Three peaks (Michael)

Turned up at the start not really knowing what to expect as my longest training runs had been barely over 2 hours which I has struggled to complete.
Decided to run with Gareth from the start as I have a tendancy to set off way too fast and pay for it later. Things didn't start too well as Gareth took a fall within 200m of turning onto the off road section.
Chris J and Steve had already disappeared into the distance but I was holding back feeling good up the ascent of Pen-y-gent. The long run over to Whernside passed relatively quickly with a strong tailwind helping us along. Nice to see Les with welcoming drinks along this section.
As we approached Ribblehead started to get a burning sensation on the ball of my left foot. Now starting to regret wearing a pair of shoes I had only worn twice before.
Still feeing OK Gareth and I tackled the ascent of Whernside. I knew it was going to be tough but I had underestimated the length and severity of the climb.
Gareth disappeared into the distance and as I approached the summit I started to feel dizzy and rather tired. Looked at the watch and realised I wasn't even halfway.
Tried to recover on the descent to Hill Inn but when we stopped for drinks the legs had turned to jelly. I knew it was going to be a struggle to make the finish.
I must have walked most of the way up Ingleborough and the final rocky climb tested my resolve to the limit.
Thanks to the Jones family who had waited patiently for me to arrive and handed over the welcoming cans of Red Bull. Unfortunately at this point I wasn't unable to communicate with them much at all. I sat down on a rock to take the drink and if there had been an option to drop out here I would have. I then realised the quickest way back was to continue to the finish so off I went.
Managed a very slow jog to the finish catching my feet on every rock that was sticking up due to the fact that I could hardly lift my feet off the ground. Left foot by this time was killing me and I was looking for soft groung at every opportunity. My target time had been under 5 hours and as I approached the finish the dreaded thought entered my head I may have to sprint to achieve this.
Finally finished in 4:57 so the goal was achieved and another box of things to do had been ticked.
Did I enjoy it? Ask me in about 4 weeks time!!!
Thanks to all the support from everybody at Spen who came to support us. I'm sure without this I would not have finished the race.