The Three Lakes Classic is a 14.5 mile route that begins in Rother Valley. It takes in a leisurely loop of both the big and small lake (for namesake purposes these are treated as one), before heading out towards Treeton Dyke and into the Waverly (also two lakes but shh…) and back, for a total of three (five) lakes. I signed up pretty last minute for this one but decided that it would serve for great pacing practice for longer events. I have had the not so uncommon tendency to run the pace of a bat out of hell and then promptly fall straight back into hell once the lactic builds up.
I settled into a steady 5:15/km or so pace and tried to maintain this throughout the race. The route is very flat until the final few kilometres when you climb out of the very floodable areas of Sheffield and Rotherham before promptly falling straight back down again.
My goal for pacing was simple, run steady and try not get overtaken in the second half. This went perfectly. Running out towards Treeton I was overtaken by those that I had decided to run in a small pack with who then promptly picked up the pace. I wasn’t racing so I let them go. It was on the return that the fun really began. One by one I picked off those that had bitten off more than they could chew. I overtook three or four people on the final climb, one on the steep descent as he wasn’t as confident just falling down a hill, and one more just before the finish line, finishing in a solid 40th place. Not bad for a not-race!