Dumfries Half Marathon

This was to be my third race in a row in September following on from the Kilmacolm Half Marathon and Cumbernauld 10k.  The weather had not been too great in the build up to this but as I set off on Sunday morning it was a lovely drive down the M74 with the sun out (albeit it was cold when I stopped at the services).  The race venue was Dumfries College and I arrived with an hour to spare. There was ample parking and toilet facilities.  The college sits in a 100 acre park and the area is known as The Crichton. I was able to do a good warm-up and the added bonus was the Dumfries Town Band who had assembled outside (as it was such a lovely day). I seem to pick the smaller races who have a band playing - it seems to create a great atmosphere!

The race is fully on open roads although I would compare it to doing a half marathon around Auldhouse.  I think possibly the course had changed this year.  It heads towards an area called Bankhead and the first 4 miles were relatively ok and I was probably on a for a similar time to Kilmacolm two weeks ago. However just after this we took a right turn and it was a gradual increase and this fifth mile was notably slower. However to compensate for this we had a drop down to the main road. I had certainly picked a lovely day to do this race as the scenery was great at the top of the hill. Once on to the main road we were running parallel to the water, probably the River Nith. From here we passed through a village called Glencapel. Now up until this point my mile splits (apart from the climb just after 4 miles) had been between 6.31and 6.46. I grabbed some water from the water station and turned the corner to see a very long incline. By the time I reached the top of this hill my mile split was 7.33. I was speaking to Pamela McCrossan of Clydesdale Harriers after the race and she felt her run had been going well until the 9 mile mark. I must agree with her.

Dumfries Running Club had strategically placed another water station at the bottom of the hill and it was a welcome relief.  We turned at this point and it was here I realised that miles 5-9 had roughly been a loop and this was us now heading back on the same road as we had come out of the college on.  It just seemed to be a constant climb and I soon gave up worrying about the mile splits.  I just wanted back to the college now.

I finished in a time of 92.06.  I have to say this is one of the hardest races I had done in a while.  I had initially been looking at a time similar to Kilmacolm two weeks ago (89 mins).  However as the race progressed I began to realise that this was probably not achievable. The race was run by Lisa Finlay of Dumfries Harriers in a time of 88.59.  After hearing this I was quite surprised to hear I was only three minutes behind her and maybe all things considered I should not be too disappointed with my race.

As I was staying overnight in Dumfries I made use of the showering facilities they had and I must say it was a bonus for this race to have such a good location in terms of facilities available.  I also visited the cafe as well.

I was the 2nd female home.  This was also the West District Half Marathon Championship and I had the added bonus of picking up a silver Scottish Athletics medal as well.

Looking back now I would say the race was hilly and I found it hard going but I could not have asked for a better day to run it and the scenery on such a lovely day made up for it. 
Julie