rich_jacko

Yesterday was the second event of my charity fundraising triple, the delayed 2020 Sheffield Half Marathon. (Look out for me crossing the start line at the very end of the video at that link!)

This was logistically the easiest of the three, being my local event, so no need for an overnight stay - just a 5k warm-up jog from home to the start line in the city centre! Running-wise, though, it's by far the steepest of them, with a ridiculous uphill climb for the first six miles. I've got the measure of it now, having run this event twice before, but there were several points I thought to myself, "Why am I doing this again?" Then I got to mile 7, with its stunning views from the top of Ringinglow, and massively enjoyable downhill sweep back into town, and I remembered, "Oh yes, this is why!"

I was maintaining pace with several other runners around me, including the 1h45m pacers, for much of the race. It was interesting chatting with those who'd run the course before and knew what to expect, versus those who hadn't, though everyone did really well and I hardly saw anyone give up and walk up the hill. I noted smugly to myself the points where I'd had to walk the first time I ran this event, and was pleased with my running progress that I no longer need to.

As an event, this was far smaller than the Great North Run, of course - a mere 3,792 runners, rather than 57,000. The crowds weren't quite out in the same force, with lots of gaps along the way but, where they were gathered, they made plenty of noise and gave lots of encouragement. One feature I really liked was that the finish line commentator obviously had access to all the chip data as runners neared the finish, and called out every single name for the crowd to cheer us across the line. That was a lovely touch that I haven't seen at any other running event.

I'd dampened down expectations of another fast time, being aware of the hill, needing to save myself for London, and because of how muggy the weather had been. As it happened, there was a nice breeze for the second half of the race and I'd forgotten how much fun the last few miles can be. I'd have been happy with sub-1h50m but, in the end, I finished in just 1h40m32s - only 2 minutes slower than my GNR time and a new PB for the course.

26.2 miles of my fundraising challenge done; 26.2 miles to go. Now I have less than a week to recover before the big one...

This weekend, I took my Mum and Dad to Tramlines. It was back in Hillsborough Park for the second year running, so I took advantage of my two free tickets and bought a third one for myself. The crowds were bigger this year, the weather not so clear and I'd heard of fewer of the acts but, despite all that, the music and the atmosphere was still just as amazing. We all enjoyed ourselves (even though it's not normally Dad's sort of thing!) :o)


Friday:

The weather was grim and we had classic festival mud (My poor park!), but we mostly managed to stay dry. We got there in time for the Seamonsters, who I'd enjoyed last year and were (bizarrely) sampling Theresa May's resignation speech this year. Then we had a look round before settling in front of the main stage for Circa Waves, the Manic Street Preachers and Two Door Cinema Club. Mum and I both really wanted to see the Manics, and they didn't disappoint. They got one of the biggest cheers when they covered Sweet Child O' Mine. We didn't think too much of 2DCC, so went and got food (giant Yorkshire pud!) then watched Red Rum Club on the Library Stage to finish off the night.

Saturday:

I was chuffed to introduce my folks to the most Sheffield band they will ever see - the good ol' Everly Pregnant Brothers (more confident on the big stage this year and really working the crowd well). I had to explain the Leeds thing to my Dad and they were both a bit put out by the Worcester Sauce gibes in "Hendo's", but they definitely enjoyed it. We came home for a late lunch (handy being so close!) then back out again to a massively crowded park for a triple bill of Reverend and the Makers, Johnny Marr and Courteeners in the evening. Johnny Marr was the best of the three, but they all rocked the crowd pretty well while the sun went down. Before that line-up, there was an unscheduled tribute song to Sarah Nulty, led by her brother. Despite the crowds, we still managed to find a decent spot for the evening (where, importantly, we could sit down between acts!) and it didn't take long to queue for essential food and beer (overpriced but, hey, it's a concert). A good second day.

Sunday:

Mum and Dad needed a gentler day, and I had Bethany's nowhere-near-a-birthday lunch to go to, so we only returned to Tramlines late afternoon on Sunday. Lewis Capaldi was first up on the main stage and, while his music was good, most of the crowd couldn't make out what he was saying during his long talking bits between songs. Rag 'N' Bone Man followed and was much better. After that, we had a clash - Doves and Nile Rodgers & Chic were on at the same time, and we wanted to see both. Inevitably we were going to get split up, so we arranged to meet up at the end. I listened to Doves' first four songs, then wandered around for a bit (and danced along with Yonaka at the Library Stage for a while) before ending up at the main stage for Nile Rodgers & Chic. Their Let's Dance / Le Freak / Good Times finale proved why they've been a success for so many years and really worked the crowd up into a bouncing, clapping, party frenzy, proving to be the perfect end to the festival.

