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Buchlyvie Half Marathon - Sunday 16 November 2008‏ by Richard Beall

 

I was a bit surprised that (apparently) so few Kilbarchan club runners chose to do this race - as it is a reasonable distance (about 33m from home for me) and a very pleasant drive over not too busy roads, with some great scenery on the way. As it was I was only aware of myself and Brian doing it and saw no other club vests there.

(I don't usually write race reports as many others seem to but on this occasion I thought it worth it so that people know about this race)  Maybe it's that it is an 'out and back course with the classic traffic cone turning point that puts people off however, I decided to do it because it's about the only half around this time of year that I could find fairly close to home and the race website says it's quite flat - although it does give a warning of mud in places.

 
The weather was just about perfect - blue sky, little wind, no rain - a bit chilly but one of those autumn days which are great for running - but after a cold start you soon warm up. There was a field out about 250 - entries (allegedly) closed about 2 weeks before but when collecting the race number there were entry forms out on the desks so I suspect they were still taking the odd entry on the day. 
 
The start was off promptly - down hill for most of the first mile on road  (a bit of a worry for mile 13 then ) ... no traffic apart from the odd impatient local resident who decided to reverse into the runners to get out of their drive - (must have saved them a couple of minutes waiting for the entire field to pass). However, the run then turned onto the disused railway track - ground similar to the one Kilbarchan train on (before the council spent it's end of year budget one year in tarmacing it) - then varying between quite reasonable ground, grass, hard mud and very soft mud - but for a road runner this variation was actually quite a pleasant change. On this terrain, overtaking meant changing ground underfoot from the sides of the tack to the middle which is surprisingly difficult. 
 
As usual on out and backs' you are surprised (at least I am!) when the first runner passes you on the way back and then there's a few others and gradually a steady stream .. that can be hard going, but once you've reached the cone and turned it somehow seems very encouraging to see others still going the other way and you can feel a bit smug!
 
After about 9 miles I was feeling good and actually found I was smiling to myself, thinking 'I'm enjoying pushing on here' - however I should have known ... somewhere between 9 and 10 I struggled suddenly and that feeling left almost as quickly as it had arrived - so I focused on just trying to keep steady form and relax - which seemed to work - I was aware of the same few runners either slightly ahead or behind me and we exchanged position an several occasions as terrain changed or the (few and far between and slightly stingy) water stations were met.
 
Only one really muddy spot on the main course - for which a run through the mud/ water was required (twice obviously)- otherwise fairly good surface (quite a lot actually tarmaced).  The miles were clearly marked and I reckon reasonably accurate (no GPS to confirm that - just from race pace being quite steady and no sudden surprises which is the usual give-away).  The last mile was of course back up that down-hill and I wasn't looking forward to it - however I was able to push on again (all those Bowfield run training sessions paying at least some dividend) and the final part of the course was 2 laps around a field - oh dear!  My road shoes had done just fine to this point but this was a surprise for them - bit of a quagmire and was nicely churned up by earlier runners - however the slip-slidy didn't last too long and I was able to do the customary sprint for the line (why do we always try to do that?) for about the last 10 yards.
 
Time was (for me) unexpectedly about 20 seconds better than my previous best half of 2008 at 1:42:45 (unofficial - my watch, no sign of a timing gantry but official time will be several seconds slower as it took me (I guess) about 7 or 8 seconds to reach the start line). 2008 steadily represented an improvement on my 2007 best and previous few years (sadly and perhaps inevitably not my best ever which was 17 years ago and now out of sight for me).. attributable I think to turning up at Monday / Wednesday training fairly consistently this year.  My aim of getting sub-1:40 sometime in the near future still remains (I think ) a possibly achievable ambition, but it won't be in 2008 now.
 
Somehow today's run left me feeling inspired - you have to have a goal I think but today was one of those days where you just feel that running is great. I know I'll pay for that .. probably on Wednesday's session (I won't even try to do the Fartlek on Monday) ... and I'm fully expecting to feel grotty then as there has to be a pay-back for enjoying a run so much.