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Here you can find my regular blog, which I hope you will find interesting and original. My aim is to keep you all up to date with my latest thoughts, plans and adventures.

Tough Guy 2012

Jan 07, 2012

UPDATE 22 January: Less than a week to go until we head to Mouse Manor in South Perton to take on the world famous Tough Guy course.

A week of cold showers coming up in an attempt to prepare for the icy water obstacles and guaranteed muscle numbness that will ensue as we make our way around the Killing Fields.

The layer of ice that greeted us in 2011.

Why are we doing this again?

After our near hypothermic states and the cold induced pain of last year’s Tough Guy, I am still trying to work out why I want to put myself through the race that is described as the ‘safest most dangerous event in the world’, AGAIN.

The eight mile course, littered with over 75 challenging obstacles, steep hill climbs, icy mud-filled swamps and some good old cross-country running, is the brainchild of Mr. Mouse, a former Grenadier Guards trained soldier in the British Army.

Tough Guy 2011, with Henry Topham and Rob McKenzie, was my first experience of the punishing course and we loved it. Shorts and vest was definitely the wrong choice of kit, but other Tough Guy ‘wannabe’s’ wearing gorilla costumes and thongs were definitely made to suffer more. As Tough Guy novices we were Ghoon squad members positioned towards the back of the 8000 or so other competitors, which ensured that getting round in a quick time and more importantly keeping moving was practically impossible as we waded through the icy water and obstacles of the Killing Fields, dragged ourselves through the Vietcong Torture Chamber Tunnels, launched ourselves like lemmings from the Death Plunge and crawled under barb wire to complete the Stalag Escape before encountering the infamous Underwater Tunnels and the particularly painful Torture Chamber (a partially flooded, muddy tunnel complete with hanging electric cables to add to the fun).

After three hours of battling through the unique and crazy course in bracing conditions the three of us had survived and successfully claimed our status as 'Tough Guys'. Not everyone was so fortunate – around a third of entrants failed to complete the race; hypothermia and broken bones being the main culprits.

It was tough, it was painful and it was cold. My legs were cut, I had the mother of all brain freezes and my body was numb, BUT...it was so much fun and I can’t wait to do it all over again in a couple of weeks.

To sign up for this years race click here.

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Yorkshire 3 Peaks - 28 December 2011

Jan 01, 2012

The Yorkshire 3 Peaks on a gusty, damp wintry morning in God’s Own County was the perfect antidote for the softness caused by too many nights out, too many mince pies and too much mulled wine in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Growing up in the Yorkshire Dales, I have climbed the individual peaks of Pen-y-Ghent (694m / 2,277ft), Whernside (736m / 2,415ft) and Ingleborough (723m / 2,372ft) many times and I never tire of running or walking the highest points in Yorkshire.

I first ran the 24.5 mile (39.2km) Yorkshire 3 Peaks route a couple of years ago, during perfect summer conditions, although still managed to lose my way (and one of my trainers) across the notoriously muddy bogs of Horton Moor. So when Henry Topham asked if I was keen to run the route with him on his birthday I couldn’t wait to give it another go...

So teaming up with Henry and Martin Smith (both Old-Giggleswickian’s), the three of us set off from Horton-in-Ribblesdale just before sun-rise to attempt the circular course which weaves its way up, over, round, down and through the impressive landscape of limestone, sandstone, peat covered fells and glacial till.

The route heads out of the village of Horton-in-Ribblesdale to the first and smallest peak of the three, Pen-y-Ghent, where we were joined by a fourth Old-Giggleswickian (Henry Meredith), who had a quick canter up and down the peak as part of his training for the Rome Marathon.

We made steady progress up Pen-y-Ghent, despite being slightly slowed by the strong head winds on the steep ascent, reaching the first trig point in just over half an hour. From here, a quick yet blustery descent allowed us to make up some time lost due to the strong wind, before leaving Henry M as he made his way back in to Horton.

The remaining three of us continued our winter dash across the wet, extremely boggy and at times treacherous long haul to the second peak (Whernside). Navigation across this largely flat stretch can be difficult during the winter and finding stable footing became particularly challenging, which I found out the hard way, sinking waist deep in to a bog. After a few more comical slips and falls by all of us, we reached Ribblehead Viaduct and the start of our second real climb, unscathed but damp and mud spattered.

Still in good spirits and making good progress (just over two hours in so far), we began the long climb up the side of Whernside. The climb isn’t particularly challenging, however the bracing winds we experienced earlier in the day had followed us and picked up in strength, bringing with it hailstones and bitterly cold conditions. Making our way across to the trig point through the snow lined plateau the wind continued to strengthen slowing our pace immensely, as we battled to keep our footing and forward momentum.

Descending from Whernside was not only a relief in terms of getting some protection from the wind and cold but also meant we only had one more peak to go. After a quick refuel and a stretch we cracked on making quick progress across to our final climb, Ingleborough. Initially we climbed gradually towards the summit before ascending a steep zigzag path up the sheer side of Ingleborough.

Once at the top, all we had left was a 4-5 mile descent back down Ingleborough, through limestone outcrops and a few fields to reach the village of Horton. The final face-plant of the day went to Martin as our battered legs and bodies coped with the uneven ground as we moved towards the sanctuary of the car and the promise of a curry later that night.

We finished the route in six hours. Not bad given the conditions but we will be back for more and a quicker time.

A great way to end 2011.

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Summary of 2011

Dec 31, 2011

2011 has been a mixed year. There was early promise of being involved with a number of unique and exciting projects, notably Search for Gold 2011 (Llanganates National Park, Ecuador) and the Trip to Remember, both of which I had to withdraw from due to work commitments and more frustratingly injury, which hampered any other major projects throughout the year.

Despite this disappointment, I still managed to squeeze in a variety of trail, cross-country, assault and road races in to the first half of the year, with my first attempts at Tough Guy and the London Marathon being particular highlights.

Over the summer months, trips to the Shetland Islands, to explore Britain's most northerly islands, and to the Alps to complete a circuit of the Tour du Mont Blanc were incredible and so easily accessible.

My last event of 2011 was a rather wintry run around the Yorkshire 3 Peaks, which was the perfect prelude to what I expect to be an action packed and exciting 2012.

Blogs from some of my 2011 races and events.

January:

Brutal Run Series - Race 1

Run Rampage

Brutal Run Series – Race 2

Tough Guy

March:

Trionium Leith Hill Half-Marathon

April:

Virgin London Marathon

July:

Shetland Islands – Kayaking & Exploring

September:

Tour du Mont Blanc

November:

Hellrunner – Hell Down South

December:

Yorkshire 3 Peaks

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Running London Underground

Dec 31, 2011

Over the course of 2012 I am planning to run the entire length of the London Underground system visiting as many of the stations as possible.

Progress to be updated throughout the year.

Line	Distance (miles)	Stations visited	Date	Time
Bakerloo Line	14.5	25
Central Line	46	49
Circle Line	17	27
District Line	40	60
Hammersmith & City Line	16	29
Jubilee Line	22.5	27
Metropolitan Line	41.5	34
Northern Line	36	50
Piccadilly Line	44	52
Victoria Line	13.25	16
Waterloo & City Line	1.5	2

TOTAL	292.25	371