Last weekend, I attempted the 3 Peaks Challenge* – ascending Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon, the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales respectively. During the trip, and while pushing myself to get up (and down), I learned some things about myself, and the world. These I’ll be sharing here in a series of blogs over the course of this week.
Day Two continues: the descent from Scafell Pike. Just like Ben Nevis, I found the descent at least as hard as the climb. My feet were hurting, my calves were killing me, and I was getting tired. But I was delighted to have got up two bloody great mountains! And now, all I had to do was get down this one and up one more – easy!
And then, on a nice easy stretch about half-way down, my feet went out from under me, my poles flew in all directions, and I came crashing down onto the path – elbow first! And, of course, it was just as we passed a load of other people, things like that never happen just in front of your mates do they? As I sat there, nursing my aching elbow (and my bruised pride), I got Lesson Seven: don’t get complacent, stay Focused!
What comes after a success is just as important and is part of the challenge. It’s much easier to push yourself to achieve a ‘big win’ (like summitting a mountain) than it is to do all the stuff that comes next, the implementation and follow-up.
All in all, some good lessons on Scafell Pike, and Snowdon was to prove a better teacher still …
* Lite version, over 2 days.
