Three Peaks Training Diary: What a Jubilee

The days and hours are ticking down to The Reader Organisation's Three Peaks Challenge, with 15 of our bravest, fittest staff members trekking up the three highest summits in England, Scotland and Wales to raise money for our Apprenticeship Programme. With time flying by, our latest training diary comes from Sam Shipman, Reader-in-Residence for 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Trust, who certainly isn't slacking - even using the recent extra-long Bank Holiday to do some all-important preparation...

I suddenly realised before the Jubilee Bank holiday that the Three Peaks Challenge would be upon us in the blink of an eye and I really needed to get training hard, the only problem was that I had arranged many festivities for the weekend and so would have to be clever if I was going to fit in physical exercise as well. The first opportunity for this arose during the Jubilee party in my Mum’s village of Brompton-by-Sawdon (did you know that William Wordsworth was married in Brompton church?) when it was announced there would be a tug of war over the river, villagers from Brompton versus villagers from Sawdon, perfect training opportunity, I jumped on the Brompton end of the rope wearing my best trainers and clean jeans and this is what happened:

Next came the duck race, normally this involves only the ducks moving, however, a very merry villager who had already had a glass of wine tipped the ducks into the river too early, the finish line hadn’t even been marked out and so somebody had to do something, I took the opportunity to ruin my trainers even more and jump into the river rescuing the quickly escaping ducks. Training effort number 2 done!

After this things quietened down a bit until the schedule of events went all wrong and they announced they were about the judge the best dressed pet competition half an hour ahead of time….disaster! Our dog wasn’t ready, his costume was in the house and we were half a mile away, I raced home, grabbed the costume and raced back, just in time. Victory was ours and Jack won thanks to my training effort number 3 (oh, and the very skilled costume making from my Gran).

Certainly not your usual kind of training but it all counts! Now the festivities are over I’m back on a more usual training schedule consisting of climbing, running, and walking, not long now!!

Our Three Peakers are just over halfway climbing the mountain of their sponsorship target, but they need a push! Every penny helps...show your support and do your bit: http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/trothreepeaks