Glasgow Women’s 10k! PB!

Well, that was a great event! The Glasgow women’s 10k…. Sunday 8th May 2011. Here are the results.

If you are on here looking for photos….

Try flickr and search Glasgow 10k 2011 (Chris Horton has some up)  Just make sure the photos are from this year! Or the Evening Times has some out too , or check out marathon photos.

The weather promised heavy rain, but luckily it was pretty much clear whilst we were running. We left the flat at 9am. I wasn’t sure if I should just wear my vest and shorts, or wear a tight warmer layer under it… I opted for the warm layer and it kept me toasty after the run. Everyone I asked said I should have gone with just the vest, but I went with the warm top. It was a little warm running, but nothing too bad. I was glad of it when I finished.

I drank a Caffeine boost lucozade an hour before and took a caffeine gel for good measure :-D. Probably didn’t need them, but I thought – why not?

We got to the start of the 10k at Nithsdale Road and I went up to white section. The event cleverly has a staggered start based on expected finish times. I was in the white section at the start… under 50 mins I think. I wasn’t far from the start but far enough back hopefully not to get carried away with the speed of the runners beside me. I met some work colleagues and just before the start I moved fowrards to be behind some club runners.

My aim was a 45 minute 10k and I had my pace band ready to help me achieve it. Aim was to start slower and get stronger through out the run if possible. I started of a bit quicker than I’d wanted to, but felt good, so kept it up but slowed a little for mile 2. (Aim was 7:45, actual was 7:06)

At 5k just before Pollock Park I was at 22:20 or so… on target for a 45 minute 10k if I kept going the same pace and I still had the hill through Pollock Park to contend with.

I felt strong and started to overtake some people… I ran into Pollock Park and kept up the pace. I considered hanging with other runners, but found myself comfortably going slightly faster than them which was good. At the bottom of the hill in Pollock Park, great timing, Eminem Lose Yourself came on, a great song to push me up the hill. I noticed I was steadily passing runners and the field seemed to be shrinking around me. I enjoyed was pushing the pace between 7k and 8k and managed to push up the second hill and let myself relax and run free on the downhill before you come out of Pollock Park.

It felt great to be over taking people steadily up and down the hills – great mentally.

And I have to say, the 10k Playlist I made up was excellent!!

Out of Pollock Park and I think a photographer might have got a good photo of me, then I saw Jane who cheered me on. I ran on to Dumbreck Road, with just over a mile to go… I don’t like that stretch much…but stayed strong… not far to go.

Round the corner into Mosspark Boulevard, about 0.2 miles to go… I was running strong, and could feel I was running as fast as I could. 0.1 miles…I looked up at the clock and it had just gone 44 minutes. I’d done a negative split like I’d planned!!

Then just before the finish line and Bryan Burnet (I think) said over the loud speaker…

‘Here comes Lorn Pearson who ran the Lochaber Marathon not so long ago, what a great recovery!’

That was all I needed to make me feel very special and happy.  When I finished I waited for my fit friend (with the injury) to finish and she did a pb too… shaving almost a minute off her time from two years ago!

Then I went on and someone handed me a Breast Cancer Care goody bag.  It was Lorna who I’d been emailing about my marathon and charity fundraising.  Nice to finally put a face to a name.

Now after it and my wrist is pretty sore… some ibuprofen and paracetamol is needed I think.

It was a great run, and I’m so pleased I managed to slash my pb by over 2 minutes! Running along side the other runs definitely helped! And I’m so chuffed I managed to stick to my race strategy (even though I went a bit faster than I had planned)…

The event is well organised, a lot of runners, but it works well. And you’re always guaranteed to see someone you know.

Here were my splits/ minute miles:

7:06
7:21
7:18
7:12
6:57
6:38
6:23 (0.2)

Run: 6.2 miles, 43:51 (pb by 2:30!), Pace: 7:01 (8.5mph), Calories: 621
Ave HR: 170 (89%) Max HR: 185 (97%)

Pop back to this post later and I’ll have updated the photos… I’m off for a shower!!