Rich Roll just finished Hawaii Ultraman World Championships, an invitation-only ultra triathlon race consisting of a 6.2 mile swim, 261.3 mile bike and 52.4 mile double marathon.
"Richard Roll, the 43-year-old entertainment attorney from Malibu, California who led Day 1 with a race-best 2:21:56 swim and 3rd-best 5:35:22 bike, overcame injuries from a painful Day 2 bike crash to finish 7th in 24:30:31 after a gutsy 7:51:40 run."
Oops, sorry! This is about the book FEET IN THE CLOUDS, not that old tired Macca song. But actually the book is even older (my paperback is dated 2005), I just got around reading it only recently.
And a good read it was - especially if you can enjoy someone with a dry sense of humour running long distances in the middle of nowhere, usually in awfully wet weather.
The bad news is, to be a good fellrunner, you absolutely need the following four things:
Good heart and lungs.
A light frame.
Surefootedness.
Disregard for pain & danger.
Having made this clear, the author Richard Askwith freely admits he is a heavy-built southerner who has spent most of his life smoking, has weak ankles, and is terrified with heights.
The book covers mainly Askwith's obsession with fellrunning during the year 2003. It's a nice collection of race reports from various events in UK, but that's not all. There's a lot to be learned from the history and the greats of the sport of fellrunning.
"This is what I do for fun", Askwith explains to those poor souls who will probably never understand any of this. Luckily there is a fair warning in the beginning of the book: Don't try this at home. Lie on the couch and watch TV instead.
That's a good piece of advice. So don't read this book. Keep your eyes peeled on your trusty old telly. Because you could soon get obsessed with these crazy running stories. You might even go out for a crazy little run, heaven forbid!
