Balloch to Clydebank Half Marathon

Woke up on Sunday morning of race day to find a thin layer of snow but luckily by the time I got over to Balloch the weather had turned to rain and the snow washed away quickly. However in true Scottish style the weather changed from one extreme to the other; one minute it was really windy and cold then wet and then sunny then back to windy! So race day outfits were needless to say very varied!

The race limit is 500, so after a mile the pack is fairly spread out and by mile 3 you find it is spread out enough that you have your own space. Most of the course is run on pavements or the cycle track between Balloch and Glasgow, as the roads are not closed. However this wasn’t an issue due to the excellent marshalling throughout the course who stopped the traffic. I think I only stopped once to let a bus turn in to a street I was crossing and that was it.

The atmosphere at the event was just right; the marshalls provided the majority of support to the runners while the field was mainly made up of club runners. So the times were quick; with the first runner coming in at 1.12 and the last about 2.20 with the majority of people finishing in under 2 hours. Although the race was fully subscribed only 388/500 runners finished, with many probably put off by the weather.

The course itself I would describe as mildley undulating. There were quite a few long gentle climbs but none I would really describe as hills. Although I was maintaining quite a steady pace up them, I seemed to be overtaking quite a few people. So maybe other people saw them as hills!

Personally I didn’t PB this race as, this was my first half in 4 years, but I reckon it’s a course which you could PB on as it is reasonably flat and a spread out field which means you are not really jostling for space at any point.

I didn’t actually realise I was finished till I was given the goody bag as there was people standing in front of the finish sign to the left of the road. There were a fair number of people who hung around to cheer on the later runners which was nice. The finish momento is the best I have been given as it is a glass ornament with a kind of hologram of a runner inside with ‘Balloch to Clydebank half marathon’ engraved on the front. My only critisim of the ornament would be that it doesn’t have the year on it. However normally I would just shove my medals in a box but this one will be on the mantle piece for a few months at least!

Overall an excellent, well organised event showing quality is better than quantity. One I will do again in the future for sure.

Lessons Learned

- Have everything done by Saturday night – eg race number attached to clothing.

- Have bag packed with clothing for all weather

- Porrigde went down ok on race day had about 2 ½ hours before start. Try toast though.

- Make a checklist of everything you need for race day so don’t miss anything.

- Starting warm up at least half an hour before. Also drank a pint of water with breakfast then sips in the run up. Also took half a 500 ml water for first 5 miles. Worked well.

- Keep yourself moving for the rest of the day so legs don’t stiffen up.

- Pace was well judged – almost even split – started hurting about mile 9 but played good mind games to keep going.