A little bit of (self-inflicted) peer pressure hearing the tales of others on this site doing 10ks and HMs prompted me to sign up for the GSR 10k on Monday with less than a week to go. Training consisted of a run of about 4k along Brora beach on Tuesday and a fairly steady local 5k run on Friday.
Managed to persuade my other half to act as taxi. He isn't a morning person so it was really kind of him although he was a bit grumpy. We said a quick hello to our son who is now a student in Glasgow and about to go out with friends before we headed for the assembly areas. I wasn't sure what to expect but it certainly was the biggest event I had taken part in. It took quite a while to get passed the start point and as we started running up the hill on St Vincent Street there was just a sea of runners as far as you could see. Crossed the motorway bridge and then round a corner to join the Expressway. I hadn't been looking forward to that bit as I thought it would be a boring slog but it was OK and seeing the front runners on their way back on the other side spurred us on. Next landmark was round the Riverside Museum and past the tallship Glenlee. That took me past the 5k marker picked up some water (and decided to use the Portaloos as the queues had been too long at the start!)
The next turn took us down to the Finnieston Crane and over the squinty bridge and back again. By this time there were a few more spectators lining the route urging us on and I tried to give them a friendly wave. Going along the Broomielaw folk were saying that it wasn't far now, keep going but I'd lost track of the km markers and was quite surprised to see 9km come up. Even then the final km seemed to go on forever before we went through the archway into Glasgow Green and the finishing straight. Saw OH in the crowd but he didn't see me even when I yelled at him!
Overall I really enjoyed it. The atmosphere was great and running in a big group like that was a new challenge. You are spurred on by the other runners and spectators but you also keep having to dodge people especially the "sudden walkers"! It wasn't the most scenic of routes. I don't know Glasgow all that well but I'm familiar with the main landmarks and street names and it was quite fun ticking them off as you went along.
Afterwards we stopped at a shopping centre on the outskirts for brunch at Frankie and Benny's. The waiter was really chatty about the race as he done it in previous years. While we were there I managed to pick up my result from the website on my phone 01:01:01. Not quite sub-one hour but good enough from me.
Great Eastern Run (Peterborough HM)
Great Scottish Run - Half Marathon done. 26 minutes faster than last year!
Photos from yesterday's Great run 10k, digital download cost £26.99 :(
A lovely day for a run and a 10k PB
Another great Winter run.