Last Friday, I saw Queen + Adam Lambert at Sheffield Arena (Sorry, "the FlyDSA Arena"). I'd been to see them before, in 2015 and absolutely loved the show. So I wasn't going to pass this one up, even if it did mean faffing around on ticket resale sites.

Joining me were Ju, Neil, Jacquie and Andy (the latter two having got their tickets separately), and my mum - who always regretted never seeing Queen live in the '80s, so I thought I'd treat her and help tick off an item on her bucket list.

I left work at 3pm to pick Mum up from the station, whereupon we had a lot of "fun" with trams - a breakdown meant we walked home from Shalesmoor, ate quickly, then had the faff of waiting 20 minutes for a tram which was due every 10, and got unexpectedly kicked off in town and had to squeeze on another with three trams' worth of other passengers. Fortunately we had allowed plenty of time. We managed to meet up with everyone else at the Arena stop and went in together. It was cold in the queue!

The set had changed since the previous tour, and this time was centred around the 40th anniversary of the News of the World album. The beat of We Will Rock You kicked off a concert that focussed mainly on Queen's '70s hits, with nothing beyond the Magic album this time around. That was fine - It was good to have them play something a bit different to last time. The stage was a giant guitar, and we had a great view - much closer than last time.

After Hammer To Fall and the epilepsy-inducing light show of Sheer Heart Attack, Adam Lambert did his contrite, "I know I'm no Freddie Mercury, but let's make tonight a tribute to him". He may not have as strong a voice, but he can hit all the notes and he certainly has Freddie's flamboyance. Perched atop a giant robot head for Killer Queen, he may have been better behaved than his cavorting on a chaise longue last time, but he still raised a few eyebrows. His self-described "gayest suit known to man" and matching tricycle during Bicycle Race were also eye-catching.

Brian May was once again the star for me. He brought the audience to tears by filling the arena with individual lights during his acoustic rendition of Love of My Life, dueting with an on-screen Freddie for the last verse. He brought us into a huge shared moment of geekery with his 3D selfie stick video - possibly the only human being on the planet to have made selfies cool. Then later on, he played a spectacular set piece in which he was lifted up by a giant robot against a space backdrop while playing an epic guitar solo ("We may be here some time!" I remarked, and we were...).

Roger Taylor also had his share of the limelight, drum battling Tyler Warren (and flipping him the bird!), as well as doing strong lead vocals (and tambourine!) for A Kind of Magic. He is turning more and more into Anthony Hopkins though!

By the time the show rounded off with Radio Ga-Ga and Bohemian Rhapsody, most of the audience were on our feet, and everyone was clapping along (with mixed ability at keeping time!). On-screen Freddie returned to whip up the crowd with his "Eh-Oh!"s before the band came back for the encore - We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions and God Save The Queen.

The show was every bit as great as last time; I've heard Queen albums, watched videos of concerts and been to tribute acts, but nothing compares to being there when they play live. The lights, sound and showmanship are spectacular, and the atmosphere is second to none. My Mum has been to an awful lot of concerts, and was still blown away, declaring it to be absolutely brilliant.

We hit the merchandise stall on the way out, and got a bit split up from the others, but we made it home a lot less eventfully than the journey there. After parkrun the next morning, I escorted Mum back to the station for her train home, before a busy rest of the day, packed with shopping, D&D and Edy's mince pies evening. Then (a bit of) snow, swimming, cinema and more roleplaying the next day. A grand weekend! :o)

So, I am doing a sponsored running thing on 24th September, trying to raise money for Macmillan Cancer support. If you'd like to sponsor me, I've set up a fundraising page here.

My sister and three nieces have been up to visit this week. The girls were really looking forward to it, and had been going on about how much they love Sheffield for ages. We had a really fun week. There were mostly games and hugs and laughter, and only a few strops and tears, so hopefully it didn't disappoint! :o)

They arrived Monday lunchtime and we had the traditional lazy first day. They settled in, we ate, then went to play in the park - finding our first elephant en route.

