Race Report: Paisley 10k

Hey look, my blog is still here! Flips on the light and peers around. Alright, who wrote "clean me" in the dust on my monitor?

Seeing as I have another race tomorrow, I figured I'd better get moving and actually finish my race report from my last race, almost two months ago now.

Right. August 30th I ran my fourth 10k race in Paisley. It was also my best 10k race! I ran it in under 1 hour 17 minutes, beating my previously best time from a year ago in the Great Scottish Run by 39 seconds. Woot!

I had several goals for the race, and I'm happy to say I met most of them.

• Goal 1: I was not last! Ok, given that there were over 1000 runners, this wasn't likely, but you never know. As it turns out, 65 people were slower than me. Knocked that goal out of the park.
  
• Goal 2: Yep, I beat my times from the Great Edinburgh Run and the Great North 10k!
  
• Goal 3 (unstated): Set a PR -- Check! My best 10k time before this was 1.17 something in the Great Scottish Run in September last year. That also happened to be my first 10k, but that's neither here nor there.
  
• Goal 4 (unstated): Finish in under 1:15. Nope, didn't happen. This was a long shot, but it's a goal that is within reach. I think. Eventually.
  

The race itself was fun and well organized. Highlights of the race were running through St. Mirren Stadium and along the Paisley canal towpath. The only downside was this one pair of runner-walkers. As I was running the whole thing (woot!), we kept passing each other. Unfortunately, these two were conversing nearly the whole time and completely oblivious of others who might be around them. Just the two of them somehow managed to run/walk such that they often were taking up most of the path. And once, they even ran past me, immediately crossed right over in front of me, and then dropped to a walk, nearly causing me to plow into them. Argh!

However, aside from those two, it was a great race!

As to Paisley itself, well, it's basically a suburb of Glasgow. It wasn't always that way. At one time it was a textile powerhouse. They had several statues and monuments dedicated to various dead guys named Coats. By the way, if you sew, this is the same Coats associated with the thread company.

I got there late enough in the day on Saturday that I didn't get a chance to see anything of the town. But I did take some time on Sunday after the race to walk around and see some of Paisley. Here are a few pictures that I took.

Paisley Town Hall
Paisley Abbey
Public Torture Device on display at the Paisley Museum

My next race is tomorrow, the Jedburgh 10k. Given how I've been currently running, I don't think the under 1.15 time is in my legs just quite yet. But who knows, maybe the fall leaves will inspire me and I'll surprise myself!

Off to Paisley

That sounds like a euphemism for something, but tomorrow I really will be off to Paisley. As in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. And yes, it was once a textile powerhouse, from which the paisley design takes it's name.

This particular Paisley is over on the west side of Scotland right by Glasgow. They're having a 10k race on Sunday that I'll be running in. It's only about an hour and a half away, but with Sunday morning public transport being what it is, it's not possible to get there in time for the race. So, I'll be taking the train there tomorrow and spending the night. And hopefully seeing a few things in the afternoon, if I get there in time and am in the mood.

I hear there's an Abbey.

Anywho, the 10k race. I have high hopes that it will be better than my last two 10k races. After all, I haven't been sick recently, nor have I walked up any big hills since last weekend. And it's supposed to be flat. Still my actual goals for the race are pretty modest:

Goal 1: Don't be last. I'm actually not kidding. This is going to be a much smaller race than either the Great Edinburgh Run or the Great North 10k in Sunderland, and I'm still pretty darn slow. Not that there's anything wrong with being last, but I've already been last in a race. There were only about 40 people in that race, but still. I've had my turn.

Goal 2: Beat my times from the Great Edinburgh Run and the Great North 10k. Seriously, if I just run the whole race for a change, this should be possible.

I've got a couple other goals with respect to finishing time, one of which is possible and one of which is likely not in the legs yet. But who knows, maybe I'll surprise myself!

So, off to Paisley tomorrow. That still sounds like a euphemism for something.