Born and raised in the Rivelin Valley, Debbie is a member of adventure racing group Team Accelerate, came first in the female pairs in last year's Open 5 series and was never off the podium. She is also part of the record-breaking ladies' High Peak Marathon team and runs for Dark Peak Fell Runners.
See www.accelerateuk.com.

The Rivelin Valley

It's on my doorstep and going by the river is brilliant. The views are lovely and when the mist is down you could be anywhere in the world. I run as often as I can, it's just on my doorstep. I try to do six days a week training and it's all off-road. I do one-hour runs during the week and then two to five hours over the weekend. I get unbearable if I don't run, I get restless.

Your endurance gets better when you're older. You're at your best in the late thirties and early forties and the winner of the Mont Blanc when I ran it was in his mid-fifties.

Chip Shop Hill

I love hills because they give a place character. A sprawling mass looks wrong to me. Sheffield has many great hills and valleys. It doesn't look like a city because you can only see a part of it at a time. It still looks like groups of villages that have come together.
I love running the hill that starts in the Rivelin Valley at the bridge on Hollins Lane and is a sustained incline all the way to Crookes. You head up through Walkley and finishes at the chip shop in Crookes, so I call it the chip shop hill.

It's steep a lot of the way, they even have railings on the footpath. I can run from the bottom to the top. It's a challenge and that appeals to my competitive nature. I don't like running on flat ground. You are using the same muscles all the time and I find that harder.

Because of living in Sheffield I'm used to using different muscles and always changing my pace.

Bell Hagg Crags

My favourite area is out past Crosspool. The Bell Hagg crags are out on your left as you leave the city on the A57.

It's where I grew up and explored as a kid with my brother. We got to know the area really well. There's a brilliant point where you can see all over the valley. It's a good place to go to contemplate life.

The Robin Hood, Loxley

My favourite pub is our local, the Robin Hood in Loxley. Between Stannington and Loxley, it's a nice country pub that is very accessible from the city. It's quite busy, has a good atmosphere and quality English pub food, which I love.

It's a good find, hidden at the end of a one-way road and it might look like you're heading the wrong way but it appears when you come round the corner.

Ski slope

I used to go to the Parkwood Springs ski slope every Thursday. I went there from 1997 to 2000 because they used to have a special teachers' night. There are different challenges with runs, half pipes and jumps.

It's a very good facility, and just one example of the great sports facilities in Sheffield. It's great that we've got Ponds Forge, and I'm proud we have an international venue that's being used so well.

Having the English Institute of Sport here is great too. It's only a five-minute walk from our store on Attercliffe Road.

Piccolino's restaurant

My favourite restaurant is Piccolino's in Millennium Square next to the Peace Gardens. You get to look out across a really good view of the city centre and see how they've combined the modern architecture with the old buildings. One of the great things about long-distance running is you can eat as much as you like because you need the calories. I'm often hungry.

They are doing a great job in the city centre, especially the decoration outside the train station. It makes you proud to be a part of the city to think that's the first thing people see when they get off a train. It's such a good first impression.

Sheffield parks

You can get from the city centre to the peaks through a collection of parks. There are so many well-kept open spaces in this city.

I love the Peak District and no other city in England has such good access to the countryside. You can start at Endcliffe Park and walk all the way out to the country. I've done a lot of biking there.

Dark Peak fell running club

Fell running is mountain and hill running and I've been going to the Dark Peak fell running club for six or seven years and made some good friends. They're seriously eccentric, fun-loving runners. We get 20 or so people come along with a variety of abilities and we chat as we run.

We meet every Wednesday night and either do a road run that takes in all the severe hills or have a head torch and go through the fells. I'm doing shorter races now than I used to, around five to 12 hours.

I still compete in running and adventure racing with Team Accelerate. Last year I won in the female pairs category of the Open 5 series and this year I'm hoping to be in the top three in the mixed pairs.