2017 Percy Pud

Apparently it's nearly 3 weeks since I ran the Percy Pud - how time flies!  I've been busy, and I've not always been in the right head space to write a review.  In a lull amid the pre-Christmas frantic rush though I have found time to put my thoughts on the race into words.

I've been aware of the Percy Pud for a while, being a long standing fixture in Sheffield organised the the Steel City Striders - in fact this year was the 25th anniversary of the first running of the event.  Last year the event was on the first weekend after I had moved back to Sheffield, and starting as it does in Loxley it's practically on my doorstep, just over 2km away.  I ran my first parkrun that weekend but already had a desire to run the Percy Pud, so you could say this marked the culmination of an amazing first year in running.

I'd run the return leg along Loxley Road a few times, as I would often go out along Loxley Valley Trail and back on the road after the slog up Stacey Bank, but one Thursday lunchtime decided to recce the whole route, so ran from my house to the start, did the full course, and then ran all the way back, making it a nice 14km run.  Obviously the roads were open so I was only on the pavement, and there was a lot of wet leaf fall, but it was good to get a feel for the route. I found the outbound Loxely Road stint really hard work as it's uphill and undulating, but then I really enjoyed the road around the back of the reservoir out to The Plough and back despite quite a headwind, and Loxley Road return was the old familiar route.

When I entered I decided I was going to aim for sub 50 minutes, having run 50:01 at my first 10k in May, so submitted an estimated finish time of 49:49.  Come the day of the race I met up with Andy, Liz and Kelly G and we made our way to the start area.  It dawned on me I had to walk a long way down and was surprisingly near the front, positioning myself between the 50 minute and 45 minute pacers. After the usual standing around for a bit a horn sounded and we were off.  I started my watch as we headed under the arch and ran with the pack, jostling for space a little but nowhere near as bad as Amsterdam.

The start was fast, I was happy. I was passing people, I was keeping up with the 45 minute pacer.  This was good, I was really enjoying myself! But still, this first bit was my least favourite and there are 10 of these kilometre things to do so don't get carried away.  I'd been working on my cadence and technique, so I was trying to bear that in mind keeping my pace high while ensuring that I felt my heart rate and breathing were under control and not at the ragged edge. The first KM went quickly in 4:24, the second even faster in 4:16, and I was at the dam wall - the bad bit was done!

I'd noticed on the first leg that not everyone was using the hills - this is Sheffield, surely everyone has had plenty of practice - but this meant that I was overtaking all over the place on the short sharp downhill segments and still absolutely loving it.  OK, settle in for the mid section. Eyes on the prize, don't blow it all early, keep that breathing in check.  We were being encouraged over to the left hand side of the road by now to make space for the returning runners, and the KMs kept falling - 4:24, 4:46, still amazingly good times for me and still WELL on target.  Just after the 4km mark I saw the pace car, followed shortly by a few lone runners before the pack came past.  Tricky hairpin turnaround at the 5km mark, take a gel on board before the water stop, and it's homeward bound.

Not long after turning I heard Andy shouting encouragement as he headed towards the turnaround, and shortly after I spotted Kelly G and Liz, returning the encouragement to them.  Everyone was looking good. My legs were not tiring and the pace was holding high, before I knew it I was at the dam wall and knew that once I had the small climb out the way I could push for the finish.  2km to go and I was beginning to feel it, but I could see the 45 minute pacer in the distance and slowly but surely I was gaining on him.

Drive up the hills, use the downhills for speed, inching ever closer.  With the finish almost in sight I passed him just as he was telling those around him they were well on course to hit 45 minutes, and then the finish line appeared and I could see the clock - gun time was on 44:50 and that was it, I started sprinting for the line. I crossed on a gun time of around 45:03 so was confident I had smashed my target and finished under 45:00. I felt weirdly emotional at this point - happy and yet really close to tears.


I collected my t-shirt and Christmas Pudding, got a drink of water, and headed up to see the others finish.  Andy had already crossed the line by the time I got there, and I saw Kelly G and Liz finish. My Chip Time in the official results came through as 44:31, utterly blown away with that.  Turns out we all had a really good race:

• Me: 44:31
• Andy: 47:17
• Kelly G: 49:43
• Liz: 55:21

And we weren't the only ones - the male and female course records both fell (there was a £1000 prize for each of these) with the Male winner being Andy Heyes in 29:42 and the overall second place finisher was Scottish Olympian Eillish McColgan in 32:23 - breaking her own record from last year and setting the second fastest 10k in the country this year.  The first quickest?  Her performance at Leeds Abbey Dash.  Hmm, seems a fast race... maybe next year?

