Balloch to Clydebank Half-Marathon 2015

Well that’s a new one – a race that went better than I expected.  

I’d been getting some decent training in recently, but an unexpected trip North at the end of the week, a couple of late nights/early starts and a fair few hours slumped on public transport meant that when my alarm went off  at 6am on Sunday the very last thing I wanted to do was get up and pound pavements for 13 miles. I think this road-running stuff is hard enough at the best of times and the tarmac offers few consolations or distractions to those not enthused.

The bus from Clydebank to Balloch took a long time – we really have to run all the way back? At the warm up I felt tired and stiff; like my joints had been covered in glue. The start went off at a shocking sub-5 pace, no way I could match that so I let other runnersstream past me. At mile 3 I already felt knackered – do that 3 more times? At mile 4 I developed a dagger-stitch and I gave serious thought to jackingit in. But I carried on, found a rhythm and just stuck with it. Odd really, I felt better at mile 10 than I did at mile 2. I’d apparently paced it well because I made up about half a dozen places in the last 20 minutes, cheers from Westies marshalls were well-timed and extremely welcome. I felt strong until the end. 

There are no heroes in distance running said somebody once – good races don’t just get pulled out the bag on the day. I always thought that was the brutal reality – you could only go as fast as you trained for and your performance was decided before the starting gun. Flip it around though and it’s quite comforting, you might be feeling rough on the day but if you’ve got some miles in your pocket that’s what counts. 

Well done on top performances from Karine & Jo and brilliant marshalling the Westies road-crew.  

1) Stuart Campbell/Corstorphine 01:13:11

9) James Callender 01:15:57

53) Shona McManus 01:23:45

190) Karine Saline 01:42:13

247) Joanne Hewitt 01:49:22