St Andrew's 10k Road Race

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Well the day of my 10k race dawned dull, miserable and WET!!  Please note the emphasis on wet!  I had obviously come to the end of my lucky streak of running races in dry weather :-s

I have to say that I had been struggling all week as to whether I actually wanted to do this race and waking up to miserable weather didnt do anything to alleviate that.  I also woke up feeling a bit chesty and thought "great the cold is coming on".  However, I had promised my mate that I would run it.  So I got up, showered, put my running kit on, ate breakfast and trudged out to the car thinking "why at this ungodly hour on a Sunday do I torture myself?".  The drive to Strathclyde Park takes an hour from where I live, so I entertained myself listening and singing along to Galaxy radio (its a good thing I was in the car myself lol).  I arrived at SCP and parked in the furtherst car park from the race start - go figure!  So Nike+ on, Polar watch strapped on (I like my gadgets) and zipped up in my "dont knock me down" hi-viz rain jacket, I headed off for the Watersports Centre.  There were a few fair people about and while I waited for Cazza to turn up, I headed to the ladies room. I met Cazza on the way back from the loos and we waited until we were signalled to head to the start.  On the way I muttered that "I wasnt feeling the love for this race" but when the gun went off I duely started trotting along with Cazza at my side.  Wasnt long before she headed off on her own though lol. 

Medal & Bib Number

Low and behold, the rain dried up to a meagre drizzle and then went off altogether.  Maybe my running luck was still with me :-D.  We headed off up the side of the lake for the first 2k and then headed up onto the road, round past M&D's and then followed the road round to the entrance - this was about 4k long.  When I got to the 5k mark, I had this very surreal feeling that I was running like a well toned athlete.  Now let me assure you very quickly here that I am nothing of the kind - I just had this feeling of being fantastic lol.  Maybe it was wishful thinking, cause I certainly wasnt feeling it with all the coughing and clearing of the throat going on.  The 6k mark took us round the back of the Watersports Centre and we headed back out towards the lake path to do another 2km before heading back along the same path and then down by the car parks - dodging the big scary looking swans on the way.  They were wandering around looking menacing!!  I was about 500m from the end when Cazza appeared and asked if I was okay (she had already finished).  "Nothing left in the tank" was my reply but I managed a meagre sprinty type finish to the line.

After the race, Cazza happened to mention that she had an very surreal experience at the 5k mark.  Sound familiar?  We both looked at each other with shock as we realised we both had the same feeling *cue Twilight Zone music* lol. 

10k race was completed in 67m 11 s which was better than my GSR time.  So I might be on the road to improvement if I get my sorry butt back into training.  The next race on the agenda is the Jimmy Irvine Achilles Heel Bella 10K, although I haven't made my mind up about this one yet.  Will see how I feel in the next few weeks once I get back into a training plan ;-)  I will probably do the St Andrews one again next year as I like the course and by that time I might be race fit again *haa haa*

Kimbles

~x~x~

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