Sheffield Half Marathon

Today I’m entered in the Sheffield Half Marathon, which is one of my favourite races, and I intend to run it despite suffering with a locked up calf as recently as Monday. I’ve had the emergency massage and plenty of rest (well five days), now it’s just a question of crossing the fingers and winging it. If it goes wrong it doesn’t really matter as I don’t have any other imminent races in the diary.

I don’t wing it very far. In fact, the more I warm up the tighter the calf gets. It would probably be sensible to have pulled out then but that’s not really my style.

When the start is delayed, this simply gives me more time to warm up and to hopefully run off the problem or to make it worse. I’ve never been able to run it off before and at Nairn the full 13.1 miles didn't shift it. Today is no exception. 

So by the time we start my calf is well and truly seized up but I give it a go anyway. Drawing on the experience from Nairn, I decide to see if I can hobble the first mile. When I’ve got that far I decide to try and hobble as far at the end of Ecclesall Road where the climbing starts. I get that far and then think, why not see how it is on the hill, you know the four mile long hill. So I do and so on. It’s amazing what you can achieve.

I’m actually rather good at hobbling and it doesn’t actually get any worse until about the 12 mile point, when it gets really sore, but then there’s only a mile to go...

So I made it round but obviously it wasn’t quick but as I say this is one of my favourite races. See you next year.

Wollaton Park Easter 10k

This morning it’s our most local of races, the Wollaton Park Easter 10k which we return to time and time again because there isn’t often a good reason not to do it. I can think of one today though. The weather has been utterly foul all weekend and the park is a complete mud bath but there’s not only me on the start line but L too. 

I am trying to get last minute fit for next weekend’s Sheffield Half Marathon while L has been following a more coordinated plan in her pursuit of the Derby 10k the week after.

I would say that I had a decent run and I did, for 8k of it. It wasn’t quick but then the conditions weren't conducive to quick and it wasn’t particularly pleasant but then the conditions weren't conducive to pleasant. It was ok, until my calf went at 8k. Which puts a huge question mark against Sheffield.