Today was my second run of the Men's Health Forum Scotland 10k run at Glasgow's Bellahouston park. Last year the sun was beating down and pre-race we had to stand in the shade of the trees. This year however, perfect running conditions. Cool, little to no wind and plenty of moisture in the air.
With 4000 runners this year it was set to be the largest MHFS 10K in its 6 year history.
We set off at 10am in Bellahouston park, heading out of the park to the cheers of the spectators, and along Mosspark Boulevard. The running crowd was fairly busy at this point and a few times I was nearly tripping over feet and dodging passed runner who clearly were in the wrong musta group and couldn't keep pace. With still plenty of support from the crowd and already well over the 1st kilometre I was feeling good. The Garmin had clocked about 4.30 for the first km, and round about that again for the second. I was running faster than normal and kept telling myself that I would 'burn out' too soon if I kept it up. I was feeling comfortable, my hill sprint training earlier in the week must have paid dividends. All was going well and I felt great running up Haggs Road, too good to be true.
We headed into Pollock park, taking in the first live band who gave that little bit of encouragement that was needed in the gentle incline. I didn't want to get caught up in the water station rush so stayed well out of the way.
This is where I really felt it, the undulation of Pollock park really began to take its toll on me. I tried to slow the pace a little but not too much that I was being passed by too many runners. It felt like we were running through the park for hours, it was gutting to be taken over by a runner in a tiger suit but later realised he must have been a sub 45 runner as later on in the park he was well ahead.
Coming out of Pollock park there was another strategically placed live band, right at the bottom of the hill on the way back out to Haggs Road.
As we made our way out back onto the main road I spotted the 8km marker and began to pick up the pace again. I had worked out by this point that it wouldn't be heading for a sub 50min finish but was well on my way for a PB. This section of the run was doubling back on a section we had ran on earlier so some of the participants brining up the rear were covering this park as we were passing them. It was encouraging to see generations of families running side-by-side, wheelchair participants and of course, Tommy from Greenock as always in is clown outfit.
Before I knew it I could see the 9km marker and we are heading back into Bellahouston Park. I decided to go for it and really push myself up the hill back into the park. This would be my quickest kilometre despite the long incline.
I was happy to cross the finish line in 51.23. A whole 1min 12 sec faster than I completed this run last year and a new PB. My hill and interval training has paid off and I couldn't have asked for any better today.
It was a tough run for me both mentally and physically, I haven't really put the miles in recently that I am used to and I could tell but I definitely noticed a difference in my speed and found myself trying to slow down my pace at stages. Maybe I should have pushed it just that little bit more and went for the sub 50 min time....
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