Towpath and Trail 10k

Today the Towpath and Trail 10K at the Shireoaks Bowling Club, near Worksop and with a leisurely 11am start.

The route starts off with a little climb through what is now a nature reserve but used to be Shireoaks Colliery. We do a full loop around this before heading back to where we started and then down to the Chesterfield Canal which we head along before looping around a lake and returning pretty much along the same route. There's a bit on tarmac, a bit on grass and a lot on towpath and trail, as you’d expect.

There’s a few of those ‘cyclist maiming’ gates to squeeze through, kissing gates to negotiate and, oh my, two stiles to climb over in the last kilometre, just when that’s the last thing you want to do.

A decent run though, well organised and well marshalled. Although they did let themselves down at the end my making everyone queue to fill their own cups from two water buts. The queue was huge and many like me were at fainting point. The cups were actually souvenir mugs but it would have been even better if they’d pre-filled them.

There were also flapjacks at the end which go down well with us and the dogs. Everyone has a dog with them, not just us and there’s a football field to give them a run on afterwards.

The course is quite tight in places and not fast. I’m not terribly impressed with my time but a placing inside the top 50 of a race of around 250, points to it being better than I thought.

Sheffield Half Marathon

"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat" - Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 13th May 1940.

Of course he never, to my knowledge, ran a half marathon.

Today we’re in Sheffield, without the dogs, as we’re expecting a fair hike from parking at the Sheffield Arena to the start line inside the Don Valley Stadium. The distance is not too bad in the end but the race isn’t particularly dog friend. This is no great surprise with nearly 6000 entrants.

Starting the race in the stadium is a nice idea, if a little congested. After which it’s a three or so mile tour of some of the least aesthetically inspiring parts of Sheffield. Things pick up when we leave all that industrial dereliction behind and head into the city centre. Which apart from being much better on the eye becomes a bit of a tour of some of our favourite Sheffield watering holes - Ahh the Old House, the Devonshire Cat, over there the Sheffield Tap etc etc.

Also once in the city centre the crowd come into play and the sheer weight of numbers is worth an extra gear. Mind you if the city centre was an extra gear, the Ecclesall Road was a whole extra engine. The support there was simply awesome.

 

There are downsides of course. A race of this stature shouldn't have drinks in cups, which are clumsy and difficult to drink from. I have to stop to drink from them, which costs time. They should also offer sports drinks but the sponges were a positive. I do like a sponge.

I also didn't think the mile markers were terribly visible and missed a lot of them. This made it difficult to keep track of how I was doing and perhaps is why, rather unbelievably, with 2 miles to go I was on for a 1:41.

Then nine minutes to the 12 mile marker seemed to have put paid to anything under 1:43 or so I thought. As the 13 mile point and the condemned Don Valley came into view a few minutes earlier than expected, I come to the conclusion the ‘12’ had wandered from where it was meant to be and a time of 1:41:46 is mine.

Even I’m impressed. I would have taken a time 1:45 in my arms and snogged the life out of it. A 1:41, considering my current state of unfitness, is well... in for a very good night indeed.

L of course has been just as injured, if not more so than me. She had threatened to take a book around to read as she was ambling round. Yet, I think, even she was pleased with her performance. 

We both get a post-race massage which should help prevent those injuries reoccurring.

The stadium finish was great and it’s scandalous that the stadium will not be around to host the race next year. Which poses the organisers a bit of a challenge for the future. Good luck with that.

The wristband at the end was also a nice touch. Not that I spotted them but L did and got me one. Sadly though both the small t-shirts and more horrifically the water had run out by the time she finished and there were still almost a thousand people behind her.

On the whole a well organised and enjoyable race with a nice-ish route, good bits and bad bits like most races. I guessed a race in Sheffield was unlikely to be flat and it certainly wasn't but it was probably as flat as they’re going to get it.

Run In The Forest

After preparing well last night, we head to the ‘Run In The Forest’ 5 mile race today at Conkers Discovery Park. Slogan - ‘I came, I ran, I conkered’. Well that’s what is says on the t-shirt, the bright yellow t-shirt. That’s another one for the bag in the loft then.

Organised by South Derbyshire Road Runners the race has a pleasantly not too early 10:30am start and even my parents are tempted to turn up to support.

It’s a run mainly on tracks through the forest but includes a bit of tarmac and grass. It’s not hilly but there are a few undulations.

At the start the race organiser complains that someone has stolen the 2 mile marker and asks us to wing it, but afterwards we’re more concerned with the fact that the 5 mile marker was about 30 metres before the finish. Does that mean the course was long? or the marker wrongly placed? These things matter.

My time for five and a bit (maybe) miles is 37:01, which is an improvement of a whole minute on my last attempt at five miles in February at Wombwell. So that’s good. Although my PB remains a scarily quick 32.08. I must have been fit and injury free in those days.

It was a pleasant enough race though and well organised, save for the marker confusion and a long walk to get water after the finish.

Broxtowe 5k

After work, I cycle straight to Bramcote Hills Park, where we have booked into the Broxtowe 5k because this is how low our sights (or more specifically my sights) have fallen. I ran this back in 2010 in the inaugural event, completed it in 20.05 and came 8^th. Tonight I just want to get round without any leg pain.

