Last Saturday morning I perfectly commemorated my one year anniversary of moving to New York by joining nearly 8000 runners in the Scotland 10K Run!
It was a slightly chilly morning in Central Park waiting for the 8am start but as usual there wasn't the same wind you get back home in North-East Scotland so it turned out to be ideal for racing.
I did need a hot chocolate to wrap my hands round on the train ride home though.
The goody bag you got with the race number pick-up contained a saltire hat and a guide to various running events in Scotland.
Took a chance on my lighter weight Inov8 shoes and they were fine and light for a one-off race but I'd go back to my Saucony Kinvara for training or longer road races.
Enjoyed a slightly mangled version of Flower of Scotland before the start and Alex Salmond wishing us good luck.
As a New York Road Runners member they have one of my previous race pace times down as 6.42 so I had a reasonable starting coral but it still took at least 3/4 of a mile for the narrow-ish park road to clear enough that I didn't have to waste so much energy concentrating so hard on not running into people, trying to pass others and avoiding the banner tape on one side and the angled gutter on the other.
Thus, mile 1 was easily my slowest at 7.00, whether this is good in terms of forcing me to go off slower I've still to discover.
They had bagpipers before the race and also near each mile there was a lone piper. It did make me mildly homesick for a second, even though it's not like you encounter bagpipers during your regular day, unless you work around the Royal Mile or Edinburgh Castle I guess.
The course was a clockwise (for a change) circuit of Central Park and has a couple of slight hills. My splits after the first mile were 6.40, 6.27, 6.36 then combined with a slight downhill to the south east corner and the run to the finish, 6.17 and a 6.15. I was pretty pleased with my 40.38 finish time and training is going well for the Bear Mountain Half Marathon in May.
I just happened to get dressed in blue and white that morning!
I finished in 330th and 50th in my age group. The winning times were a speedy 30.17 for the men and a course record 33.22 for the women!
Afterwards there were a few little tents with various Scottish based stuff including a Glasgow based band.
Partly due to the chilly weather the freebie race hats were out in force and the sea of blue and white combined with all the Scottish flags in the area was a nice sight.
As usual you're all done and dusted by 9am and get to have that nice feeling of walking through the park and a few blocks to the train when it's nice and quiet out on the streets. You very quickly become a typical New Yorker when you live & work here..... bloody tourists getting in the way!
It was a slightly chilly morning in Central Park waiting for the 8am start but as usual there wasn't the same wind you get back home in North-East Scotland so it turned out to be ideal for racing.
I did need a hot chocolate to wrap my hands round on the train ride home though.
The goody bag you got with the race number pick-up contained a saltire hat and a guide to various running events in Scotland.
Took a chance on my lighter weight Inov8 shoes and they were fine and light for a one-off race but I'd go back to my Saucony Kinvara for training or longer road races.
Enjoyed a slightly mangled version of Flower of Scotland before the start and Alex Salmond wishing us good luck.
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| Plenty of kilts in action © NYRR |
As a New York Road Runners member they have one of my previous race pace times down as 6.42 so I had a reasonable starting coral but it still took at least 3/4 of a mile for the narrow-ish park road to clear enough that I didn't have to waste so much energy concentrating so hard on not running into people, trying to pass others and avoiding the banner tape on one side and the angled gutter on the other.
Thus, mile 1 was easily my slowest at 7.00, whether this is good in terms of forcing me to go off slower I've still to discover.
They had bagpipers before the race and also near each mile there was a lone piper. It did make me mildly homesick for a second, even though it's not like you encounter bagpipers during your regular day, unless you work around the Royal Mile or Edinburgh Castle I guess.
 |
| © NYRR |
The course was a clockwise (for a change) circuit of Central Park and has a couple of slight hills. My splits after the first mile were 6.40, 6.27, 6.36 then combined with a slight downhill to the south east corner and the run to the finish, 6.17 and a 6.15. I was pretty pleased with my 40.38 finish time and training is going well for the Bear Mountain Half Marathon in May.
 |
| © MarathonFoto.com |
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| © 2013 SmugMug, Inc. |
I just happened to get dressed in blue and white that morning!
I finished in 330th and 50th in my age group. The winning times were a speedy 30.17 for the men and a course record 33.22 for the women!
Afterwards there were a few little tents with various Scottish based stuff including a Glasgow based band.
 |
| © NYRR |
Partly due to the chilly weather the freebie race hats were out in force and the sea of blue and white combined with all the Scottish flags in the area was a nice sight.
As usual you're all done and dusted by 9am and get to have that nice feeling of walking through the park and a few blocks to the train when it's nice and quiet out on the streets. You very quickly become a typical New Yorker when you live & work here..... bloody tourists getting in the way!
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