Before this year I’d entered the Buchlyvie 10k three times but completed it zero times! In fact,  up until this weekend, I’d never made it to the start line.

My first attempt ended when I discovered how long it took to drive to Buchlyvie from where I stayed in Glasgow. I didn’t want to drive so I didn’t bother going.

My second attempt ended when it started raining before I’d left the house. I didn’t want to get wet so I didn’t bother going.

My third time was last year. I now live much closer to Buchlyvie so I couldn’t use distance as an excuse. It wasn’t raining so I couldn’t use the rain as an excuse. Unfortunately, it was snowing so I used snow as an excuse.

The phrase “if at first you don’t succeed then try, try again” should really be “if at first you don’t succeed and its not raining, snowing or too far away then try again!”

The race starts on a small pitch next to a church. After the start there was a small lane from the pitch to the main road.  There was a very large puddle in the lane which had no way round it. Now – I’ll run through just about anything. I’ll run through the pain barrier, I’ll run through atrocious weather, I’ll run through the night. There’s nothing I won’t run through…except a puddle. I’m not getting my trainers dirty or my feet wet!

So the race started and almost immediately it stopped. It turns out most runners don’t like puddles. Everyone gingerly tried to tip toe through the puddle before starting running again once they reached the main road

The rest of the course was an out and back run along an off road track. There was a strong head wind on the way out which annoyingly didn’t seem to give much of a push on the way back.

I was happy with my form. I was aiming for 45 minutes but considering the slow start the off road track and the head wind I was happy with 46 minutes.

Afterwards I got a text from a friend asking if I’d picked up a post race goodie bag from the hall. DOH!!! I’d forgotten to collect it.

Oh well. I’ll just have to do it again next year.