I love this event, solely because it encapsulates everything to do with health and wellbeing. From the 5km, 10km and 1/2 marathon right through to the kids racing in the afternoon there is something for the whole family and the organisation again was fantastic this year.
I had opted for the 1/2marathon and had longed looked at adding it onto he end of a run to increase my marathon paced miles. I planned to run out to Garioch from the house, change at Inverurie then run the half. In my head i would be doing 7 miles there and 13.1 around the course….I miss calculated.
Running from the house took me further than I had thought and I had to stop and start walking after 8 miles as thought going too much further would have pushed the total miles too far.
Arriving at the festival village, I was able to pop past a former colleague, Paul Gray (Gray’s Physiotherapy) who was providing the physiotherapy along side the RGU students ( I always think this is a great chance for hands on experience as there is always a large queue awaiting the services). From here I stopped past The Gathimba / Edwards Stall before going to cheer home the 5km finishers.
Karen from my work had completed her 5km and had smashed it, so all that was left for me to do was to get a finishing selfie for the SPEAR facebook site. Karen had ran this following a training plan and juggling two kids and work had stuck to her plan and completed the run…I think she even might have enjoyed it.
I got myself ready – choosing the Flyknit Nike’s for the run – I had ran with them previously but only short and fast distances. So today was a test to see if they are London ready.
The runners gathered, the countdown started and before we knew it we were heading off towards Morrisons before heading up the hill in Upperboat. I had a goal to try and stick to marathon pace ( circa 7:40min / mile) and when my watch clicked at 1mile to say 6:50 I knew I had to reign it in a little.
The course was undulating, in some parts very undulating. The opening 4 miles takes you towards the Polnar Dam and then you wind out towards the shadow of Bennachie. The cross / head wind was definitely not helping matters but the views and the sun were great to be out in.
The next part of the run is a climb up into the village Chapel of Garioch ( 8mile ) which catches you out but some well placed water stations helped to quench the thirst brought on by the warm sun. The hard work from the climb was rewarded with a quick down hill section – maybe too steep to be overly beneficial as I could feel the hamstrings and glutes having to work over time to decelerate me on the down hills.
Mile 10 – long stretch uphill into the wind – pretty much nothing more to say about this. The finish however was nice – again following a climb into the housing estate the race was on to the finish.
A great day out crossing the line in 1:37:37 with 21.8miles in the bank for the day – going slightly quicker than MP at around 7:22 min/mile I was very happy. Watching the finishers come through epitomises the Garioch running festival – so much support, so many running groups and so much fun.
Thanks again to the organisers and to the volunteers – without which there wouldn’t be a race….on to the next one …LDN.
Run Long and Prosper
James
