On Thursday evening, as summer finally arrived to the West of Scotland, I shunned the BBQ’s and beer gardens for the short trip over to the Kirkintilloch Olympians hosted 10km. The race forms part of the Kirkintilloch trio of races, and having enjoyed the 12.5km earlier in the year I was keen to try this one out.
With the temperature topping 20 degrees all day, and coming off the back of a pretty busy week of running I was happy to just enjoy my run and not go PB chasing. The race starts by winding round the streets surrounding St Ninians high school before going out and back along the Forth and Clyde Canal towpath. With the exception of a pretty steep uphill just after Cadder Bridge at 5km, the route is fairly flat and, on a slightly cooler day, would be ideal for a fast time.
As it was, I struggled to get going for the first half and plodded along with cramping calves before speeding up for the final 3km, overtaking a good few people but unable to salvage anything better than 45.33. Quite comfortably my slowest 10km in a good while, although on reflection I was happy just to get out and enjoy a nice scenic run in the sunshine.
The race was won by Howard Smith of Garscube Harriers in 33.42
127 – Scott Coulter 45:33