2017 White Peak Trail Run - Short Course (10.5km)

You may recall that we entered this race after the Langsett 10k in March, on something of an exercise fuelled adrenaline and endorphine high while recuperating in a coffee shop. Liz and I opted for the short course at 10.5km, and Kelly went for the longer course at 25.7km.  Since then Andy and Paul have also signed up for the long course, so we decided to car share with the 5 of us to reduce costs and environmental impact of the journey over.  With Andy starting at 9:10 we decided to get there nice and early, which meant an eye watering 5:45am alarm call for me to meet up with everyone and get in the car for 6:30.  As it happens we had a nice smooth journey through the peaks and arrived in Ashbourne at 7:30 just as long course registration was opening, and with plenty of parking still available although rather frustratingly the machine didn't accept cards or new £1 coins, we weren't the only ones scrabbling around for change to make it work!

The long course runners got registered and we killed time until short registration opened at 8:45 with the standard routine of toilet breaks and kit changes, faffing with packs, taking jackets on and off, etc.  Once again weather conditions were favourable with no rain forecast, minimal wind and high cloud keeping the sun under control, so kit rules were relaxed but I elected to run with a full pack anyway.  Time passed swiftly though and soon Andy was on his way to the start.  We followed shortly and were there in time to see him set off, and then 20 minutes later Kelly and Paul's start group were off and Liz and I had 10 minutes for final stretches and preparation before it was our turn to hit the trails.

The short course followed the Tissington Trail to begin with, diving immediately into a tunnel which was a rather surreal experience.  The path is a very popular walking and cycling route and as such is wide and smooth, and being an old railway line it followed a very steady constant gradient apart from one dip where a bridge has been removed.  We were going against the gradient so for around 4km we were doing a constant uphill at about 2% - not necessarily enough to really notice, but enough to make it feel harder than it should. We reached the checkpoint surprisingly quickly, turning off the trail at Fenny Bentley and headed towards Thorpe.  It was nice to get off the trail and get some variety, and we got some very enthusiastic cheering from local children which kept us enthused.

Approaching the split where the long course runners head up towards Alstonefield through Dove Dale there was a 10% downhill which I couldn't resist, so I pegged it down the hill and then slowed to wait for Liz - at which point a passing runner assumed I had missed the long split :D.   Leaving Thorpe we turned off the village roads and ran across fields towards the River Dove and I excitedly exclaimed "Proper Off Road!". I really enjoyed this part as it got a bit more technical with steep downhills on uneven ground, thick slippery mud, tree roots, and numerous gates, hurdles and styles.  These slowed us down a bit, but by this point we were grateful of the break.  Once the land levelled out a bit we decided to take it steady, knowing a hill was coming which we needed something in the bank for.

Another cracking photo from Chris Meads Photography

Coming towards Mapleton was the only time I we were confused about the route as the arrow pointed vaguely at a field, but thankfully there were some men metal detecting in the field who pointed us in the right direction and we soon spotted another blue on yellow arrow and knew we were going the right way.  Across the road, down a track which initially looked like someone's drive, and there was the hill.  Another great crowd out to cheer and support and all my plans of running up the hill with Liz were out of the window and off I went, trying to slow down to allow her to catch but by this point there was a lot of walking going on, some of whom were going faster than my running.  The top didn't take too long to find, and a couple of lambs running side by side in front of us kicked us into gear and off we went again.

There were some nice downhills, and some steep downhills, and then a flight of steps - the last thing I wanted to see - but these led back on to the Tissington Trail which meant the end was in site. a 1km to go board confirmed this, and in no time we were back at the tunnel.  Liz had suggested I go for it at this point, but I was happy running with her.  As soon as I got in to the tunnel though I sped up.  I really couldn't see anything, completely lost any point of reference, and just kept accelerating.  It felt good! Bursting into sunlight I could see the finish line and decided that it was time for a sprint, full pelt over the line and stopping abruptly to dib in to the finish box.  Watch time said 1:09 but I knew it was a little bit slower than this as I had heard it auto-pause at a few points.  Liz was over the line a few seconds later, post run hug and congratulations, and we headed in to the hall.

Dark & White Events know how to treat runners right, and in the hall there were hot and cold drinks and all the foods you want after working hard - cake, crisps, biscuits and sausage rolls :)  One of the great things with these events is the instant results, and I got my official time of 1:11:27 which put me in the Silver time band, exactly where I wanted to be.

 A few stretches and a bit of refreshment later, we go outside and wait for the other runners to get back from their longer run.  Kelly wasn't sure how he would do - he had been aiming for under 2h15 but has been suffering with a cold lately, but we expected him to come in between 2h15 and 2h30, with Andy likely to be around 3h based on past experience. Kelly was over the line first out of our group of runners on the long course, with a time of 2h27 but looking utterly destroyed by it.  Just as he was about to head to the hall Paul turned up, so they went to refresh while we waited for Andy.  At 12:09 we came around the corner, sprinting his heart out, and just crossing the line under the 3 hour mark at 2:58:34 which is no bad show.

