Rowbotham's Round Rotherham and according to the local expert in Stone was started by the rugby club a while back, one new years eve while discussing the boundary changes to the Rotherham area. They then decided to do a winter run, which would be back then 50 miles of water logged fields. Comparably today's Rowbotham's Round Rotherham is now in October and this year actually quite a nice day :) Last year I attempted this with fellow club runner Bernie and enjoyed it for the most part but more or less endured it more. I can see I'm definitely all fitter this time around. That's not to say there's not room for improvement, I still struggled with a few dips in energy but only for a short while. Thanks to a staple diet of jaffacakes, cola, winegums, squash, two quarters of a tuna sarny and one gel, oh and some ibuprofen (although I'm not sure that counts as sustenance) I seemed to be ok for the most part. It all seems like a balancing act with these races. Eat enough or else! But don't eat too much or definitely "or else!". Also I think I need to ditch the back pack for this distance as one runner pointed out (who I found out was Andrew James runfurther champ, I think he was taking it easy that day. I say this as I was running with him for a section before half way and he tends to win the events I've seen him in.) It was overall annoying me and too heavy in the long term. I could have stuff most of the stuff into a waist pack or similar. But still every event I do I always learn something new either about myself or gear.
The run it's self was great, really spot on weather which is strange for this time of year. Rotherham really isn't as bad as I remembered it. It has some bad spots but most places do if you cover 50miles. Roche Abbey was as ever stunning and I saw a small herd of deer shoot past in the last lot of fields. The morning mist really set off the long view's across those endless plains. I guess it must have been the weather bringing out the best in the area. I didn't see the floating fridge from last year in the canal and no ditched mattress at the 35mile mark. Maybe people have started taking more pride in the area. Even the parks were busy, even if one guy was drinking tennents super and muttering at me at the 45mile mark as I ran past. Honestly by that point if he poked me I would have probably flopped over and fell asleep. I never seem to get the start of this event right, this year I arrived at 4am! And travelled straight from Stone at 3am. I didn't fancy sleeping on sports hall floor or a hotel. God knows why as I got no sleep at home either. Although despite all of this I still felt better at the end than I did last year. Only one small niggle which seems to be progressing around the top of my ITB.. I finished 8:10, 20mins faster than last year which made me 20th overall and 13th overall in the Run Further series. Which I'm happy with, last year I kind of came into Run Further half way so I didn't finish the series which was a shame. I really enjoyed it :)
On Sunday I decided to accompany Claire to the Tamworth 10k and possibly race. I basically got there jogged around a bit and then decided to race. My basic thinking was if it's over quick it might hurt less and I kinda think it did/didn't. Of course there's the argument that if I ran slower for longer it might also not hurt as much but the way my legs felt. Either didn't sound like a good idea. Another good run, a great route from the castle, to the road, around some canal tow paths and back in along a road/park with 2 laps'. The lap's didn't bother me at first until I realised on the second lap when I could see the castle that basically meant I was 2 miles away. And that didn't go so fast as everytime I looked up it didn't seem to move. No pb but still 38:53 and 15th overall, so I'm happy with that. 40seconds of my best time.
At the end of the RRR 50, mumbling nonsense but generally happy.
The run it's self was great, really spot on weather which is strange for this time of year. Rotherham really isn't as bad as I remembered it. It has some bad spots but most places do if you cover 50miles. Roche Abbey was as ever stunning and I saw a small herd of deer shoot past in the last lot of fields. The morning mist really set off the long view's across those endless plains. I guess it must have been the weather bringing out the best in the area. I didn't see the floating fridge from last year in the canal and no ditched mattress at the 35mile mark. Maybe people have started taking more pride in the area. Even the parks were busy, even if one guy was drinking tennents super and muttering at me at the 45mile mark as I ran past. Honestly by that point if he poked me I would have probably flopped over and fell asleep. I never seem to get the start of this event right, this year I arrived at 4am! And travelled straight from Stone at 3am. I didn't fancy sleeping on sports hall floor or a hotel. God knows why as I got no sleep at home either. Although despite all of this I still felt better at the end than I did last year. Only one small niggle which seems to be progressing around the top of my ITB.. I finished 8:10, 20mins faster than last year which made me 20th overall and 13th overall in the Run Further series. Which I'm happy with, last year I kind of came into Run Further half way so I didn't finish the series which was a shame. I really enjoyed it :)
On Sunday I decided to accompany Claire to the Tamworth 10k and possibly race. I basically got there jogged around a bit and then decided to race. My basic thinking was if it's over quick it might hurt less and I kinda think it did/didn't. Of course there's the argument that if I ran slower for longer it might also not hurt as much but the way my legs felt. Either didn't sound like a good idea. Another good run, a great route from the castle, to the road, around some canal tow paths and back in along a road/park with 2 laps'. The lap's didn't bother me at first until I realised on the second lap when I could see the castle that basically meant I was 2 miles away. And that didn't go so fast as everytime I looked up it didn't seem to move. No pb but still 38:53 and 15th overall, so I'm happy with that. 40seconds of my best time.
At the end of the RRR 50, mumbling nonsense but generally happy.
I don't know if it's the cold but my ITB doesn't seem to be getting any better so I may be considering these as neither does the current weather situation!
http://www.sportsshoes.com/product/SKI18/skins-sport-travel-and-recovery-long-tights/
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