Forth Bridge Pitreavie 10k 9/08/09
I did the Forth Road Bridge 10K once before, 3 years ago, and I didn't have a great race. There were a couple of reasons at the time. The first was that I failed to judge my race pacing correctly (it's a surprisingly undulating race) and the second was that it was a baking hot day. Given that I woke up to grey skies and drizzle, and that I now knew what to expect from the route, those were 2 things I didn't have to worry about this time.
So my main remaining concern was about my own condition. As a result of work, other commitments and recent holidays I have missed club training for the past 6 weeks or so. I did manage to get in a fair few runs over the past week or two on holiday in the Western Isles. But I also managed to fit in a fair amount of whisky drinking and cake eating too, so swings and roundabouts....
As well as a few other runners I knew, I managed to exchange a few words with John Pickard before the start. Sounded like he'd been fitting in a lot more running and racing than I have recently but like me wasn't sure what to expect from the day.
We got going just a few minutes late and I left the rest of my family playing in the playpark by the start of the race.
You start with a fairly steep section down towards North Queensferry then quick uphill, head out of town and it's more steep downhill. During this section, three or four minutes into the race the heavens opened spectacularly. There were sheets of surface water running across the pavement and road, and we went from being a bit damp to being soaked through in a very short space of time.... (So rather than spending time kidding about at the playpark back in North Queensferry, my family spent most of the next 45 minutes sitting in the car. Fun outing for them!)
Anyway, after the big downhill and going under a couple of bridges, you go past a couple of roundabouts before circling back to head up towards the bridge itself. It's actually about 4km before you get to the bridge - this is where I got my pacing wrong last time round. The bit where you head up to the bridge is a fairly long uphill. Not a total killer hill, but a bit of a slog. And then the bridge itself is steeper than you'd think, as you head up to the mid-section, where it flattens out before you get the downhill to the far end. It's a bit over 6km by the time you get to other end of bridge and you then continue a bit before turning left back round to go under the bridgehead and climb uphill back to the other side of the bridge.
I'm not sure John knows this but I was only about 10 or 20 yards behind him the whole way along the bridge. But at around 6.5km he began to pull away from me as my pace faltered a little bit and he kept it going.
Last time around, this was where I'd really struggled as I ran out of gas for the next uphill section back across the bridge. This time I knew to keep something back and so I'd kept a little bit in reserve. I kept it ticking over on the return journey across the bridge, and before you know it there's only 1-2km left to go and if you have got something still in the tank, you get the chance to pick up the pace on the final downhill section and try to go past a few people. I managed to claw back a couple of people who'd gone past me earlier in the race, which I found pretty satisfying. But at least one person went flying past me too... Finished very strong though, going past a couple of people in the final 200 metres or so.
I finished in 43.08. Better than I'd feared but 30 seconds slower than I'd managed at Peebles 10K. I'm putting at least some of that down to missed club training and a bit of holiday over-indulgence... On the plus side, it's 3 and a half minutes quicker than I did back in 2006.
Bizarrely, it's actually the first race I've done this year at any distance where I've not run a PB (That's 2 10Ks, 2 half-marathons and a marathon as well as couple of other non-standard events that I've run for the first time). But I guess that trend had to stop somewhere. Back in training now for the Autumn season so onwards and upwards I reckon..!
Report Sandy Macdonald
Jon Pickard adds...
After a pw at the Donkey brae last week I wasnt sure how the FRB was going to go. Having got the train to North Queensferry (which I had to make a sprint for)I walked up to the star and was beginning think its going to be another hot day. spoke to Sandy before the start and we were both not sure how the race would go. with the start being delayed by a few minutes the clouds started to gather so it looked like we were in for a bit of rain and sure enough within 5 minutes the heavens opened now I don't mind the rain but by the time I got to the bridge the expression I had was: " why the **** am I doing this?"
The hardest part of the race has to be from the bottom of Inverkeithing to the halfway point. It's one long drag but at least you have a long downhill stretch to the other side with one more hill to negotiate before going on to the bridge again. Between 8 and 9k was a bit of a struggle but what helped there was two of us giving each other encouragement and we managed to get a few runners in the last 100 metres.So with a time of 42.03(39 secs quicker than last year and and also faster than Glenrothes(42.29) it was good to get the DB ruin out of the system and yes Sandy I didn't realise you were right behind me until I watched the race one Youtube. Yes, someone had recorded the race in 3 parts the start and everyone going on to the bridge. Next run will be the Strathaven 50. Can't believe its that time already.
one comment i'd like to make about the North Berwick Law hill race which I ran for the first time. There were a few youngsters running and one said to his pal "yir havin a laugh that's no them comin doon awready" great stuff happy running everybodyJon
Results here
