Sunday 2 September 2012

Race Recap: Great Scottish Run, 2 September 2012

Seriously, if anybody can tell me how to get pictures from my ipod touch onto my blog, I'd be so grateful!!
Today I finished the Great Scottish Run Half Marathon in 1 hour 55 minutes. It's not my best time but not my worst either. I usually finish a half marathon in between 1.50 and 1.55. I think the Meadows Marathon this year I managed in a shade under 1.50, but it was a bit confusing because the course was short and I ended up measuring my run on my Garmin instead of the course... anyway, so today wasn't great, but wasn't dreadful either.

Last year when I ran 7 half marathons, the GSR was my favourite. Glasgow has a great atmosphere, the crowds in Glasgow Green at the finish are great and the chance to run across the Kingston Bridge - which is a motorway - is pretty cool too. Often the course includes a street where all the families come out with water, hoses, jelly babies and oranges, as well as lots of cheers.

This week I had a cold and started the day with lots of green snot, which wasn't really a good sign. I hadn't followed a training schedule - although I had run 14 miles a week ago - but I was pretty cocky - now that I can run a marathon, the half marathon had a new perspective, not easy but should be within my comfort zone.

By the end of this race, I can't believe I ever did a marathon at all! It was hard, really hard. The crowds were still good, the course was varied and interesting, the organisation was fine, there was plenty of water, but good grief I felt rough. My legs ached, my feet were burning, I was constantly overtaken - usually I'm the overtaker, but that's usually because I start further back in the field and climb, but not this time. I don't know what was wrong  - I'm going to ruminate further on that, and get back to you.




I'd also switched to caffinated energy gels for the race. I kind of overdid it, taking on more fuel that I'm used to - I don't think it helped my mood at all.


At mile 10 I ditched my usual podcasts and went for an invigoration playlist - The Flaming Lips' Race For The Prize cheered me up, Muse's Uprising did the trick too, but Primal Scream's Country Girl *really* did the business. Suddenly I couldn't feel my body and I wanted to run as fast as I could, sing and dance! Thank goodness something made the difference - although the final few miles were still tough, they were sooo much better than 4-8!

I didn't hang about at the finish line and made it back to Edinburgh for 3pm (having left my house at 0810 for the 0900 train for an 1100 race start). I had a brilliant family dinner in Holyrood 9A and feel that the piri piri fries more than made up for my very salty sweating. 

Beer, foam roller and Doctor Who on CatchUp beckon.

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