On Sunday 24th April I ran the Balfron 10k
race. This is the third time I have ran this race and it’s one of my
favourite events. It’s hard to say why I like it so much, it’s an out and
back route and is pretty much uphill the whole way back. The course is
undulating with some pretty steep climbs thrown in, and is predominantly
downhill for the first 5km where you turn back and run back up he hill to the
start again. It is not a PB course by any stretch of the
imagination. It’s a nice sized race and has a good, community feel to
it.
That's me with the weird shaped calves
Driving to the race (90 mins away) I started to get flash
backs to last year. As last year, the race was on London Marathon day,
and was listening to the coverage of the marathon on the radio on the way
there. The radio commentators mentioned how cold it was and that the
leading elite women runners were wearing gloves (they are East African to be
fair). A glance at the car’s thermometer told me it was 6 Celsius
outside. I now remembered last year, it was a bright sunny day, warm in
the sun, but chilly when the sun went behind a cloud and there were occasional
icy showers. Remarkably, it was pretty much identical today. The
showers weren’t as icy, but it was pretty much identical conditions as last
year – pretty good running conditions actually.
Underway
I arrived with only 25 mins to spare, collected my number
and chip (hopefully a WORKING chip this year – last year’s chip timings didn’t
work) and made my way straight to the start where I bumped into my club mates Pete
and Stuart. Turned out to be a decent HBT presence in the race with 5 of
our runners taking part. The race was started by Balfron High School
alumni and Rio Olympics Team GB runner, Ross Murdoch, and off we headed out of
the school grounds and down the hill.
There is a sharp left turn just as you exit the school and I
got caught up in traffic a bit. I had to slow a lot to get around the
corner and that is a learning point for next time I run this race – make a fast
start and a dash for the first turn. My attitude to this race was pretty
relaxed. I am not going to do a 10k PB either in my current level of
fitness, or probably ever on this course. A course PB wasn’t very likely
either due the fitness issue. I have been sick recently (conjunctivitis
and a bad cold) and spent last Saturday in bed the whole day. So I just
ran as best I could. The lovely sunny weather and picturesque scenery
reminded me why I always try to run this race. I ran the first 3km in
times of 3:56, 4:32, and 3:59. I wasn’t getting over excited because I
knew I was going downhill and had to come back up again, but I was encouraged
and felt I was doing better than I thought I might. My target such as it
was, was to run sub 45 mins and I could see that was very achievable. At
the 4km mark, one of my club mates, Lucy caught up with me and said “Hi,
Steve!”. After asking where Kata was, (at home with Ruby), she mentioned
at the 5km mark that she had just ran a 5km PB. J Impressive. She obviously had a lot more energy
than I did and this was born out as she pulled away from me on the uphill and
at the 7.5km very steep incline, she was well ahead of me. However….she
had just made herself a target and so off I headed in pursuit. I caught
and passed her at I think about 8.5km, but at about 9.5km she passed me again
and I hadn’t the energy to go any faster. I made it my new goal to finish
behind her and not be overtaken. I finished seven seconds behind Lucy,
and 3 seconds ahead of the guy behind me, so mission accomplished. These
was ‘gun times’ by the way, chip times show that Lucy was 10 seconds ahead of
me and they guy behind me actually finished in a faster time than me.
The 7.5km hill. This is roughly the distance apart that Lucy and I finished as well.
My time of 43:54 was OK. I am pretty happy with
it. It is over a minute slower than last year’s time, but all things
considered, I am pleased. It’s amazing really how long it took me to
break my goal of a sub 45 minute 10k, and now sub 45 minutes is my mark or
respectability.
Out and back and undulating. Makes a pretty, symetrical graph on my Garmin.
Nice medal and t-shirt this year. This year was the 10th
anniversary of the race and I think they pushed the boat out. The t-shirt
is technical as opposed to the usual cotton, and the medal is ceramic which is
nice – I don’t think I have any other ceramic medals. There was a display
along the route of all the previous year’s t-shirts. I say “display” –
someone had pinned them to their garden fence. Amazing though.
Really good.
I love this race. Thanks to everyone involved in
making it happen and I very much hope to run again next year (and get a course
PB).
Technical T-Shirt and Porcelain Medal. Nice.
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