22nd April Blowing off steam

 


Not something that was on my calendar a few days ago but as several of the Stonehills runners revealed on Good  Friday that they were planning on running the event I thought I'd  pop along and join in unofficially. Well when I say pop along I was in fact already there, all ready in place to race the Peak rail steam train.

It's not the first time I have done this race which is a run that anyone can navigate being a simple out and back from Rowsley train station to Matlock. So reluctant to splash the cash and run officially, I  just set off 10 mins before the start of the actual  race and ended up like a fatiguing fox being chased down by a pack of hectic hounds.

On an overcast day that threatened to rain at any moment, I  managed to keep ahead of the 1st runner for a couple of miles and the steam train that everyone was racing against until the point where we had to cross over the tracks just before Matlock. I wasn't sure how well I was doing but being amongst the quicker runners and they caught and passed me was perhaps helping my own pace.

As expected one or two of the quicker Stonehills runners caught me and left me trailing in their dust despite a 10 min head start but I was pleased that my time of 1hr and 10 mins for the 6.94 mile jolly was almost identical to my time from 12 months ago. Perhaps puffing Johnny has a little life left in him yet.

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