This was also my last officially planned race before I make my marathon comeback on 14th May at the inaugural Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon, which is also the first officially endorsed Leeds Marathon since 2003, which is going to be special.
Me and my mate Jonny Roberts are running the full marathon distance and my sister Melanie Joyce and cousin Matty Stephenson are running the Leeds Half Marathon. This will also be my 9th marathon. My race PB for the marathon is 2:57 achieved way back in 2014 when I was 29 years old, now 8 years later and making a full marathon comeback after 5 years, I am just happy to complete the marathon and enjoy it and if I run under 4 hours, I will be pretty happy as it is a very hilly course.
There is a chance however, that despite all my training and all the preparation races and virtual runs I have completed over the last year since I entered the Leeds Marathon, that I may not be able to run. Mine and my fiancé Katie's baby boy is due literally 10 days before the marathon, so depending when he arrives, there could be a chance I won't be able to run.
Me, Jonny, my sister and cousin Matty have a sponsor page for the Leeds Hospitals Charity to help towards the build of the Rob Burrow MND Research Centre if anyone wishes to sponsor us?
WEB LINK IS:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Richard-Joyce-RobBurrow-Leeds-Marathon-2003
You can also use the QR Code below
So, after all the introduction talk, the race itself. I actually ran the Sheffield Half Marathon myself on my own back in 2019 and at that time, it was my worst ever official race time for a half marathon and this was mainly due to the first 6 miles of the half marathon literally bring up hill and very steep.
My half marathon PB is 1:22 which I achieved during my prime years at 29 years old, some 8 years ago now and in 2019, I finished the Sheffield Half Marathon in 1:49.
If I am completely honest, I forgot just how hilly the Sheffield Half Marathon was and as you can see on the elevation graph above, it really is extremely hilly. Put it this way, I thought it was only a steady hill for the first 3 miles at the most but I was soon awakened once I hit 3 miles and the hills kept getting bigger, then I remembered, haha. I don't think my mate Jonny and sister Melanie were too happy during the race after I played down the hills to them beforehand - oops haha.
Most of my own training going into the race has been on quite hilly courses both on roads and some off roads and I do most of my training runs wearing a 5kg weighted vest on my back, so my training prepared me well for the hills.
I did have a general race plan for this hilly course however, as I remembered last time I ran it that because I pushed too hard on the hills, even though much of the last 5 miles are downhill, I just had nothing left in the tank to push on my pace.
This time round I planned to take it super steady the first 4 or 5 miles then run in the 7 minute miles mark for the middle and last part of the course and to my credit, I stuck to this plan and it worked. I was hoping to run in the mid 1:40's and I did just that. My race time was 1:44, which I was happy with.
I was also happy with my performance as my achilles has been in pain for a while now when I run or play football but to be fair, that pain wore off pretty quickly once I had hit a mile in so my niggles and pains did not effect me during the race. I do have a slight issue with my left knee at the moment but I didn't really feel any pain from that until after the race. I am unsure of what it is but it feels like a bruised knee, which has been on going for a couple of months now which I am contributing more to my football than my running or it could even have been aggravated from my explosive plyometric core strength training that I do, which involves explosive jumps using weighted bags etc.
Aside from a very painful IT Band injury back in 2014, I've never really suffered from any knee injuries and touch wood it stays that way. However, during childhood, due to growing problems I used to experience some kind of knee lock, which occurred at the back of the knee and the pain was unbearable, thankfully it stopped happening and have never experienced this issue as an adult but even now, the thought of it scares the life out of me.
For me, most of my niggles or persistent injury issues I have experienced has been my ankles in the past, mainly my achilles tendons and some calf problems that I have mainly suffered with over the last 5 or 6 years since I started naturally declining athletically, which is mainly down to wear and tear of 30 years of competitive sport.
If I am completely honest as well, I never ever suffered from any tendon or muscle tear injuries until I started running the full marathon distance in my late 20's, until then it was mainly impact injuries from football or sprains that I experienced. To be brutally honest with myself it was my own fault and was all down to not giving my body enough time to recover from running marathon's and long distance races and then I'd end up experiencing overuse injuries or muscle tears playing football or hitting explosive workouts in the gym just days after running a marathon in Good For Age times (sub 3-hours and 3 hour times). It was stupidity really, I thought I was invincible at that time as I was in my physical prime: running races on no sleep and playing competitive sport days after running marathon's, but I have learned over the years to listen to my own body and rest when my muscles and body needs it instead of burning myself out, which I did to myself a lot during my early to mid 20's in particular. During my peak years in my late 20's to very early 30's, any injuries I had, even tears or strains, I always recovered from the injuries pretty quickly.
Anyway, touch wood, thankfully I have never experienced having a major injury and I hope I never do. Don't get me wrong, I have had some very painful injuries and a few bad ones that have kept me out of action for a bit of time but I have always recovered from them and nothing that has really effected me long term aside from a few painful niggles, which all competitive sports people experience.
Overall, I've not had that many injuries really, considering the amount of sport and exercise I've taken part in since I was around 7 or 8 years of age until 38 now, as a veteran, so I am very lucky but also I have always tried to keep myself fit so that does help as even when I don't feel like at my physical best, I have always had a good base line fitness to fall back on. I think the main issue for me the last couple of years and going forward is just wear and tear from all the miles on the clock and father time waits for no one either - haha !
I was so happy with myself that I paced it very well in the first half as once the hills were over I was able to up my pace accordingly and push myself but still able to enjoy the race. Yes, it did get a little painful later on as I was running in the low 7 minute miles (scary to think only 6 years ago I was running marathon's in 6:45 minute miles pace for 26.2 miles and half marathon's in the early 6 minute miles, can't get my head around that now) and obviously you are going to start feeling it.
The crowds are amazing, reminds me very much of the Leeds Half Marathon, which I have ran 15 times and earned my PB on. I would maybe even go as far as saying Sheffield Half Marathon has a little bit of a better atmosphere, only slightly but it was thrilling running into the city centre lapping up the atmosphere, very euphoric at times.
There was some really scary news however the next day after that pre-race photo that Carlton had a mini heart attack whilst running the half marathon and was later admitted to hospital. Thankfully he is okay though. He had the heart attack in the first mile and managed to run a further 12 miles to complete the marathon, unbelievable.
I wish Carlton Palmer well in his recovery.
Next up for me - hopefully one more game of competitive 11 a side football with Bramhope MFC Vets and then the Leeds Marathon although I cannot guarantee I will be able to do both, all depends when our baby arrives to be honest. If I don't get to run the Leeds Marathon, I will aim for the Ilkley Half Marathon in July and a return to competitive football after a few months break.
In the meantime I will stay busy, active, fit and ready !!
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