The beginning...

An interesting email came through the other day asking if anyone wanted to do the 3 peaks challenge. This is where you ascend the each of the highest hills of England, Scotland and Wales

Wales - Snowdon
England - Scarfell Pike
Scotland - Ben Nevis.

I've always enjoyed hill walking, so I was pretty keen. Each year I go on a walking holiday to Northumberland, which usually ends up hunting down crashed aircraft in the Cheviot hills.

I spoke to a few people I know who have done it, and my house mate, Danni, says she'll do it too. I've decided to register with the organising group, and have a bash on the 17th July. It's now the middle of March. So I have around 4 months to fitten up for it.

I'm not the fittest of people, as you will quickly be able to tell well when I post a picture. My friend David and I took up running a late last year. I started off not being able to run 5 minutes without being absolutely wellied. We followed a simple training programme that involved running n minutes, walking y repeated, gradually reducing the amoutn of walking. We finished this programme of runnning 30 minutes non-stop, but unfortunately since then, our enthusiasm waned and we didn't do it as often as we should have.

The 3 peaks challenge has encouraged me to start again, but it's strugle to run the full 30 minutes. This is disheartening since it was so easy, but since I let the running lapse, I only have myself to blame! I intend to do running at a minimum of 3 times a week. Most weekends, I fully intend to get out there and do some proper hillwalking to build up my stamina more.

This weekend, I'm keeping a close eye on the weather, with a little luck, I'll be able to go up Snowdon, since it is only a couple of hours drive, I'll use that as a benchmark.

This blog will become my story. My training, my ups and down to hopefully my successful accomplishment of completing it. It's early days for me yet though. But my training has already begun.