MHFS 10k - my first 10k in 10 months!

Bellahouston Harriers Pacers

I joined in with my fellow Bellahouston Harriers team mates to assist in the Men’s health 10k on Sunday 16^th June.  I’d agreed to help out as a pacer again this year and had used the race date as an incentive in my journey back to fitness.  By the time the race arrived, I was confident of being able to complete the 10k in my allotted time of 55mins.  However I didn’t appreciate that the last 10k that I had run was the Bella Belter, some 10 months ago!  

As usual with these events, there’s a lot of hanging around before the race itself gets underway and I was glad that the weather was a bit kinder to us than on the Saturday morning, which could best be described as ‘dreich’.  This afforded us with plenty of time to warm up and to chat with many of the other volunteers and racers in Bellahouston Park prior to the Race.

The organisers had taken the positive step of providing pacers with, not only, the usual bright t-shirts with our times on the back of them but also with short poles also displaying our pacing time.  We assembled at our muster points and marched our runners around to the Start Line. This meant that we were in front of those seeking a 55 minute pace, rather than being somewhere in their ranks.  On the downside, it meant that we would have to run around the 10k course carrying poles!

At 10:03 I set off with Derek Shand and led our group south and then west, as we made our way out of the park and along Bellahouston Drive.  We passed the 1k mark in 5.5mins and continued, slightly uphill, to Mosspark Boulevard, where we turned left and ran past the 2k marker on our way towards Dumbreck Road.  

Follow the Yellow Vest and Pole

With friends and running buddies shouting words of encouragement to me, one of the runners commented that I knew everyone.  I told him to treat every call as a personal shout of encourage for him.   

It was quite a humid morning and I took on some water at the drinks station and encouraged others to do likewise, as we turned into Pollok Park at the Titwood Road entrance.  Once in the wood, a number of over enthusiastic runners had reverted, at least temporarily, to walking pace.   I’ve raced this part of the course, more than 100 times, as it forms part of the Glasgow parkrun, but managed to keep my pace in check and we reached the 4k marker in 22:00.

We made our way past Pollok House and the Burrell Collection before running past the Woodpecker and exiting the Park onto Haggs Road.  Again I encouraged the runners to take some water at the drinks station and we could now see the tail end of the race making their way towards Pollok Park.

We recognised that we were a bit ahead of schedule, at this point, but knew that this was much better than being behind and having to ask our runners to pick up the pace for the last 2k.  

We ran along Dumbreck Road, this time to the Nithsdale Road entrance and turned left, back into Bellahouston Park.  With the crowds cheering, we ran downhill and turned right, before another right and a short climb took us towards the Finish line.  At this stage we pulled over to the side and encouraged our Group to give it their all for the last 100m or so.  

After we crossed the Line we were marshaled into the Goody Bag and Medal collection area, where we were surrounded by race finishers, wishing to pat us on the back and shake our hands, to thank us for supporting them around the course in under their 55 minute targets. 

Although I was shattered after my run, it was a great to once again be part of the Scottish Running Community, whilst raising awareness of Scottish men's dreadful physical and mental health record.