After some more stretching, refreshing and cooling down it was time to head for home via a pub for lunch. We ended up at the Bentley Brook Inn for a very satisfying carvery and dessert before heading back home.  The Official Results were already online by the time I looked, and have me at 47 out of 98 overall, and 9th out of 10 in my class. That'll do for me.

So, what's next? Well apparently the Dark Peak Trail Run hasn't sold out yet.  Short course is 12km and I'd be up for that, I'll be running it on my own as the weekend after is the Round Sheffield Run and all my usual partners in crime are doing that, but I may well have signed up by the end of the day...

2017 Neurocare Head Start 10k at Rother Valley Country Park

I signed up for this race in January, just after having done the Resolution Run as I had set myself the target of doing a 10k this year, and having discovered I could in fact run I figured I would try sooner rather than later.  As it happens I have since done a 10k trail race in the Peaks and started running longer distances by myself, but this race was always going to be a significant one for me as it was a goal I had set myself.

I was initially looking to finish in under an hour and had no greater aspirations than that, but somehow in the intervening weeks I have signed up for the Amsterdam Half Marathon and figuring I'd do it properly I got an Endomondo Premium account so I could set up a training plan - but figured I'd use it to prep for this race too.  Initially it was suggesting I could do about 56 minutes, until it had me do a Cooper Test at which point it dropped it to 53:00.  Gulp. OK, well I guess it knows what it is doing, so I decided to try for that and for extra motivation set myself up a sponsorship page.

Come the weekend of the race I was planning on going for a swim Friday night and resting up for it, however the pool was closed after work so I came home and had a few beers, then off to bed.  I woke up early and despite my better judgement decided to pop down to Hillsborough Parkrun and take it easy, treating it as a little bit of a warm up.  Apparently taking it easy means matching my PB from last month's pacing event. Either a good omen or a sign I had pushed too hard and ruined my race...

I managed to have a relaxing Saturday after this and a decent nights sleep, and was up bright and early in the morning. OK, early. I wasn't feeling particularly bright.  A spot of breakfast and a debate over clothing (I decided that as I was gunning for it I would go with shorts and t-shirt, wearing warmer clothes over the top) later and I was on the road.  I got to Rother Valley at about 8am, 1h30 before race start and 15m before the advised arrival time, but registration was very efficient and I had my number within seconds.

I had a cup of coffee, wandered around looking at the wildlife for a bit, and chatted with some fellow early arrivals about the route, running in general, and how cold it was - I really wasn't relishing stripping off for the race.  Eventually I decided that it was time to take a walk down to the main facilities to use proper toilets rather than queuing for the portaloos, and on the way back I got race ready, pinning my number (24, a nice low number given there were rumoured to be ~500 entrants) to my shirt from the Peakrunners Langsett 10 and attaching my chip to my shoe - first time in a chip timed race for me. Given it was still cold (although the sun was trying to break through) I decided to warm up with a slow jog around the top lake which got my muscles ready and built some warmth.  By this point quite a crowd was gathering and impromptu warm ups were breaking out.  I spotted the pacers and decided to sit somewhere between 55 and 55.

Before I knew it we were in the starting pen, and after a few announcements we moved down and we were off.  Immediately after the start was a sharp right between the two lakes, which was a little congested, but I fell in to a nice pace in a bit of space, well within sight of the 50s pacers, and realised I was running at about 4:30 - too fast!  I backed off a little and found a comfortable pace at around 5:08 and was within sight of the pacers still.  I ended up passing them at one point and staying just in front of them until around the 3km marker, where my overall pace was showing 5:02 and they decided to pick their pace up slightly to ensure they came in at under 50:00.  I reminded myself that I was running my own race and not theirs, but already in the back of my mind a voice was saying "maybe you can break 50:00!" - I decided to stay within sight of them if I could, and then try and pick the pace up in the 8th and 9th kilometers.

I took this before the race if you are wondering why the course is empty

Before I knew it we were passing the start/finish and getting much encouragement, if I had realised there was water on offer here before I got there I would probably have grabbed one but by the time I had thought about it I had passed them.  At the 5km marker I decided to take on a gel to prevent me flagging - the pace was high and I didn't want to burn out, but at the same time I also decided to relax a little on this back straight as I knew I had just beaten my best ever 5km time and needed to hold some back for the finish - Ks 4 and 5 had been sub 5:00.  Immediately I realised my pace had dropped too low as I was verging on 5:18 and despite that being my target pace before setting off by this point my brain had other ideas, so I kept the pace up in the five zeros.

