27th June The ups and downs of the Steel city


So this was me yesterday, plodding my way up and down the hills of Sheffield as part of the Round Sheffield Run that winds its way for 20kms through the cities, woods, parks and open spaces. And when I say up and down it felt mostly up especially the start and end of the run.

It is an unusual event in that it involved 11 timed stages ranging between 2.8km and 0.4km in length with an opportunity to walk in between the stages and rest tired legs. And for anyone suggesting I misread the instructions and actually walked some of the timed running stages, well expect my lawyers to be in touch.

This years due to Covid restrictions, the event has been split over two days allowing me to take part in Saturday's event rather than the initially planned Sunday jolly. So on an overcast day with just a hint of rain in the air, an administrative error meant I didn't get included in the wave of elite athletes, and so set off just after 9am with the pounders, plodders and pedestrian paced runners.

Now I have to admit there were some lovely downhill stretches through woods and along the side of the local golf courses, which even given the state of my Teflon soled shoes were great fun to run. There as several pleasant meandering trails contouring around the side of hills. And as one might expect in Sheffield, there were also some sharp steep hill climbs to negotiate, the worst one actually being during one of the walking sections.

Thankfully despite a few niggles in the final quarter of the run to hip, knee and calf, my fabulously fat and unfit body held together reasonable well, although how I feel tomorrow might be another matter. But at the end of the run I managed to stagger over the finish line, just over an hour slower than the winner of the run, but a full hour ahead of the slowest plodder in the field. And what does it matter if in the penultimate section I got overtaken by a man running dressed an an alpaca. Maybe there is life left in this old dog yet!!

So for all those armchair runners out there here is the official video from 2019.


 

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