In a topsy turvy week, it was by far the worst build up to a race I have ever had. It took me till Wednesday to recover from an epic hill walk the previous Sunday. Then on Wednesday I got food poisoning and really knocked me out to the point where I was wondering whether I would be fit to run this one at all. Even yesterday I was still feeling a bit rough. Anyway enough excuses :-)
I woke up at 8am and probably felt between 70 and 80%. I got to George Square just after 10pm in plenty of time for the 10.30 kick off. There are 4 different clusters which are distingushed by the colour of your number. The fastest guys were white, next blue, then green and finally yellow. I was in the Blue cluster as I predicted a time of 1.45 which is what I ran the Helensburgh marathon in a month earlier. I knew that I was going to be slower today so I situated myself right at the back of the Blue cluster. There was a couple of guys (probably famous) doing commentary and build up over the tannoy system. Who I have to say were superb! and really distracted me from all the build up tension. It was nice of them to go through the elite athletes one of which had a half marathon PB of just over an hour! It wasn't just this though he also went through the cream of the crop in Scotland, names in which I recognised through My Race and the weekly Pollock Park run 5K. I'm looking forward to the official results to see how they all got on as well as fellow Park Run volunteers.
Anyway to the actual race! The idea of the clusters was to spread out the field. So there was a gap between each cluster of a few munutes. So the whites were off, then it was us.....the blues. Everyone started jogging a good 200m before the line, but I just walked as my philosphy is, your time does not start, until you cross the chip mat. So needless to say I had my own moment crossing the start line by myself! lol. As usual the pace at the start was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to quick and I didn't actually catch up with the main blue herd till after quarter of a mile. With a few shimmies through the streets we were on the Kingston bridge! What a novelty, 2nd time i've ran over it and the novelty has not worn off! The first mile is always a good indicator of pace and I did the first one in 8.45, so my plan worked as I delibratley started slow and due to the bottlenecks early on it worked out well. The course then heads west along Paisley road west towards Bellahouston Park. Its a nice flat, wide road so it was good to get in a good rhythm. Turning into Bellahouston for miles 4-6 and a nice gentle uphill. Going into 6 miles I was about 51 minutes if I remember correctly so was bang on 8.30 pace.
Then we headed up to Pollock Park, and in just entering it there was a chip mat which I presume was for the 10k mark. It was nice to run round Pollock Park for miles 6 to 8 miles as I have ran it a lot in training and as part of the Park run so I knew what I was in for. From mile 8 it began to hurt a wee bit, but I was in the knowledge that after 9-10 miles it is pretty much flat or downhill to the finish and just as well! Mile 10 onwards it hurt! and I reckon it was definitley down to not being 100% and having not run the week before hand. But I maintained my pace and drilled through it. At mile 11, Richard Gough (Ex - Rangers footballer) was standing at the side of the road waiting for the celebrity relay baton to reach him. So I high fived him and wished him luck! Not that he needed it after he did the 5K Park Run I marshalled at yesterday in sub 22 minutes! And from 12.5 mile onward the crowds were particuarly great, although they were good most of the way round the course. But obviously at the finish it was electric. I finished in a time of 1.48.21 which I was absolutley delighted with given the circumstances. It is my 2nd best half marathon time this year out of 4 and my 4th best half marathon time ever out of 8 half maras.
Overall Great Scottish run is a great race with a great atmosphere. There a pipers at most of the mile points. There is congestion at some points but it still has massive PB potential. The weather on the day was pretty wet and about 12 C, so pretty much perfect running weather. The goody bag and medal are good value. It is not the most scenic of runs but Pollock Park and Bellahouston Park make up for it. Its the 3rd time I've done the GSR and I'll definetley be back for more in future.
Well it looks like after that and a day off tomorrow, I'll be ok to go back to hard training for the next 2 weeks, then its 2 weeks taper - THEN ITS LOCH NESS! WOO, so close now, its getting exciting :-)
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