Jimmy Irvine Bella 10K

The first of my two trips to Bellahouston Park this weekend. Really wasn’t sure what to expect this morning. On the one hand the course was flat, I felt fit & strong and I was hoping for a good time. On the other hand injury had meant I hadn’t been able to get much mileage in recently, my last training run had been a disaster and I had no real sense of pace and form. Given the situation I decided to go in to the race with a detatchedly intense, agressively laid-back and ferociously relaxed attitude. I was going to see what happened.

I was at the front of the pack (no point in hanging around really) so I got overtaken quite a bit in the first 20s (but never afterwards). Niall had told me that the 1^st km was down hill so the best plan was to gun that and then ‘hold on’ for the rest of the race. OK, no problem, I started fast and did my first km in around 3:18. Much to my surprise I did the next one in roughly the same time. I began to wonder whether this pace was sustainable. My curiosity was soon satisfied as the third km was a fair bit slower and I seemed to just deteriorate from then on. The bulk of the race was uneventful for me, the one piece of excitement being the wee old man who let his pug run straight in to the path of 500 oncoming runners, prompting much consternation and abuse.

When I hit 8km I decided to kick it up a notch. I pulled away from Scott Forest of Greenock Glenpark (I think) who I’d been running alongside for a while and overtook Joseph Sherridan from Cambuslang. Coming around the final bend with the end in sight, but ever so far away, I put on a bit of a sprint, overtaking two Bella runners in the final stretch and coming in 17^th at 36:24, a 40s improvement over 2 months ago.

I’m pleased with my time, but pretty sure I’ve got a better one in me. I’m proud to say that I was the first person back at the club house spread, enjoying a clear sandwich, two cakes and coffee lead over my opponents.

Then I got in my car and drove to Tinto.