Once I hit the 8km marker I kicked back up to a sub 5:00 pace, and watched my overall pace hover around 5:00.  This time on passing the start/finish I did grab a bottle of water from the ambulance crew watching over us, depositing it in a pile of others shortly after.  The idea of throwing bottles aside carelessly when running seems fundamentally wrong to me, but you can't carry the extra weight and so at least if there is an obvious zone to discard of waste it makes the clean up afterwards easier. 9km was within site and I was picking the pace up again, the closer I got to the finish line the faster I was going and I was jostling for position with someone but really close to running on empty and let them have the place.  Over the line and I stop my watch - 50:04 with a recorded distance of 10:04, I had smashed my target but had I done enough to get a finish time starting with a 4?

I was presented with a medal by a lovely chap who thanked me for supporting Neurocare (first medal!) and picked up a goody bag and can of Irn Bru before collapsing on the grass to relax, refresh, and let friends know how I had done.

I took the opportunity to upload my run too, noting that it gave me a distance of 10.0km at 4:59...

Once I had gained my breath again I cheered runners over the line, then went and got my warm clothes on.  When I came back I discovered that I could get my time on the spot: Chip Time was 50:01 on the official results - so close to breaking that 50 minutes mark, but I can't feel bad about that as I SMASHED my target and exceeded my more recent stretch goal.  I decided to hang around for the 5k as well - for one thing getting out the park would be hard whilst people were still running and I didn't want to get stuck in traffic for the Wednesday game when I got home.  I was glad I did as there was a fantastic atmosphere, lots of fancy dress and kids running, everyone having fun and giving it their best.

All in all it was a really well organised yet relaxed event, the combination of the 10k and 5k meant there was something for everyone and it seemed that people were having fun - even those who did the 10 and the 5.   Best of all it was all for a great cause - Neurocare are raising money to keep the ROSA Robot in Sheffield to improve the quality of neurosurgery provided.  The ROSA robot assists in cranial surgery procedures such as those used to treat Epilepsy, improving precision and allowing patients who couldn't otherwise be treated to receive the opportunity for a better quality of life.  If you have the means, please consider donating to the cause.

With that done it's time for a rest and a curry.  Next up in 2 weeks it's a similar distance but completely different terrain as I tackle the White Peak Trail Run - there won't be on PBs here, I'm just going to enjoy the Peak District :)

Peakrunners Langsett 10k Trail Run

My first foray into trail running.  I am not really sure how I got in to this - I signed up in January off the back of the Resolution Run which had an unexpected muddy uphill at a time when I had never run 10k and my target for the YEAR was to do a 10k.

My plan for this was to run with Liz, and this time actually stick to it - it was new territory for both of us.  Kelly was on the same course this time, but likely to be going much faster than us as was Andy who had joined us for this one.  On the day were we both uncertain about what faced us, Liz somewhat apprehensive about the hills and me again being annoyingly perky (hey, it's a skill!).  We somehow managed to bag the last space in the Langsett car park, and appreciated the warmth of the barn for registration and the inevitable hanging around.

And then we were off. Fairly standard gravel trails to begin with, my legs were really not ready for this but we were doing a nice steady pace and just covered the distance. After the first kilometre it started to get interesting, hit a very steep downhill where fear of (a) knackering my knees and (b) falling over and suffering severe injury meant I took it gently and slowed down.  And then it was 2.5k of uphill which was really rather hard going, some were walking but I didn't want to stop running in case I struggled to get going again - this wasn't really a problem as I was going the same speed as walkers.

Once the uphill slog had finished we were up on top of the moors, and running through glorious mud.  It was wet, it was slippery, it was sticky, it was GREAT FUN! At one point I lost my feet and ended up face to face with the stuff but picked myself up and carried on.  People fell from time to time and those around them always made sure they were ok and encouraged them to keep going, really was a fantastic atmosphere.  We eventually found a downhill stretch that wasn't muddy, but it was so rocky that you had to watch every step and couldn't really let go and fly.

At one point we passed a marshal who gave a reassuring "It's all downhill from here... Well, almost"; at the bottom where we rejoined the reservoir we discovered why he added the caveat as we ran in to the woods and while watching out for roots zigzagged uphill again before finding the road and stretching our legs a bit and getting the pace back up to sub 6:00/km. Crossing the dam was particularly refreshing before a final cruel uphill to the finish where Andy and Kelly were there to shout "encouragement".


Over the line, official result 1:15.55 (60th out of 79).  Two slices of cake and a cup of coffee while we wait for the prizegiving, then off in hunt of breakfast.  We manage a cup of coffee in Stocksbridge but are too late for lard so head off again, but not before signing up for the White Peak Trail Run in May - did I mention this was addictive?  Still needing breakfast we went to our favourite post Parkrun haunt - the wonderful Pie Parlour Sheffield to finish our recovery.


This was a really great event organised by Peakrunners, I'll be back next year and am on the lookout for other events by them - really tempted by the Dambuster 10 but I am not free that weekend.