On Tuesday we hit the city centre to go elephant hunting properly. I'd got everyone a trail map and Herd of Sheffield pen to tick them off. It's a shame the weather wasn't as good as forecast and we had to keep sheltering indoors. We bumped into Ju and Jamie on Fargate but failed to meet up with them again in the Peace Gardens. We made it there later and Carly and Lauren had fun in the fountains (although Sophie sulked), then I went on the swing boats with them all. That broke up our elephant trail quite neatly before we resumed to find more. I was impressed with the girls' stamina and enthusiasm - I'd planned shorter routes but we kept going and found 26 large elephants and five little herds, making 60 elephants in total! Afterwards we went home, played with Lego (I'm very pleased they're all converts to the ways of the brick now) and cooked bolognaise for dinner, before settling down for a big screen evening (Zootropolis).

Wednesday was an epic adventure day at Magna. The girls loved the outdoor play area and spent ages climbing everything. They'd have spent all day out there if we'd let them. They also enjoyed all the hands-on stuff in the pavilions inside. Carly was a dab hand with the digger arm. Again I was impressed with how long they all lasted - we got there about 11:30am and didn't leave until closing time (which unfortunately meant we hit rush hour traffic). Lauren had her (early) birthday presents from me in the evening - more Lego of course!

We had planned to take it fairly easy on Thursday, which we did, but still managed to pack a lot in. We went swimming in the fun pool at Hillsborough in the morning. The Chivers (back from their holidays - Carly had been asking after Evie and Toby all week!) came round after lunch. We went to the park again and met up with Ju and Jamie. It was great to see the six kids getting on so well together, for the most part. I notice the three mums left nearly all the kids with me while they stood and nattered... In the evening we all piled back to min for an impromptu Chinese food and movie evening (Despicable Me 2 this time).

This morning we really did take it easy, with the kids lying in untilnearly half seven, which is extraordinarily late for them! I did a cooked breakfast for everyone. We did a petrol run, packed up and loaded the car, and they left around half twelve.

Already planning the next visit! :o)

( Photos )

Christmas seems to have snuck up suddenly and unexpectedly this year, but I'm now starting to get into the festive spirit.

Last weekend, I went with the Chivers and Anne to Lincoln Christmas markets, which were as vast and impressive as I remember from a previous year. They were a little too busy, which made it difficult to get to some stalls, but well worth the trip and I came away with various goodies. The legend that is Brown's Pie Shop was equally busy. We had to wait half an hour for a table even at 4pm but we already knew that would be worth it. The medieval market in the Bishop's Palace was a little quieter (due to the entry fee) and nicely atmospheric. We briefly went in the cathedral before heading home.


In the last few days I've made significant Christmas-related progress: I've got the bulk of my Christams shopping done, written most of my cards, put up and decorated the tree, and started this year's Lego Christmas build. I've also been to the Sheffield Christmas Blitz at the cathedral (which was very well done, and had the odd juxtaposition of carol singers and an air raid siren), Edy's mince pies evening (where the house was new and the baking was as epic as ever), and watched Gremlins and Muppet Christmas Carol :o)


Next week looks promising, bookended by a team Christmas meal (with colleagues up from London) on Monday and the Sheffield work Christmas do on Friday. In-between, there's a new Star Wars movie!

I don't often take enough time to appreciate the surroundings I see every day. So here's a few photos I snapped along the River Don on my walk into work this morning:

I went down to Sheffield Hallam's outdoor theatre yesterday morning to watch the 90% partial solar eclipse. The Sheffield Astronomical Society were gathering there and I bumped into first Cis and Steve, and later Krissy.

We were cursing the clouds at first, but it turned out well in the end. There were patches of very light cloud which let us get some good photos and views with the naked eye which otherwise wouldn't have been possible. There were also occasional bursts of clear sky which gave a great view through the eclipse glasses.

I love these grand celestial events. Next up, the U.S. of A. in 2017!

Friday's social was extremely pleasant, sitting out in the beer garden until around 11, with it still light(ish) outside :o)

This weekend, I found myself with really good summer weather and no other plans. So I decided to go do a bit of sightseeing.

Yesterday I caught the train to Beverley and discovered it's a scenic little Georgian town. There were morris dancers out in force in the town centre, marking the solstice. The Minster is of course spectacular with some amazing sculptures, new and old. I recommend the roof tour, if only for Britain's oldest man-sized hamster wheel, driven by Fiona Bruce's stunt double (Don't ask!).



Today, I visited Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, which I'm ashamed to say I've never been to before, despite living in Sheffield for... *cough* some years. They're in the middle of a refurbishment (including fixing the dam, so the reservoir was drained), so it wasn't at it's best, but still a fascinating bit of local history with a fair amount to see. I'll have to go back again some time.