My plan was always to do a half marathon as part of my marathon training and after a bit of debating I decided I would do the Alloa Half Marathon as I thought the larger field would suit me better. So 10 o’clock the night before the race and I get a text to say the race is off due to the weather. A quick check on Entry Central and I found the B to C was still open so I would do this instead.
I last did this race in 2014 and I experienced a bit of a stressful situation pre-race trying to find the chip for my shoe (this particular year the chip was sent out but you were told it might not be the right one and you would need to check at registration - I spent as much time trying to find the chip and the race did not start on time). Therefore I thought surely it would be stress-free this time, after all, other Harriers had run this race since then and not encountered any problems..... Having entered a week before the race I thought I would have got my race number sent out but I got an email during the week to say about 30 runners who entered towards the end would need to collect their number from Clydebank Sports Centre. Not ideal as I was going straight to Balloch and it would mean an earlier start - not ideal on the Sunday the clocks go forward! Anyway I got to the Sports Centre at 7.40, entered the sports centre expecting to see someone at a desk with numbers... no sign of such person... rush back out of the door... back in again... where are the numbers...f inally found someone who told me that the person who had the numbers had not arrived yet but was hopefully on their way. I was a bit concerned as the buses were due to leave to take the runners to Balloch at 8.00. When the person did arrive it turned out they had forgot to put their clock forward (I am sure it must happen to us all at some point in life). Panic over and I was on my way to Balloch.
On to the race and the first three miles were done along the canal which was different since I last ran this. At mile three you then came off the canal and up into Renton. I enjoyed this change to the race route. After that it was the usual route to Dumbarton, through Bowling and Old Kilpatrick, and then onto Clydebank finishing in Seaforth Road as usual (the service road beside the shopping centre). The route is mainly flat with a few minor inclines. The route is mainly on footpaths while briefly running on the road in quieter places.
As mentioned at the start this race did not have as big a field as Alloa and after a few miles I did find myself running on my own at times. I did find that when other runners drew level with me it spurred me on and my pace picked up. In the last mile a female runner overtook me and I had been aware for a while of people at the side shouting support to a local Dumbarton runner. At this point I glanced in a shop window to see this other female runner was not far behind and I thought it was inevitable she would overtake me as well. However I drew level with a male runner and fell into pace with him. I still had a little left in the tank and had enough to see me through to the finish, with a chip time of 1:28:41.
I did not think I would be saying this but I felt the heat affected me on Sunday and left me dehydrated during the race. I took a gel pre-race but I had based my hydration/nutrution on the Glasgow half when I took no gels and only had two water stops. This race had two water stops - at miles 5 and 10 and at both I felt quite thirsty. I am trying to keep an eye on hydration going forward both in training and the marathon although water stops will not be an issue in London.
Overall the race went a lot better than the last time I ran it and I certainly liked the change in route along the canal and I would certainly consider running this race again.
Julie
Footnote: It would be good if people are doing races to write a small race report. I certainly appreciate them as it can be a way of finding new races to do in the future (...I am hoping the Harriers who did the London Landmarks Half Marathon might write a report...) Julie
(Just like Julie's report, we like to see reports on races from a personal perspective, either as a runner or supporter. So just e-mail me any content and I will put it on or send me an e-mail and I can add you as an author to the blog so you can add reports yourself. Alan).
3 comments:
Well done Julie. You are right on track for a good performance in London. And you got your heart rate up to speed before the race without even doing a warm up thanks to the missing registration desk! Quite often minor problems like that before a race actually help get you fired up I find.
Alan
Julie, well done, that was a fantastic time and must give you a huge level of confidence for posting a PB in London.
You make a good point about race reports Julie, it's good for everyone to broaden their horizons now and again. Guess what? I'm running a new (to me) ultra tomorrow so another report will be on the blog next week! I'll keep it short, promise.
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