Rouken Glen 10k - Wet Wet Wet & Wet

This was Giffnock North’s 20th anniversary of the Rouken Glen 10k and a total contrast of summer weather from last year’s event from lovely dry day to torrential rain a year later around the same date....only in Scotland!  With the change of the Vertical Mile race I was expecting a group of Harriers lining up for the race but it only turned out to be myself and John McBride. Once we had found each other we joined the rest of the runners and the playing pipe band all huddled under the pavilion as with the poor weather this seemed to replace the mass aerobic warm up prior to the start.  As we all waited patiently for the 7:45pm start, runners started filtering over with 5 mins to go to minimise standing in the cold.  At the usual starting point it was a bit of a damp start (no joke intended!) one minute John & I were talking then we heard a horn blast and we were a way. From the start John went ahead and I ran my own race as this was my first competitive race event in 2012 after sustaining my calf injury late last year.
I took the first 2km in and around the park fairly easy as I knew the hills were coming and felt confident I could pass alot of people on the long ascent to the 6km mark.  On the 4km downhill section on Ayr Road to the finish I made my pace transition at the top of the road gradual to ease from hill climbing pace to a steady downhill pace to avoid having erratic breathing and a stitch which I have experienced in this event before.  Thankfully my experience and training with the Harriers paid off.  With the final section of route outwith the park on Rouken Glen road I was keeping an eye out for the speed camera as I knew from that point it would be just leading into the final up-hill 150m sprint to the finish and I was able to up my pace to give a final sprint to the finish, settling for a time of 52:21.

My target was 50 mins and to get through the race in one piece without sustaining or worsening my calf injury, 1 out of 2 is not bad.   After returning to training with the Harriers in April I felt I did the best I could, ran a good technical race and just need to work on getting fitter to increase my pace as I want to run as fast as I can.  My time was 1:31 slower than last year but it has set a marker to see what stage I am at and what I need to work on to lower my time to 50 mins then the high 40s’.
John McBride’s time was 48:12, 33 seconds slower than last year but John was happy with his time.  Also Dawn Buchanan was running and she clocked a time of 52:04.

Thanks to Richard for the race report.