The End of Summer? The 2013 Sheffield Half Marathon

After last weekend, running round the beautiful (flat) Cambridgeshire countryside in the roasting mid-day sun, and having experienced a "village fete" type atmosphere, this week it was it Sheffield! As I suspected, the experience was totally different from Fen Drayton, not least because the weather had again forgotten it was meant to be summer and barely struggled to reach 10C. It felt pretty cold and not at all sunny, but at least it didn't start raining until the race was over. Walking from the car park to the start was also different from last week, as this seemed to take us through a pretty derelict part of Sheffield, not at all like the walk through Fen Drayton. This was also a much bigger event, with approximately 5,500 people running the half marathon and another 1000 or so charity runners running a "fun run", so approximately 10x the size of the race last week!

Before the start

The course was also very different, as it  meandered through the centre of Sheffield, some of which (and I like Sheffield) was not exactly pretty! The run started and ended at the Don Valley stadium, which was great in terms of atmosphere, organisation and the finish! The main stand of the stadium was pretty full of charity workers and relatives and friends of the runners, which meant there was a good start and a rousing end to the race: it was fantastic to run through the stadium at the end to the general noise and cheering of the crowd! In fact, the people of Sheffield helped to give the race a really great atmosphere and throughout the streets there were plenty of people cheering on the runners; it reminded me a little of the Birmingham half, although not as busy....

Anyway, having heard people say that the course would be incredibly hilly, it was in fact pretty flat. Although the first 6.5 miles were generally uphill, this was a pretty gentle incline, and there was only really one short steepish hill at about 4 miles. There was also one mile long incline at 5.5 miles, which was made worse by the fact that the front runners passed us going the other way, steaming down the hill. All I could think of was that they looked so fresh, whilst I was busy trying to suck as much air into my lungs as possible to give me the oxygen needed to get me up the hill. However, after this, it was literally downhill all the way. 

I had been aiming to beat my PB, and to get under 2 hours for a half marathon, which was one of my targets for this Challenge Series. I was therefore aiming to run on or below a 9 m/m pace for the first half and hope that the downhill slope in the second half would see me through! Although the start was crowded, I managed to keep to this pace, even up to the 6 mile mark (and with a slight calf stiffness), and continued with this until the return to The Don Valley, where the noise of the crowd lifted me to a "sprint" finish! I was pleased that I never really felt "out of breath" during the race, the main thing seeming to hold me back was my legs not feeling that strong after about 8 miles. And the result? Well, I finished in 2823rd place, with a chip time of 1:56.02, a result I was pretty pleased with, as I managed to knock 5 minutes off my previous best time..... having said that, it was a fast course!

At the end!

The other great thing about the event was that I was joined for the day by Graham, a really good friend and (although a few years younger than me) a veteran of many half marathons! Having done a few of races on my own, it was great to have someone with me, particularly as it entailed getting up at 5.00am to drive to Sheffield for the 9:00am race start! Graham is a much more naturally talented runner and a very determined guy. Although generally pretty fit, he'd not done a huge amount of half marathon training recently, and only decided to join me in the run about 2 weeks before the race. He did one 10 mile training run in the week of the race.... and then during the race, he felt his hamstring twang at 3 miles and again at 8, but battled through the pain to finish in a time of 1.55..... better than mine! A great run under the circumstances.

I now have a bit of a break until my next race in Lincolnshire at the start of June. In fact I am over half way through the series of runs I'm doing to raise money for NYAS. I'm looking forward to finishing the races, meeting more of NYAS's staff and volunteers, and more importantly, raising more money for the charity. If you haven't done so already, please do visit my fundraising page, and if you want to get a better feel for the work NYAS does, please take note and read this year's Annual Report. It will give you such a good idea about what we do and why we do it!