40 miles 500 metres ascent
When the night before the daunting prospect of a 40 mile race you feel weary and in need of a long lie-in, it doesn’t inspire confidence. A 6.30am wake-up call did not seem anywhere as near attractive as…, well anything else, despite looking forward to this run over all my old running territories of the last 25 years. For better or worse I’m used to ignoring such feelings and just getting on with things, so I dragged myself out of bed at 6.45 and headed for the exotic delights of race registration at Partick Railway Station. It was just as well, as I proceeded to have, in my own small way, a stormer of a race, and I'm still on a high as I write this on Sun night.
Only a few familiar faces were hanging about at that start unlike my usual hill race, but like hill runners they were all exuding a very relaxed attitude about what lay ahead. After stashing drink and bananas in the cars designated for the 3 checkpoints there was a wee briefing from race organiser Lee and we were sent on our merry way alongside the busy Clydeside Expressway. Soon we hit the Clyde-side itself the pace nice and gentle as we headed through Glasgow Green, scene of many Shettleston Harriers’ infamous winter “mile rep” sessions many years ago. Ahead of me lay many years’ memories of running and I was looking forward to revisiting these. Commonwealth Games building meant a less than scenic diversion through Dalmarnock, where I briefly found myself in front of the race leaders who had gone walkabout. After this moment of glory reality set in and I settled into a steady plod along the River Clyde, enjoying the leafy scenery by the Clyde.
The first checkpoint at Cambuslang after 10 miles allowed for replenishing of supplies, and the route now became more scenic as we hit the grassy banks of the Clyde at Carmyle, scene of many a Shettleston club run in the 90s. The sun was shining now and it was a real pleasure trotting along leafy paths to Bothwell Castle, interrupted only by a brief diversion into Blantyre, as we headed down to Strathclyde Park via a dodgy crossing of the Raith Interchange. By coincidence my sister and family were passing and gave me a cheer, though she later confessed that she thought I was just out for a “jog round the park”!! The heavens opened up at this 20 mile checkpoint, cooling me down nicely as the 3 hour mark was reached. A salmon and cucumber sandwich followed by a banana fuelled me up as I dodged the crowds watching the Scottish National Rowing Champs.
This 2nd half of the race was a second home for me, being my regular training grounds, and this helped immensely as I knew exactly what lay ahead. I reckoned that about 4 hours of running were left if I could keep up my pace. I was still feeling surprisingly good, just keeping a steady plod going on my own, the gaps in the field being quite wide now. I was just enjoying being out on my regular routes, past the Barons’ Haugh nature reserve and more grassy riverside banks up to Garrion Bridge, as we entered the Clyde Valley proper.
As I trotted along this most lovely part of the route, through woodland paths and riverside trails I started to pick off runners ahead. I was managing to keep a good pace going as others faltered and thtis spurred me on. I was doing that old runners’ trick of alternating between getting a bit excited about how well I might do if I kept up my current good pace, and trying just to calm things down and take things bit by bit. This seemed to work well as I reeled more runners in as I started to get that “finishing smell” in my nostrils and the adrenaline kicked in.
I felt fantastic as the race wound over the riverside paths past Crossford and Kirkfieldbank, before entering the last mile or two into New Lanark. I literally bounded down the cobbled lane to the village, before cruelly we were put on a mile loop that passed right past the finish. I sprinted down the well familiar path to the finish tent with a huge grin on my face to a time of 6hrs 18mins, just over an hour behind the winner, a skelf of a boy about half my age. I was mega chuffed at just finishing this great race, never mind in a time about 2 hours less than I had roughly anticipated beforehand.I finished 22nd of 85 finishers.
All seemed to enjoy this grand journey along the Clyde and I have to thank Lee and her band of helpers for a fantastic day out. The weary doubts of Friday night, and the strange lethargy that comes from so called easing-down in the week before, had evaporated into the bright buzz of euphoria that only comes from a tough challenge met head-on and concquered. Those celebratory beers on Saturday night were the sweetest in a long time.
Results
Clyde Stride
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