Protected: Running a Skyrace – part 3

by | Jan 17, 2018 | Intensive Listenings | 0 comments

The extracts in these exercises are taken from Mountain podcast, which is a brilliant podcast about adventure in all its forms.

In these extracts, we hear about Scotland’s first ‘Skyrace’, what it is like to participate, and the sacrifices runners have to make to take part in elite competitions like this. If you enjoy these extracts, you can listen to the full episode here.

This is the third of three exercises based on extracts from this episode. You can find the first exercise here and the second exercise here.

In the final couple of extracts, Christopher asks Joe what it costs him to run at such an elite level. Here is the question:

Skyrace pt3a
 Skyrace pt3a
shortcut: ctrl + left shortcut: ctrl + right

CHRISTOPHER: sacrifices fitness ra- race like this, , ?

CHRISTOPHER: Do you sacrifices to keep level of fitness that will enable contender in a ra- race like this, are you, sacrificing social life?

And here is Joe’s answer about sacrifice and what running means to him:

Skyrace pt3b
 Skyrace pt3b
2

JOE: Yeah I- I think it helps a, , , you, you will mountains, um, , so important , , much .

CHRISTOPHER: a, a , .

JOE: , world . , , , and , mountains, I, .

JOE: Yeah I- I think it helps a, a supportive family, , actually in order best for some that you, you will day running in mountains, um, fortunate that I think by what this , so important benefits from it because they see how, how, how much .

CHRISTOPHER: This is a, a , it's identity.

JOE: Yeah exactly, and imagine a world without it. doing it, and it's who I am, see myself as, and , when I don't run in mountains I, I suppose.

Language notes

…you will have to spend a day running in mountains…”

This is an example of a very common and useful structure, to spend time doing sth, e.g. I’ve spent all day tidying up.

…they see how much it means to me

to mean something to somebody = we use this expression to talk about how important something is to you, e.g. It would mean a lot to me if you apologised…