Kirkintilloch 12.5k and 12 hills.....

Pic by Moira Nicol

After running eleven races in January, it’s taken me a while to reach number twelve.  However I have been doing a lot of training, following my Half Marathon Training Programme which has me running at least six days a week.  On Sunday my schedule had me down to run ‘three miles warm-up, followed by five-six mile race (not flat-out)’.  The Kirkintilloch 12.5k race coincided with this and I headed for the hills of Dunbartonshire.   

The race starts at Gartshore Road outside of Gartconner Primary School and is not easy to reach by public transport on a Sunday morning.  I had agreed to give a couple of fellow runners a lift to and from the event.  I picked up Claire Larravide and Andrea Bachand on Byers Road and headed through Lenzie to the race.

Although the National XC races, the day before, and the challenging course may deter a lot of runners from participating in the race, there were still a lot of weel kent faces on the day.  The race is set on country roads and comprises of a circular route (map) from Gartconner to Gartshore, Stoneyetts, Wester Bedcow and through Fauldhead to return to finish at Gartconner School.  The roads are quiet but undulating, with a total of 12 hills adding to the joy of running in a cold Sunday morning. 

Although I was tempted to race the full 12.5k, I decided to stick to my training plan and took my time during the first 4k.  My Garmin charger clip had broken, so I decided just to wear my stop watch instead.  I settled in with Natalie Fleming a bit back from the front and we set off at a controlled pace at 10:30am.  It wasn’t hard to control the pace as the course soon starts to climb and continues uphill for almost the first kilometre.  The next kilometre is mostly downhill and Natalie and many other runners increased their pace.  The course climbs again just before the 2k marker.  Then it’s down hill for 500m and uphill for the same, taking us to the 3k marker.  I was a bit surprised that Alan Dempster was running beside me at this point but he has been injured for a while.  At 3k the course continues uphill, turns left, up another hill and then turns right and continues to climb to the 4k point.  I was enjoying the run and taking in the scenery.  My time at 4k was around 19:50 and I decided that, with my pre race warm up, I must have done around three miles and could now up the pace a bit.   

My race started at this point, the next kilometre was downhill and I was overtaking everyone in sight.  I continued up the steep hill at 5k and opened up my legs on the way down the other side.  I overcame the minor hill between 6 and 7k and worked had up the steep hill between 7 and 8k.  I could see, amongst others, Jammy Jo Smith, Jim McMillan and Paul Emsley all in front.  The hardest hills were now behind me and I had less than 5k to run.  I continued to catch other runners and was feeling good.  There’s a long gradual hill between 8 and 9k and then the course rejoins the original road and heads back towards the school. 

I caught Jammy Jo at around the 9k mark and then Jim at 10k.  However as I climbed the next hill my legs were starting to feel very heavy indeed.  Where did that come from? I asked myself as I dug in deep to keep the two runners ahead within reach.  Fortunately the lead legs improved at the top of the hill and I managed to catch both David Watson and Martin Sweatman shortly after.  Paul Emsley was a lot closer now than he had ever been but he was running well and instead of me catching him, he caught a Portobello runner in front.  The last kilometre is downhill and then flat and I was running well.  I managed to catch Portobello’s Angus Mclean but Paul was still a good bit in front of me.  All of a sudden I could hear someone right behind me.  “Who could that be running so well at this stage in the race?”  I didn’t want to increase my pace too much, in line with my training plan, and watched as a Portobello vest overtook me and raced towards the Finish. 

I crossed the line in a time of 57:15 (a pace of 7:05 for the 8.5k) and congratulated Angus, Paul and the others, including Natalie who had a great race before cheering home the other runners.

I was surprised that Andrea was taking so long to finish, as she was looking good when I passed her just after 4k. However Claire pointed out that she had taken ill and stopped around the 10k point.  The First Aiders had stepped in and, as usual, they did a great job in getting her back to the school, wrapping her up and giving her a warm drink.  I’ve been ill a few times after races and can empathise with her.  I took the car to the school door and we helped her into the relative warmth of the car before heading back to Glasgow and dropping her off at her flat. (She’s OK)

I later checked my previous time to discover that I had taken some 136 seconds off of my 12.5k PB on the same course.  Once again, huge thanks to all the organisers, helpers, marshals, fellow racers, supporters and of course the First Aiders too!

Full results and photos here.

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