Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 19

Thread: Running Hard

  1. #1
    Master Martyn P's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    North Yorkshire
    Posts
    1,441

    Running Hard

    Has anyone had chance to read this yet?

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Running-Har...sap_bc?ie=UTF8

    Am wondering if it's worth a punt. There's a couple of reviews there that give a positive spin, but they do seem a bit contrived. I'd prefer to get a proper recommendation before I part with me brass It's certainly a story that would be worth telling.
    Martyn Price
    North Leeds Fell Runners

  2. #2
    Master wheezing donkey's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    A Bowland Bog
    Posts
    2,721
    Hi Martyn,

    I can't give you a review; but it is certainly a book that I would like to read, as 1983 was my first year of running on the fells and I competed at the final championship round of the season, Thieveley Pike, albeit finishing some 12 minutes or so behind Kenny Stuart.
    Up to that point, Kenny and John Wild had been on equal points in the championship ..... not that I ran in any other of the rounds; Thieveley just happened to be a handy, relatively local race.
    After the presentation, it seemed quite innocuous seeing our new champion driving away in his 'bog standard' old, beige 850 Mini ...... proper grass roots.

    A month or so before Thieveley I ran in the now defunct Downham fell race on Pendle, when much to the RO's (Alistair Patten?) amazement, John Wild rocked up out of the blue and blitzed the course record with an amazing display of front running. His time probably still stands ( if the race were to be resurrected ). Maybe some C-le-M diehard could confirm that?

    Ian Roberts.

    P.S. Not knocking the author, but I did find his "It's A Hill, Get Over It" somewhat difficult to 'get into' and did not complete it.



    Quote Originally Posted by Martyn P View Post
    Has anyone had chance to read this yet?

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Running-Har...sap_bc?ie=UTF8

    Am wondering if it's worth a punt. There's a couple of reviews there that give a positive spin, but they do seem a bit contrived. I'd prefer to get a proper recommendation before I part with me brass It's certainly a story that would be worth telling.
    Last edited by wheezing donkey; 13-03-2017 at 01:54 AM.
    I was a bit of an oddball until I was abducted by aliens; but I'm perfectly OK now!

  3. #3
    I've just had a copy from the library. I enjoyed it and found it interesting, particularly some of the references to the amount/type of training that Kenny and John were putting in. Running 20 miles on the road in a couple of hours is and always has been beyond me! I thought 6-8 hours quite serious and structured training a week, plus races was working hard, I now realise that I've been doing nothing compared to them. I did find some of the detail of race placings etc less interesting - eg xxx was first at such and such but a week later he was second and yyy was third but zzz outran them both and then the order was reversed two weeks later but someone else was fifth etc. I appreciate that's a valuable record of some of the things they were doing and the book would also appeal to a wider audience than pure fell runners but for me at least it was less interesting than the purely fell bits.

  4. #4
    Master Travs's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    NE Lakes/Coventry
    Posts
    5,256
    Re: Its A Hill...

    I think its a good book, but so much of it already covered by Feet In The Clouds and Studmarks On The Summits.

    Looking forward to Running Hard which has so far eluded me, but up in the lakes soon so should get a copy then.

  5. #5
    Master wheezing donkey's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    A Bowland Bog
    Posts
    2,721
    Quote Originally Posted by Travs View Post
    Re: Its A Hill...

    I think its a good book, but so much of it already covered by Feet In The Clouds and Studmarks On The Summits.

    Looking forward to Running Hard which has so far eluded me, but up in the lakes soon so should get a copy then.
    Indeed, I was probably suffering from a sense of having read most of it before.
    I was a bit of an oddball until I was abducted by aliens; but I'm perfectly OK now!

  6. #6
    Master Martyn P's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    North Yorkshire
    Posts
    1,441
    Quote Originally Posted by wheezing donkey View Post
    Hi Martyn,
    I can't give you a review; but it is certainly a book that I would like to read, as 1983 was my first year of running on the fells and I competed at the final championship round of the season, Thieveley Pike, albeit finishing some 12 minutes or so behind Kenny Stuart.
    Up to that point, Kenny and John Wild had been on equal points in the championship ..... not that I ran in any other of the rounds; Thieveley just happened to be a handy, relatively local race.
    After the presentation, it seemed quite innocuous seeing our new champion driving away in his 'bog standard' old, beige 850 Mini ...... proper grass roots.

