Gallovidian 10K

Three weeks of pain in my knee whenever I tried to run seemed a bit much, so I decided not to enter the Scottish half marathon championships in Elgin. This was a bit of a blow as not only would I be missing the race, but as it seemed way to far to travel when not running, but I would be missing the chance to catch up with my friend Ellie Greenwood. She was over from Canada visiting her parents and so had decided to run the marathon (there was a 10k, a half marathon and a marathon all being run on the same day on similar courses) to keep her training motivation up.......and needless to say she had a great win!



DRC out in force



Instead, I spent the weekend stressing about my upcoming presentation in Edinburgh at the "Night of Adventure" and testing it out on various (un)willing friends. Anyway, once the pressure of that was over and done with, I realised that my knee hadn't hurt for a few days, so I decided to test it with the local Gallovidian 10k race. This was organised by one of my friends in the other Dumfries-based running club, and was another counter in my club's road race Grand Prix, so there would be lots of DRC vests about.

The race itself wasn't a specific goal - the aim was just to come away with a solid pain-free run - so I ran the couple of miles over to the start as soon as I finished work on the Wednesday, got my number and lined up.



The radio DJ starting us off was so keen that he almost forgot to wait for the countdown, but we set off in a little bunch of burgundy club vests. The first mile was rather fast (despite the undulating roads) - Alan (our club captain) disappeared off ahead, bu I tried to settle into a pace and not get drawn along by a lady who started as if it was a short track race. I passed her within the first mile and felt as if I was running out into the countryside alone, as Alan was the only person visible away ahead of me. Obviously I was nothing like alone, with clubmate Richard tucked in just behind me, and Lisa flying along behind that.

Lisa flying by....



I'm not sure about the exact km signs as Lisa sped past me (it seemed like it was effortless for her) just as we approached the 5km mark and Richard went with her. Looking at my watch briefly, it appeared that we'd run 5k faster than I'd ever run it before so I let them go and figured that they would come back to me later.



With Richard



"Later" was about the 8k mark, as I'd reeled them back in and took the lead again, successfully negotiating the chicane of cycle path barriers under the bypass. The end of the race was not my finest hour, as there is a hairpin bend back on yourself on a busy corner, and I almost came to a standstill to avoid tumbling off the pavement into the road. Richard negotiated this much better and so I then had to chase him down he street. Having only run the Gallovidian once before many moons ago (sweeping the course doesn't count), I thought that I remembered entering he track to the finish as soon as we turned off the main road. My memory failed me, and we actually had to run past a tow of houses, up a steep incline, across a car park and then down a lane onto the bottom of the track. Richard and I were together as we entered the track, but I had no sprint in me, so he opened up a gap of 8 seconds while Lisa closed me down to 4 seconds.



Although my time was considerably slower than the 10k in Glasgow 3 weeks earlier (on an "easier" course) I was still v happy to come away having achieved my goal of a pain free run with no further injuries, as well as an individual and team win.......and even more excited for all the PBs achieved by my clubmates!