Sunday was to be my debut racing the half marathon distance – a distance I had covered every now and again in training runs but not on a consistent basis. The Great Scottish Run would be my first mass participation event and it was funny to think that I was racing world class athletes from all over the world (well maybe I wasn’t actually racing them).
After a 10k pb at the Bella Belter in August, I had high hopes leading up to the half, however work commitments meant I didn’t get as much running in beforehand as I would have liked. A niggling cold also felt like it was coming to a head right in time for the big one but it was far too late to even think about not running it.
I met up with a few friends beforehand, all with different targets in mind. I had been hoping for somewhere between 1:25 and 1:30, but not feeling the greatest I thought if I was able to sneak under 1:30 I’d be delighted. We headed near to the front of the pen and got set for the off.
I had fears of getting boxed in at the start but it wasn’t too bad and it was great to hear shouts from my fellow Harriers (who had completed the earlier 10k) as I ascended St. Vincent Street. I was careful not to go off flying, and after my HRM kept slipping off, I just found a comfortable effort and tried to maintain the pace. As I approached the latter stages of Pollok park and into Bellahouston, I was having to work harder and by the time I got over the Squinty Bridge and onto to the long straight towards Glasgow Green it was a case of hanging on as best I could. Encouraging shouts from friends and family on the final section saw me cross the line in 1:23:51. A total surprise for me and pleased to see pretty consistent splits of 5k- 19:43, 10k- 39:44, and 15k- 59:47.
Hopefully next time I do it I’ll remember to look around me and see all the fantastic Glasgow sites I passed. Natalie also did the half and finished in 1:33:17, a great run, resulting in 77th female.
First male was Scotland’s own Callum Hawkins in 1:00:24 setting a new Scottish record, first female was Kenya’s Betsy Saina setting a new course record in 1:07:22.
Maryhill results:
265th Kevin Campbell 1:23:51
836th Natalie Somerville 1:33:17 (77th female)
