Round Sheffield Run

We managed to get places in the legendary (I believe, not that we’d heard of it until last year) Round Sheffield Run by way of their ballot, which digitally collapsed but still worked out for us. So here we are at Endcliffe Park faced with the usual enormous queue but in this case not just for the toilets but also to actually cross the start line. Not that you could actually start until your colour came up and we were in the last start wave anyway at 10:15. So no great rush for us.

Round Sheffield is a 20km run broken up into eleven stages. You carry a 'dibber' like we do with Orienteering and 'dib' in at the start and end of each stage. The stages have recovery breaks between them which total a further 4.5km of walking\collapsing on the grass gasping for breath. Which means it’s pretty much a half marathon where you have full permission to walk bits of it and\or grab a quick nap. Easy peasy then. It is based on the popular 14 mile Sheffield Round Walk and was launched in 2014.

The longest stage was the first one at 2.9km and this was a slightly uphill jog out of Endcliffe Park to somewhere called Forge Dam (I don't know these areas of Sheffield). The start of the second stage was almost straight after the first and I was straight on to it. This was said to be the toughest stage and it was certainly nearly all uphill. It was up Ringinglow, so mirrored the Sheffield Half Marathon but via an off road route. It also brought us to the first of two feed stations although this felt a bit too soon, so most people didn’t seem to bother.

Then we had two downhill stages, one of which was termed the Limb Valley Descent no less, and this took us down to Dore.

Stage Five was interesting. First it was a long walk, so you felt something serious was coming... then we had to climb a long set of steep steps to get to the start point. Personally I'd have started the stage at the bottom of steps but I can understand why they didn't. This was also where I started to get frustrated at being in the last start group because as soon as anything got remotely difficult people started walking and there often wasn't much opportunity to overtake.

Stage Six was a mere 0.8km of undulating terrain which was then followed by a short walk to Graves Park where Stage Seven was pretty much all uphill. This brought us to the second feed station which this time was very welcome.

What comes up must come down and both Stages Eight and Nine were downhill, one alongside a golf course and the other in Meersbrook Park which was only 0.8km long and seriously steep, downwards, with a great view of Sheffield.

The penultimate stage was initially a road stage and started in the street but it didn’t stay there as we were soon into more woodland and obviously none of it was flat.

We were back in Endcliffe Park for the final stage which was termed as a 04.km sprint back to the race village. Not that I really bothered to sprint, I could already see that the queue for the beer tent was huge. Which I then joined as I waited for L.

The other problem with being late starters was that the food stalls had hardly anything left to eat that didn’t include tofu.

It was certainly a different running experience because stopping mid race is normally avoided. I did like the concept but I would probably have preferred less but longer stages. I am now more into my longer distances and none of the stages were long enough for me to get my teeth into. Stop-start is not really my thing. In fact it didn't really feel like a race at all, it was more like interval training. I suppose you could have done it all non-stop or even ran the whole 24.5km but that didn't seem in the spirit of the things or indeed very wise.

I completed the distance in 1:49:34 which made me 629^th overall out of 2067. My best stages were Stages Two and Seven, the hilliest ones, where I broke into the top 400. My slowest stages were Nine and Eleven, showing I’m a hopeless descender and that I couldn’t be ***ed to sprint at the end!

It was a good experience but I'm not sure I'd be too bothered about doing it again.

Notts 10

On Friday evening I run the Notts 10, two glorious laps of Holme Pierrepoint. What could be nicer? L opts out of said two glorious laps of Holme Pierrepoint despite claiming to like 10 milers on the grounds that’s where she’s always ready to stop in a Half Marathon. Personally I’m always ready to stop with about 10 miles to go.

However Daughter joins me and perhaps a little too literally. When I run 7:38 for the first mile, she is in hot pursuit and doing around 8:00 for hers. Perhaps I should have waited for her and paced her. Then again, as she over cooks it, aggravates an old injury and limps in, it was wise not to. It was still a very promising performance though and shows what she’s capable of.

While she is getting faster, I’m clearly going in the opposite direction. I once hurtled around here in sub 1:14 but today I’m almost at 1:24. That’s running up the down escalator of life for you. Overall I’m satisfied though and they do hand me a bottle of Nottingham EPA at end.

Hairy Helmet

This evening we have our third attempt at the Hairy Helmet which I’m surprised is even going ahead given the weather and local councils tendency to cancel things. Darley Park is known for being a bit of a mud bath at times and it’s done nothing but rain all week. However the organisers have assured us that the council have given them the go ahead with only minor tweaks to the course. That probably means it’s going to be laps around the car park because the grass is too muddy.

It’s actually sunny when I start walking across from work but that doesn’t last and the rain soon joins the party, naturally, but it’s not as torrential as it has been the rest of the week.

L says she’s nervous but then she’s always nervous. I tell her she’ll be fine once she’s had her free gin from the White Peak Distillery but she says she’s feeding that to MD. I'm not sure that would help his inherent nervousness.

Our team in the same as last year although we are now in the Super Vets category (combined aged 200+ as we add up to 201). I will go first, L’s friend second, Daughter third and L fourth doing the lap of honour. 

It goes well, despite the rain and at least we aren't dressed as dinosaurs as one poor team is.

Market Harborough Carnival of Running

Today we travel down to Market Harborough for their Carnival of Running. This consists of four races - a 5k, a 10k, a half marathon and a fun run. All the races start from Robert Smyth Academy and finish on Symington Recreation Ground in the centre of town where they are holding a Carnival.

Well they were holding a Carnival but when we get there we find that the wet weather has put paid to that. There will be no Carnival but they aren’t letting us get out of the run.

Of the main three races the 5k is started first, then the 10k and finally the half marathon. This means I am chasing down L and Daughter who are in the 10k and have been given a head start. I am in the half. 

The route starts off by doing a three mile loop around the town centre before heading out into the countryside. Although I catch L about two miles in, I’m struggling to catch Daughter before the two routes split just after the four mile point. I catch her in time, just.

The weather has been ‘challenging’ throughout but gets worse as I get near the end of the half marathon. The last mile is all downhill but that doesn’t help much when the conditions become biblical. As I do a final lap of the field there is almost nobody left to clap me in, not even Noah and his Ark. They are all sheltering somewhere. L and Daughter text to say they are in a coffee shop. Thanks for the support girls but I’d have probably done the same.

Timewise, I run 1:50. Not great.

(Saturday 8^th June)