The Bear

I've noticed a phenomenon when I'm running a longer distance. The Bear comes out. Let me explain after the jump.

12th of April: Sheffield Half-Marathon

The Place: Sheffield,South Yorkshire  12th April 2015 9.30am,

The Organisers: Jane Tomlinson's Run For All

Distance: Half Marathon

Beforehand: This is my home race, having been a proud resident of Sheffield for nearly 7 years.  As you'd expect for any race in Sheffield, its going to be hilly, as can be seen from the race profile below.

However it looks like it'll get easier after the 5 mile mark, so that's something at least. Being my home race and running past  my workplace you'd think that I'd have checked out the route by now. Au contraire, mes amis. In fact my training has gone belly up recently, as witnessed by the dearth of updates on this blog. Add in was laid up in bed with a bad back on Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday, and this is not looking like the triumphant homecoming I was hoping for.

You may have heard of last year's water debacle so let's hope the same doesn't happen again.  I'm sure it won't and that lessons have been learnt (Its also new organisers this year).

And yes as per usual  I have a social engagement the night before, An Anniversary Party. Truly I am the worst athlete ever.

Prediction:  2hr 20 Minutes - due to training laxity and possible Spinal issues.

The Day: For once, I didn't have to drive anywhere, I just had to make it to the centre of town a quick bus ride away. I didn't have to drive but I did due to oversleeping after some cats had a knockdown brawl outside my window last night. I think it got so epic they knocked a potted tree down.. So I parked up in town and headed for the bag drop buses. Tag attached, I handed it over and started wandering towards the start. At this point I saw the 135 minute pace setter, so I thought I'll stick with this guy, and then I should make my predicted time.

After some warm ups by the Sheffield International Venues team, with some backing (CD) music from Ms. Taylor Swift and an introduction via PA to the celebs who'd be in the first batch of runners sent off. Obviously I'm not quite a local here yet as the only person I recognised was the legendary fundraiser John Burkhill, who you'll often see around Sheffield with his Green McMillan Pram.

The race started a bit late as there were still some cars on the route, which brings me to Thanks. Thank you Sheffield for letting us gum up so many of your roads today and for being out in force to cheer people on. That was one of the great thing about having your name printed on your number, people would cheer you on by name, even if you'd never seen them before. It certainly helps with a bit of motivation.

Its started out fairly gentle down Arundel Gate and we were soon at Eccleshall rd. This was proving a doddle so far, maybe I'd even get a PB. Now many of you are probably familiar with Eccy Rd but you've probably never realised that its all a hill. In the car, I'd never noticed, running up it, oh dear. From there it just got hillier,up until the 5 Mile mark, as can be seen by the break down of my pace. 

1st Five Miles: 11 mins 14 seconds a Mile
Last 8.1 Miles: 9 mins  55 Seconds a Mile
Average Pace: 10 mins 25 seconds a Mile

And the Wind. So much Wind. At one point it blew my foot into my other leg, almost toppling me. And it was blowing me all over the road. But hills with the wind in your face is not conducive to a fast time. 

Still the second part of the race was much faster and I was having to hold myself back from pelting it down the hills on the return into town. Got to conserve that energy.

Strangely enough whilst I'd been in peaks, someone had flattened out Eccy rd and it no longer seemed to be on a slope. Why couldn't they have done that earlier?

Coming up the final hill towards the roundabout by the Moor/John Lewis I was flagging, I was trudging, I was walking. Thank you to the guy at the 400 metre mark who said "Rhys, You can stop when your done, Pick it up Lad". See Peer Pressure even from strangers worked, I ran the rest of the way in. No Sprint finish but I was happy with myself. And look at the swag I got, plus a Mars Bar but I snaffled that fairly quickly.

Finishing Time: 2 hrs 16 Minutes 33 Seconds - So Not a PB but a tough course and did I mention the Wind?

Pros: 
Easy to get too, 
Well Organised Start, 
The Chicken Man I was chasing for most of the race (He beat me), 
The Warm Up, 
Plenty of Water

Cons: 
If you've driven on Sheffield's roads let me tell you they are no better to run on. I'm sure some runners were lost in the potholes along the way. 

The Bag situation after. They appeared to just have emptied the contents of the bus onto the floor outside and it turned into a cross between Bingo and a Jumble Sale. I only found my bag by luck as the tag had come off, one guy had been waiting for his bag for an hour and all that time at the front of the queue. It needs rethinking for next year.

Blisters: Not Many

Do it again? Yeah I would, although I will do much more hill work.

MEA CULPA!

Apologies all round, We've let you down at Tinpot towers recently, with our lack of updates. Its entirely our fault.No real excuses except some of us have been to Disney and some of us have playing more xbox than is good for a lad. However that is the past and we've bout 520 days to go till the big day so coming up we've got some great posts on The Sheffield Half Marathon, Dan's New Bike Review and after Sunday a more focussed ...uh..focus on Triathlon from myself. Let us know what you'd like to see in the comments.