I really enjoy doing Eddie's Half Marathon, because its set in a beautiful part of Scotland and I have a soft spot for the area. Since I started running I have managed up every year except one when I was injured. Its a well organised race with good facilities on a fairly flat out and back course. Helen and myself drove up late Saturday morning and enjoyed a relaxing day and evening.

We stayed at our usual B & B and its really a home from home. On the Sunday morning we went for breakfast at 9.00am and despite planning to have a light snack I could not resist the full cooked breakfast and boy was it good. It was a cold morning with light drizzle and no wind, so prefect conditions for me at least. As I made my way to registration I meet Kilbarchan's man of mystery Joe Sweeney. So we had a good laugh about his new found notoriety, which he plans to correct and I think he will prove to be a good addition to the club.

Making my way to the start I bumped into Jim White from Irvine AAC so we chatted and decided to start together as we where both planning to run around 1.26 / 1.27. I reckon there must have being about 200 starters and at midday we were off. Jim and I went through the first mile at 6.20 and I decide that was just a little quick for me. So I let him go and tried to keep my miles closer to 6.30 / 6.35. For the next few miles I was running on my own neither passing or getting passed.

As I approached the turning point the leaders were passing on the other side and I counted each runner as they passed. I was in 25th place at the half way stage. I felt good and decide to try and work and see if I could close the gap on Jim. Jim was about 300 to 400m ahead of me with 3 runners in between I tried to work to pick them off and managed to get within 10m of Jim, but he held on well and we finished within seconds of each other. So I was pleased with my finishing time of 1hr 25mins 58secs so soon after the marathon.

A quick chat with Jim and I was soon heading for the hot shower and then Helen and I went for lunch. We headed home and John Kynaston was kind enough to send me regular reports from the New York Marathon. So thanks John and well done Neil and Caroline. There's a new half marathon coming up on Nov 18th at Buchlyvie and it would be great to see a few Kilbarchan runners there. Its meant to be a nice flat and scenic route.