More than 20,000 runners took to the streets of Glasgow yesterday with almost 9000 – 8938 to be exact – completing the half marathon. Of that number, 7 were representing the mighty Maryhill Harriers.
Caroline and I got the bus into town early and arrived at George square in time to see the start of the 10k. We found something to climb atop (about 400m into the route) and spectacularly managed to spot both John and Laura giving them plenty of encouragement as they passed. We also saw Sally Gunnell who was probably wishing it was back in the old days – then she could have finished her race right there!
We then made our way to meet Andy at the lion statues 5-10 minutes later than the 9.45am time we had told him we’d be there. Fortunately Andy was still there stretching and limbering up. He and Caroline went to queue for the loo, while I waited for their return (and also my wee sister was supposed to be meeting us there). At 10.20am I was beginning to worry if everyone had ditched me or was locked in a toilet somewhere. This wasn’t helped by the fact that I was beginning to need to go myself. Andy and Caroline returned in the next few minutes after some fairly horrendous queuing, and I snuck into the trees beside the statues for an unsuccessful attempt to pee. I then grumpily stormed off to do some strides, blaming Andy and Caroline for the fact that they had to queue and I couldn’t pee. Moments later and Caroline and I had lost Andy, and were on the start line. When I say on the start line what I really mean is that we had squeezed into the white section pen and were about 100m away from the actual start. We considered moving towards the back of this group in the hope that their might have been more space to run, but in the end stayed where we were. The horn went and we were off.
2 minutes later we crossed the line and then we were really off and I was still grumpy. Anyone who was going slower than us (which was pretty much everyone around us at that point) was a “stupid fun runner who shouldn’t be in the white section”. We were aiming to try and do our miles in 7:15 and managed to get to mile 1 in 7:30 which wasn’t bad. Even better we reached mile 2 in 14:30 so were back on schedule, but these first 2 miles had been really hard work and we both felt like we had exerted way too much effort ducking and weaving through other runners at this stage of the race. Having run this race 3 times before, it’s always a bit like this – but this year, probably due to where we placed ourselves at the start and the pace we were aiming to maintain, was the worst I had ever experienced it. The next 2 miles we hit pretty much bang on 7:15 each, reaching 4 miles in 29 minutes, but even then I was feeling like I probably couldn’t maintain the pace. Our 5th mile was about 7:25 and instead of trying to respond we decided to just keep going at this pace. We ran through Bellahouston Park and definitely got a lift from some of the music playing, although it felt like every toilet cubicle was taunting me. At the 6 mile marker we were still side-by-side and were 7:30 for the last mile. For the first time in the race, whether it was because we had caught up or had slowed slightly, we were no longer overtaking everybody in sight. For the next 3 miles, with Caroline just behind me, I tried to stay with a few club runners that were just in front of us. This felt like I was increasing my pace but in reality it was just maintaining about 7:30 pace.
However, somewhere in this section as we made our way through the ups and downs of Pollok Park I had lost Caroline. I was worried that her calf injury might have returned, but decided to just keep going and try and keep the same pace. I was still knackered (from the hectic start of the race) but was beginning to settle into a rhythm, and even latterly began to feel like I could push the pace again. I set my pb of 1:34:26 at Alloa last year and I knew I had no hope of making that time so resolved to just keep going to see how close I am to that sort of form. I had managed to leave most of my pacing group of club runners behind and by the time I got to the 12 mile marker was very happy it was all nearly over. I knew that unless Caroline was badly injured she wouldn’t be far behind and would still be on course for a pb. I don’t remember too many of my last few splits but knew I was 7:30 or under for each. Along that last mile the cheers of John and his fiancée Ali, Jenny King, and Isobel and Stevie from Garscube kept me going and I was able to put in a burst down the final stretch to cross the line in 1:36:12. I stumbled past the finish line photographers and hid at the side, avoiding the stewards telling folk to move on, to cheer in Caroline who arrived shortly after in 1:38:10 – taking 2 minutes off her pb.
We moved through the medal/goody bag area collecting as many bottles of water, at every available station, that we could and then went to the Bank of Scotland tent to grab a free t-shirt before collapsing on the tent floor. For the first time since 10:15am, I annoyingly no longer needed the toilet. After a quick trip to letter ‘M’ meeting point where we met a few runners we knew en route, we walked back to where the route enters Glasgow Green to cheer on Caroline’s mum. As she passed, looking way too happy for someone who has just run 12 and a bit miles, Caroline ditched her goody bag with me and joined her mum for the home stretch. It was allegedly to encourage her mum, but I reckon it she was trying to get extra marathon mileage on me, and soak up some extra applause from the crowds. I hobbled back to the finish area with the bags. Caroline got some more water, we made another stop at the ‘M’ meeting point and socialised with the Peebles family and Susan and then made our way back into the city centre to get the bus home – stopping on the way for a chat with Sam. Caroline and I got back to the flat and indulged in our tried and tested post race rituals – Caroline slept, ate, and washed (in that order), and I just sat in front of the TV eating, and then eventually washed.
Andy was always way out in front and finished in 1:31:15 which is pretty much bang on the 7 minute miles he was aiming for (Gold star on its way from Mick). Sam had a brilliant performance in his first race outing since joining the club with a 1:39:49, and I believe shared some of my frustration with running through the crowds. Margaret just missed the 2 hour mark, coming home in 2:02:24. Susan finished in 2:24:31 before returning home to start an online war against website hackers, and Paula who has been training in secret (I saw you in Jordanhill on my way home from work) ran 2:30:22.
A great day, with loads of our friends and family running, a pb for Caroline and ideal race prep for the marathon which is now less than 3 weeks away…
The winner was Hailu Mekonnen (Ethiopia) in 1:01:53, with the fastest female, Caroline Kilel (Kenya) finishing in 1:09:11 and 13th overall. There were also notable performances from Michael Gillespie (his brother won the 10k) who was 11th in 1:08:12 and Ben Melby (from Garscube) who was 23rd with 1:12:02.
Andrew Sutherland 1:31:15 358th
Stephen Jones 1:36:12 705th
Caroline Jones 1:38:10 (pb) 896th
Sam Thomson 1:39:49 1067th
Margaret Peebles 2:02:24 4664th
Susan McAndrew 2:24:31 7464th
Paula Carlin 2:30:22 7906th
Special mention: Elizabeth Chalmers (Caroline’s mum) 2:18:17, 6881st.
