can start working on speed. I try and mix it up a do a couple of interval training sessions a week (2 minutes normal speed and 1 minute speed) which really help!

With Spring arriving this weekend and Summer on the horizon get out there and enjoy it rather than being cooped up in the gym all the time! 

Xoxo