A Sunday of 'times'

We had a very 'time related' Sunday all due to the Sheffield half marathon. We started with an alarm set for 6-30am in order that David and I could be up and ready to take the 5 runners that were doing the race to the tram station at Meadowhall.
Here we have very excited and nervous Becky who was running her first EVER 13 miles! Spured on by the money she and Tom were raising for the special unit in Turo that Nina spent her first few weeks in.

 Tom by contrast was more relaxed although hearing him cough over tea the previous day I did wonder if he should be even doing it. My cousin's daughter Nicola was even more relaxed, but then she is a seasoned half marathon runner and having driven the course with me the day before had no doubts that it was going to be a doddle compared to the one she had done the previous weekend in Baildon. The two others were friends of Tom and Becky. Seats were put up to turn the car into a taxi for 5 and I waved them goodbye.

David returned quite quickly despite it being very busy round the drop off point. After a coffee we set off with my cousin and her husband having decided that we would head our to Dore. After a look on Google maps all the runners knew where we were expecting to stand and when we got there it was perfect - not at all crowded with a perfect view.

It wasn't long before the police bike came round signalling the first runners

Nicola was the first of our crew to pass us with a wave

then Tom

then Becky's friend Claire and her husband a while later but no Becky. It seemed like an age, David went up to the corner for a better view of the approaching runners.

finally we could see him waving and there she was

running at her own pace and doing well. David took her hand and they ran down to us together (all my pictures of that are on my phone) and then she was gone

For the four of us it was a walk to the car and a drive to Meadowhall for the pick up. We had a call whilst we were driving from Nicola to say she'd finished and then that Tom had and then finally a WhatsApp picture of Becky and her medal. Their final finishing times were Nicola 1:50:36 , Tom 2:07:53  and Becky 2:57:59. We were very proud of them all and just had to open a bottle (as you do) to toast their success