L meets me there and when she does, she has a young female student in tow. Apparently she found her looking lost and confused on the bus. I’m not sure I would have got away with such an explanation had the roles been reversed.

The run actually goes very well. It is pain free and I keep a good strong pace going all the way through the monumental distance, despite a lot of it being on grass. My pace is helped by the fact that I just have to pass that 14 year old lad up front, that overdressed chap in tracksuit trousers and an ipod and later the first lady.

The first two are no problem, as they both quickly fade. The third takes more time and effort but I get there in the end. She doesn’t give up easily though and comes storming past me after the line. Ha. Too late love.

I finished 26th tonight in 21:47 (Chip time 21:43). I'm back! The time is particularly pleasing considering I cycled back from Derby.

Newcastle (Staffs) 10k

The fitness campaign has been rescheduled (again). So today the Newcastle 10k, that’s

Newcastle Under Lyme by the way, and I thought I’d retired from 10k’s last year. Needs must.

This is the first time this race has been run as a 10k, previously it was known as the Newcastle 7, over seven miles. That had taken place for 40 years but this has now been shortened to take out a tricky road junction.

The race start is outside the organising club’s HQ on Ashfields New Road. The course takes us on road but steadily uphill for the majority of the first 6k, up something known locally as Black Bank. Then we descend to the finish. It also goes off-road at this point. Firstly on to gravel tracks and then dirt tracks along the route of an old railway line. Thankfully it's not been too wet, so the course isn't muddy or slippery.

The finish turns out to be at least a half a mile walk back to the race HQ, so one wonders why it couldn’t still have been a 7 miler?

It’s a popular event with 416 finishers and a rather nice commemorative mug for all. I am one of those finishers despite struggling with tight calf-itis throughout. I consider dropping out several times as my muscles alternate from tight to excruciatingly tight but I carry on in the belief that this is actually doing it some good.

My time of 49:31 reflects my cautiousness and my discomfort but at least nothing snapped. However I think doing the same over a half marathon distance at Scunthorpe in two weeks time is out of the question.

Droitwich Half Marathon

This morning a leisurely kick off for the Droitwich Half Marathon at 12 noon. It’s decidedly low key, a 350 limit and not really in Droitwich, as it barely skirts the outside.

The race HQ is at a rather bemused golf course, where there is no parking due to the weather. So the runners are bussed in from the town centre. This wasn't an option with dogs, so we parked roadside. As did many others but at least we parked well away from the race start on a side road and didn't block the buses or the run route, as others did.

The race route itself was very rural and very dull. Highlights were a thatched cottage, a ford that we skirted around and one country pub, which wasn’t open. Dull though is fine, as it gave me the chance to zone out and concentrate on my injuries or more specifically, not aggravating those injuries.

It was also mainly flat but with two quite steep downhills, which is odd, as I don't remember the ups, so they must have been slight or I must really have been zoned out.

My fitness ran out, as expected, at around 5 miles but the calves felt good, which was my main concern. The foam roller I purchased as chief masseur, in the absence of a real live one, did its job. Who needs some dinky sexy physioette with iron thumbs, not me...

The injured knee was sore, as expected, but nothing too spectacular, so that was good too. The blisters though, were something else. This was expected too. Forced into selecting long socks for calf compression, I have yet to find any that are double skinned for blister protection. Oh, and of course, everything else aches. As I say, general fitness ran out at around 5 miles but I slogged round and proved a point to my body.

Afterwards the organisers have a little laugh by placing the race t-shirts and the post run sandwiches upstairs.

Wombwell 5

This morning we head up to somewhere near Barnsley for a five mile race. We were going to do the Warp Up & Run 10k on Graves Park in Sheffield next week but as that is £16 for a chocolate bar and a medal, whereas this is £8 for a t-shirt, we opted for this instead, it was no contest really.

The race, at Wombwell, isn’t actually anywhere near Barnsley but Wombwell itself is a fairly big place. It isn’t though, and I hope it doesn’t mind me saying this, very scenic. Although if you look beyond the town/village itself, there is some pretty pleasant countryside.

Parking was at the recreation ground next to a go-kart track. We looked around for ages for the start line but couldn’t find it before joining everyone else who was warming up on the rack track. Then we saw it, a little start sign at the edge of the track. So... how many loops of the track are we in for?

Just the one and a bit as it turns out, to start with, before we head out onto the road, all nicely strung out. After that, route wise, there is one moderately steep hill called Snape Hill but it’s quite a short one, then the course is pretty flat. A lot of it is around housing estates until its back onto the track for another lap to the finish. 

I’m on the results as recording a 32 minute run. I wish. Dear organisers that was not me. I have run a 32 once, maybe twice, but that was a while ago. I ran a 38 today and was quite pleased with that, considering the state of my legs. Although I’m not even sure that time was accurate, I couldn’t see a 4 mile marker and my time for the last two miles was rather impressive. Indicating perhaps that they were short? or that perhaps the earlier markers were wrong.