Tissington Trail half marathon and 10k
The Tissington Trail half marathon by Nice Work is a fast event with runners taken by bus to Parsley Hay before enjoying a 13.1 mile descent to Ashbourne for a guaranteed PB.
Or so I thought when I entered it – and if you enter their Tissington Trail Half Marathon weekend in September, that’s exactly what you’ll be doing.
Sadly their Tissington Trail half marathon and 10k in January is a little more out and backie – so you only enjoy 6.55 miles of running downhill after a slightly less enjoyable 6.55 miles of running up them first.
Rookie error, and a salutary lesson in reading the event description before entering.
On the positive side, the weather was perfect, shoehorned between storm Eowyn on Friday and dreary conditions on Sunday. Barely a cloud in sight, and I had time to enjoy the views on the way out that would just have been a blur if I’d been on a bus.
This was my first half since I broke myself at Worksop at the end of 2023. That triggered a three month break from running, compounded by a further break at the end of 2024 when a couple of nice men from the NHS fiddled around with a scalpel and my eyes. So I didn’t have any expectations (that’s what I told everyone) and I wasn’t really bothered about my finish time (that’s a blatant lie).
I panted home in 1:30:12, and if it hadn’t been for those congested gates on the trail, a bit of ice at the start and (insert other credible sounding excuses) here, I would absolutely have been under 1:30. That was good enough for a whole host of accolades. First Andy and first MAC – 11th place overall. There were 281 finishers.
As ever, a well organised event from the Nice Work gang, with a chunky medal and some lovely salted caramel flapjack at the finish.