30th August 2015

by Lynn Henderson

I entered this race thinking it would be a good idea to do another 10k but what was I thinking doing it a week after Forfar 10k!!! Physically I was physically recovered but mentally I wasn’t sure if I could cope with the pain of another 10k.
The weather was pretty much perfect for running, not as hot or as windy as last week which was a relief. The route had changed since last time I ran this event but I wasn’t bothering too much as I would be following other runners. It starts at the North Inch which is a great park, even at 10am there were lots going on, dog walkers, rugby practice, kids on bikes and scooter and Pétanque ( French boules to you and me). It was nice to see the familiar faces of fellow club runners Jack and Jim amongst the 454 runners at the start.
At 11am we all set off, a nice little grass run to start with then we were onto the proper Tarmac track. I got caught up in the usual mad start and ran the first two km at stupid pace ( 3.49 and 3.46 ) oh no, I realised I couldn’t keep that up and could end up paying for this error later. I never felt settled after that and could feel a stitch starting at 4km, breathing like mad to control it, the next 3km were slower ( 4.05, 4.01 and 4.03 ) oh no, I knew that I must keep under 4min/km to get under 40mins. At this point I felt like giving up, and it would have been so easy to do that but in true runners style I battled on. At 6k I started to feel better and managed to catch up with runners and overtake them, looking at the last 4 km splits I ran a very even pace. This was helped by visualising the route back to the start and knowing I had less distance to run now. The support was great from the marshals and the public and there was a good crowd on the grassy section to the finish.
I was delighted to realise that I had managed a PB with a chip time of 39:14. I was first female and 19th overall. Jack Davies came in at 44:33 and Jim Masson managed his target of getting under the hour mark (comfortably ) coming in at 58:16. Well done.