Percy Pud 2024!

The 30th anniversary event of the Percy Pud, a 10k on the first Sunday of each December that starts in Loxley on the outskirts of Sheffield, UK, heads out along the southern edge of the Damflask Reservoir to the village of Low Bradfield (High Bradfield is up a steep, half-mile road. Both have very good pubs.) and then back the same way.

Whilst most events reward the runners with a tee-shirt, a medal, and a goodie bag, for this you get a quality 800g Christmas pudding - although in recent years a hat has also been included (as modelled by myself).

Being a bit later than intended, I jogged the 2.5 km to the start as a warm up and was at the very back of the starting pack, so the first 2k or so were slow as I tried to thread through the gradually attenuating crowd, only managing to get any sort of pace after 4 km, and truly run once we'd turned for the reverse leg. This meant my splits are all over the place, with my slowest km at 5:46 and 4:44 in both the seventh and final km.

Once I'd had a cup of water and queued for or my goodies - also with a 30th Anniversary fridge magnet! - I decided on a cool-down jog down Loxley Road to swing by the supermarket on my way back.

While I write this, I've stuck two roast chicken legs in the air fryer, and I'm not even going to take the skin off.