From Sally Armitage…
Yesterday was my third run of the hilly Liversedge half marathon, part of the Roberttown Run Fest, organised by Roberttown Road Runners. A great, fairly low key, well managed road race around the rural areas of Kirklees.
Last year they changed the course slightly, although the elevation profile was similar it felt a whole world harder yesterday. I had over-carbed the day before and topped up further with abundance yesterday morning, a mistake that someone with a PGDip in Sports Nutrition shouldn’t be making! I felt heavy, sluggish and like I was running with a full Christmas dinner in my belly, which, when running downhill at speed, was incredibly uncomfortable. Despite my disastrous preparation I didn’t run too badly, I just wish I’d been able to enjoy it a bit more.
The race started, as usual, with a rapid downhill first kilometre followed by long inclines between 4-9kms and again between 12-16kms. The most torturous being the ’mad mile’ at around the 14km mark, a dead straight 1 mile incline up the past Willow Valley golf club. Perhaps most painful from a visual perspective as you can see the top from the bottom and it never gets any closer! The final incline is the last kilometre back up to the Commonside, I don’t think I’ve ever been more grateful to see a finish line.
1st male Joe Sagar Leeds AC 1:11:21
1st female Rebecca Howell Todmorden Harriers 1:25:48
24th (2nd female) Sally Armitage Ilkley Harriers 1:28:25
220th Michael Ho 2:01:32
327 ran