Two surprises. Although the first was not really a surprise. It didn’t rain, which I knew after checking the weather constantly in the run up to the race (see last blog post). The second surprise was that the route had changed. While you couldn’t call the new route scenic, it was an improvement over the old. Instead of running through along the main road through Balloch, Renton and Alexandria, the route followed the canal for the first few miles instead.
After that it was the usual ‘scenic’ route of bookies, chip shops, newsagents, whiskey warehouses and industrial units. All the sights. (All the smells).
The one thing that hadn’t changed was the bus trip from the finish line at Clydebank to the start line at Balloch. The important thing to remember when getting on the bus is to make sure you’re the first off it. Everyone goes to the toilet when they arrive. The longer you’re on the bus, the further behind you’ll be in the queue. A queue that gets slower and slower as the toilet roll in the cubicles is used up until eventually there’s only one cubicle for 200 runners. As I said, all the sights. (All the smells).
The race itself was good. I ran with Iain until mile 12 when I checked my time I thought I could beat 1 hour 45 minutes if I pushed myself and run just under 7 minutes a mile. I ran on, but I miscalculated. The finish line was further back than normal due to the change in route. I missed out by 24 seconds. I was pleased with my time though and still felt like I could have kept running. I didn’t though. I ate a banana.
Twin brothers swimming, cycling and running in Scotland 