The atmosphere of this race is always great and the nice weather brought more spectators and well wishers out than I can remember in the the past.

Last Saturday I had a poor run from a tactical point of view although I did get a good time, so I was looking forward to running where I knew the course. I started at the back of the pack, this way I can get started at my own pace, one of the mistakes I made in Bishopbriggs was to start in the middle of the pack which was too fast for me. This way I was able to keep a more or less even pace.

A the start I made a mistake with my watch and I missed recording the split time for the first 1 kilometre the also meant that I didn’t have an accurate time while I was on the course. Added to this there seemed to be a problem with the digital timer at the finishing line. I crossed the line at about 58 minutes and 15 seconds according to the timer but it was obvious from watcing it later on that it was not updating correctly and was slightly fast. I was unable to workout what my actual time was which was slightly disappointing.

However I was really happy when I got the official timings through this morning. The ‘gun’ time was 00:57:35 and the ‘chip’ time was 00:56:03.  My previous best for Helensburgh was 01:08:14 which I set in 2007.

My next race is the Polaroid Eyewear Series 2009: Clydebank 10K.

From a tactical point of view I ran a bad race. I started too far up the pack and ran the first 2 km far too fast. This resulted in my legs giving out on me a bit after 5 km this was also partly due to not having taken enough liquids before. I recovered after taking on water. I will have to be more conscious about taking water before a run in future especially when it is hot.

Since I started using my new pair of running shoes I have occasionally been getting a discomfort in the ball of my left foot and this happened again in the middle of the race. It did disappear later on but I am still not sure what is causing in. I have bought new insoles which should provide better shock absorption and I will see how they go in the 10K in Helensburgh on Thursday.

After taking on the water the last 2 km went well and I finished in a new personal best of 59:21 by my watch, the race was not chip timed so this is likely to be the most accurate time I have. I am not sure when the full results will be published.

From the descriptions I had read I was expecting a flatter course but there you go it was good training as I am more aware of the need to get my preparation correct.

Edit : Official time 59:18. Full Results

When the weather gets warmer or when I work out how to deal with my lungs and cold weather better I want to try the timed 5km runs at Pollok Park on Saturday mornings. These are organised through Park Run.

Entries are open for the Polaroid Eyewear 10K Road Race Series 2009 so I will get my entry in at the end of the month. The fourth race is over 2 weeks after the third race. When I heard this I thought it would give me the chance to run the Mens Health Forum 10k which is usually the same day and is within walking distance of home. However it is also on a week later so still on the same day as the Vale of Leven

This year want to do other 10k races before the Polaroid series.

The official site, see side bar, has a gmaps-pedometer plot of the route and the elevation does not look too bad and is a lot less than Glasgow.

Off to carbo-load

One of the instructions in the race pack was to turn up about an hour early, unfortunately the person in charge of the changing tents did not follow this instruction and it was up to the early runners to decide which tent would be the male and female changing tents and we grabbed some chairs and set them up around the edge.

At the muster area in George Square there was a very long queue at the runners info kiosk, seemingly they had safety pins. I was thankful for the announcement that were would be no mass warm up, the ones at the Jog Scotland events I have been to in the past have been pointless at they are fine for people who do aerobics and can follow the instructor but most people just seem to get lost, me very much included.

The first 1K of the course is up hill but you also lose some height before regaining it which when I ran the the race 2 years ago I found annoying, but having a little more experience with other courses it is not so bad.

The second 2K is mainly over the Kingston Bridge, it is almost worth running the 10k just for a chance to run where usually only cars are allowed The view down the Clyde is good but, there is little time to take it in.

I managed to run as far as 2K from that point on I was on my usual run – walk – run

After the Kingston Bridge I was following the route that I walked last week. The short but sudden up hill section between 5 and 6K did catch a few people and I was glad that I had walked it.

From 7K the route is mainly down hill, my feet were beginning to complain at this point, I think the problem with my toe a few weeks back and the blisters I got from wearing sandals to prevent my toe from getting rubbed my have been to blame.

The finish line was a lot further up Glasgow Green this year, by this time my feet were feeling a little flat and my legs wouldn’t put on a final sprint. I crossed the line at 1hr 12mins on the gantry time. When I get the official time I will post it.

This was the 5th 10K race that I have taken part in this year. I now have some idea of what I need to do to improve my times next year and along with regular training which I must do even when there are no events to take part in, I now know a couple of routes that I can use for training so that I can run a full 10K distance for training. Hill training as another aspect that I must undertake if I am to improve my breathing.

I have plotted a Gmap Pedometer map based on the directions given on the official site. The elevation of the course is below the map, this is quite useful and a bit scary