Half Marathon a Month Challenge #34 - Great Scottish Run - October 2016

Great Scottish Run - 2nd October 2016

Another week another half marathon. This was my 3rd consecutive weekend of 21.1 kilometre races after the Scottish Half Marathon and Cheltenham's Half Marathon the previous 2 weekends. Because I had run fairly slow times in those events (circa 2 hours 20 minutes) it meant that I wasn't feeling overly tired going into this one. In fact I expected to run it in a similar time, and that's how it worked out.

This was the 4th year in a row that Chris and I had run this event and as usual we met up beside the Wellington Statue (with the famous traffic cone hat) at Royal Exchange square. We then dumped our bags in the baggage-bus and headed to the start line.

As you can see, although it was a lovely crisp day, I was still sporting the customary bin bag for protection against the weather. Well it's Glasgow, so you never know what will happen.

I really like the start of the Glasgow races in George Square. It's always a great atmosphere.

So, off we went up the famous St. Vincent Street steep hill and proceeded along the now familiar route which took us over the Kingston Bridge. Another highlight of this event.

When we finally reached Pollok Park I spotted the familiar figure of Kingsley the Partick Thistle mascot being interviewed on the BBC. (Does Kingsley actually speak?)

Same as the 2015 version, Pollok Park was also the place where my lack of fitness caught up with me. This is where we have to run up what is normally a welcoming downhill run in the Pollok Parkrun. I tried to capture its steepness in the photo below. Not sure I've managed this, but nevertheless I had to have a wee walk at that point.

After that particular trial was over I could relax a bit and make my towards the Bellahouston stage and ultimately the road back to Glasgow Green. En route there was the pleasant sight of a in-race shower. If you're running with a phone then the trick is to get through it without the water interfering with all your running apps.

At the end of race I met up with Chris, who finished in front of me as usual, and we headed to the Whistlin' Kirk for some much needed electrolytes.

Cheers!


Results:
Chris: 02:05:21
Frank: 02:19:32