Glasgow 10K

55.03 minutes!

I loved being back in the centre of Glasgow, although in the twenty three years that I lived there I'm not sure I ever saw it quite so early on a Sunday morning! What I am absolutely clear on however is that I absolutely and without a doubt never once contemplated standing in George Square and running up St Vincent Street, let alone a further five and half miles around the city. But I loved it, every one of the fifty five minutes it took me, well almost every one....

The trouble with running in your home town is that you have bearings. You know exactly where you are in relation to the start and more importantly the finish! I always struggle around the half way point, mentally knowing I've got the same distance to run again is hard, however turning us and making us run in the opposite direction from the finish line shortly after the half way point was just cruel!

It was an emotional run, full of nostalgia and I have to admit (much to C's disdain) that a wee tear did trickle down my cheek a couple of times, already a bit on the emotional side I approached the Great Wall of Support with caution... it was both on and working (if not particularly great?), and I did manage to read a couple of messages as I ran past which almost set me off again, but we were approaching the final kilometre and with it the usual rush of adrenaline that sees me wanting to sprint to the finish.

We had spent a lot of the run up to the race discussing tactics and ideal finishing times and I knew that I wanted to run slower than Edinburgh, and really I wanted to try and run a steady pace or even a slower than average start, average middle and faster than average end pace, but in the end I couldn't stop myself from just running! I did try to listen to my legs and not push myself too hard, but I'm completely useless at sticking to any type of plan, and I am really going to have to work at this.

I am pleased that my time is marginally faster than either of the 10K's I ran in York several years ago, and yet the difference is at the end of this one I WAS ABLE TO WALK!! Driving for five hours later the same day however, was almost enough to change that! HMG and I had to haul ourselves out of the car at the services and hobble our way to the cafe as we slowly got our hips and legs to function again. Which was such a shame as up until this point we'd been congratulating ourselves on how well we'd done!

I had a great weekend and it was horrid leaving. I miss my sister and so wish we lived nearer each other, but I got it wrong sis and HMG, it's twenty weeks till Brighton when we'll all be together again :)

However hard it was leaving it was lovely to see Al, C, Dougal and Sid again and it must be said that an equally warm welcome awaited us on our return, although come to think of it, no Prosecco.... That said I'm not sure I'd have been awake long enough to drink any of it!

M - 582
HM - 140
GLASGOW minus nothing! Been and gone... next stop Brighton!
Distance covered 6.2 miles
Total Distance covered  266.3 miles