Staveley 10Km Trail Race

The Staveley trail races are known as "The Sting in the Tail" as they have a sizeable fell near the end that tired runners have to make their way up before the final descent to the finish.

Due to ongoing knee issues I'd pretty well stopped trail running, but deferred this one from last year on health grounds, so planned to pretty much walk the route as my last "race".

As the start horn sounded, I set off at the back of the runners (with Deb, who soon disappeared off ahead of me) at a gentle trot - both knees well strapped - and was surprised how good it felt. Walking the uphill sections, due to zero training (and the simple fact that everyone else walks uphill apart from the elite few) I remained at the rear half of the runners but picked many off as the race progressed. 

As the joints loosened up and the lungs got used to the effort, I managed a modest pace across the flats and even the downhills, with my running poles to help a lot of the strain was taken by my arms and shoulders.

I ended up with a time of 1:40 minutes, only 7 minutes behind Deb, which I was over the moon with. Enjoyed it so much, that I might not pension off the trail shoes quite yet - already looking at next years race!

Photos show the start - a few during the run, and a couple at the end!