    A month or so before Thieveley I ran in the now defunct Downham fell race on Pendle, when much to the RO's (Alistair Patten?) amazement, John Wild rocked up out of the blue and blitzed the course record with an amazing display of front running. His time probably still stands ( if the race were to be resurrected ). Maybe some C-le-M diehard could confirm that?

    Ian Roberts.

    P.S. Not knocking the author, but I did find his "It's A Hill, Get Over It" somewhat difficult to 'get into' and did not complete it.
    Thanks Ian. I also found "It's a Hill" a bit of a grind. I managed to get about halfway through "The Round" before I had to put it down, so you'll understand why I hesitated without some learned recommendations
    Martyn Price
    North Leeds Fell Runners

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by wheezing donkey View Post
    ... I ran in the now defunct Downham fell race on Pendle, when much to the RO's (Alistair Patten?) amazement, John Wild rocked up out of the blue and blitzed the course record with an amazing display of front running. His time probably still stands ( if the race were to be resurrected ). Maybe some C-le-M diehard could confirm that?
    Ian

    The RO (Simon Moyle) reported John as saying that the record could lose 2 minutes from his time of 40.53 and in fact Sean Livesey dropped it to 40.04 in 1989. The race was last run (I think) in 1997 - when I ran it - but it was 6.5 miles by then and with more climb, although Sean also held the record for the longer course with 53.49 from 1994.

    I remember my 1997 race well because dusk had fallen and it then occurred to me that I needed to speed up considerably to avoid being on top of Pendle in the dark without map, compass or any of that safety stuff: such that I actually finished well up in the first half of the field and a lot better placed than in 1996. The Fear Factor: its affect on PBs in evening fell races?

    Graham
    Last edited by Graham Breeze; 14-03-2017 at 01:43 AM.
    "...as dry as the Atacama desert".

  8. #8
    Super Moderator
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    The Worth
    Posts
    17,254
    "It's a grind . . . get through it"
    Poacher turned game-keeper

  9. #9
    Master wheezing donkey's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    A Bowland Bog
    Posts
    2,721

    Smile

    Quote Originally Posted by Graham Breeze View Post
    Ian

    The RO (Simon Moyle) reported John as saying that the record could lose 2 minutes from his time of 40.53 and in fact Sean Livesey dropped it to 40.04 in 1989. The race was last run (I think) in 1997 - when I ran it - but it was 6.5 miles by then and with more climb, although Sean also held the record for the longer course with 53.49 from 1994.

    I remember my 1997 race well because dusk had fallen and it then occurred to me that I needed to speed up considerably to avoid being on top of Pendle in the dark without map, compass or any of that safety stuff: such that I actually finished well up in the first half of the field and a lot better placed than in 1996. The Fear Factor: its affect on PBs in evening fell races?

    Graham
    In the era that I'm referring to, Downham was held on a Saturday afternoon in early to mid-August (2 weeks before Pendleton) and finished over Worsaw Hill - walking the plank and jumping off the wall into a bed of nettles. The start was just above the Asherton Arms; they wheeled out Lord Clitheroe from his adjacent home, propped him against a telegraph pole and he started the race with his 'service revolver', my dear Watson.
    Last edited by wheezing donkey; 14-03-2017 at 09:32 AM.
    I was a bit of an oddball until I was abducted by aliens; but I'm perfectly OK now!

  10. #10
    Master
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Within sight of Leicestershire's Beacon Hill
    Posts
    2,447
    Quote Originally Posted by Martyn P View Post
    Thanks Ian. I also found "It's a Hill" a bit of a grind. I managed to get about halfway through "The Round" before I had to put it down, so you'll understand why I hesitated without some learned recommendations
    I am rather unusual in that I didn't get around to reading Feet in the Clouds until after I had read It's a Hill. It is fairly obvious that one was written by a journalist, and the other by an academic. That is not a criticism or an endorsement of either; I enjoyed both of them, but in different ways.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •