Polaroid Helensburgh 10K

I decided I was fit enough to take part, and not having any real idea how I was going to get on, I aimed for 3:30 per kilometre as usual. I passed the 1K mark in exactly 3:30 and paid careful attention to my pace as I'd gone through (supposedly) 2K last year in 6:30, but this time around my watch still said about 6:45, so I'm convinced the marker is out. I was further adrift from the leaders, and in third place for Garscube, although I made up one of those places before 3K. Approaching the halfway stage, I was starting to lose a couple of seconds per kilometre on my goal pace, and making up no ground at all on the leading Garscube runner, with no idea how close behind me the others were. Heading back along West King Street between 6K and 7K, I was dimly aware of somebody wearing white right behind me, but their shadow had a ponytail so I deduced that it was the leading female. Around 8K I became confident of beating 36 minutes and over the next kilometre I noticed I was closing quickly on the leading Garscube runner, moving ahead at 9K. I picked it up slightly in the finishing straight to hold my position, and thought on crossing the line in 35:18 that I could probably have run a bit faster towards the end, although it would only have saved me a few seconds.

It looked like Garscube might have won the second team prize, with only Shettleston heavily represented ahead of our first three finishers, so I stayed around for the presentation and discovered I had also won a prize for 9th senior man (14th overall).