Prodded, pushed, shoved and kicked - a typical women only race experience
What a nightmare!!
There were 14,500 women in today's race!
I love a good turnout but unfortunately that number of women on a hot Sunday morning meant the race quickly became hell-like.
We got there in good time but of course the queue for the toilets was massive so I just about got to my start point in time. It took 10 minutes to cross the line as they did a pulse start system - letting the elite athletes go first then the 40-50 minute runners and then the 50-59minute runners and then my group - the 60-70 minute 10kers.
The race started up a hill so within the first few minutes some women flagged to a walk and despite the fact that there were a number of reminders to move to the left if you needed to walk at any time women were stopping dead in front of me with no warning or waling along hand in hand in the middle of the road.
Even though all this chaos was going on around me I still managed to get to the first Km marker in 6 minutes 20 seconds. The next Km was slower - I got there at 13minutes, 19 minutes for 3km and 25 minutes 30 seconds for 4km then 32 minutes for 5km at which point I relaxed a little - it's always a good feeling when you know you are more than halfway and every step after the 5km marker is more than half way around and so much closer to the finish. Unfortunately the route narrowed quite a bit after 5km and the jostling and elbowing got worse. It was very difficult to get past anyone and due to the heat more and more women were giving up and stopping dead. I got to 6km in 38 minutes and then we were in Pollok park under some shade but also going uphill, between 7km and 8km we climbed constantly and it was hard going. At some point just after 8km another woman elbowed me and managed to catch my stop watch button it took me a while to realise it had stopped and by the time I had noticed it was too late to restart it as it was completely out of time so I just pushed on for the last leg - about 1.5km to go.
When I did hit the finish line it seemed to take longer to get through the finishers funnel than it did to run the 10Km!! I had to collect my goody bag with my medal in, which was soon out of the bag and around my neck. Then I got a fair trade banana and then had my chip removed - another mess up area as some women thought it was a good idea to remove it themselves to hand in rather than let the organisers cut it off, of course this meant loads of women bending down to remove shoes, take off the champion chip, get up again, put the shoe back on, drop the chip, bend down to look for the chip and then get up again. I just despaired.
I found the other half easily enough and we decided to quit Glasgow and head off to a local Loch for our picnic lunch as it was too busy in Bellahouston Park. When we got there I decided I was fit enough to take a walk around the loch - it's only 3 miles after all. I am glad I did though as it loosened me up a fair bit and we saw a pair of great crested grebes, a coot building a nest and a Swan sitting on some eggs, all in all it was a magic walk.
After that we went home, I showered and we went off to the other half's folks for tea and watched a breathtaking rugby league match between Wakefield and Widnes.
There were 14,500 women in today's race!
I love a good turnout but unfortunately that number of women on a hot Sunday morning meant the race quickly became hell-like.
We got there in good time but of course the queue for the toilets was massive so I just about got to my start point in time. It took 10 minutes to cross the line as they did a pulse start system - letting the elite athletes go first then the 40-50 minute runners and then the 50-59minute runners and then my group - the 60-70 minute 10kers.
The race started up a hill so within the first few minutes some women flagged to a walk and despite the fact that there were a number of reminders to move to the left if you needed to walk at any time women were stopping dead in front of me with no warning or waling along hand in hand in the middle of the road.
Even though all this chaos was going on around me I still managed to get to the first Km marker in 6 minutes 20 seconds. The next Km was slower - I got there at 13minutes, 19 minutes for 3km and 25 minutes 30 seconds for 4km then 32 minutes for 5km at which point I relaxed a little - it's always a good feeling when you know you are more than halfway and every step after the 5km marker is more than half way around and so much closer to the finish. Unfortunately the route narrowed quite a bit after 5km and the jostling and elbowing got worse. It was very difficult to get past anyone and due to the heat more and more women were giving up and stopping dead. I got to 6km in 38 minutes and then we were in Pollok park under some shade but also going uphill, between 7km and 8km we climbed constantly and it was hard going. At some point just after 8km another woman elbowed me and managed to catch my stop watch button it took me a while to realise it had stopped and by the time I had noticed it was too late to restart it as it was completely out of time so I just pushed on for the last leg - about 1.5km to go.
When I did hit the finish line it seemed to take longer to get through the finishers funnel than it did to run the 10Km!! I had to collect my goody bag with my medal in, which was soon out of the bag and around my neck. Then I got a fair trade banana and then had my chip removed - another mess up area as some women thought it was a good idea to remove it themselves to hand in rather than let the organisers cut it off, of course this meant loads of women bending down to remove shoes, take off the champion chip, get up again, put the shoe back on, drop the chip, bend down to look for the chip and then get up again. I just despaired.
I found the other half easily enough and we decided to quit Glasgow and head off to a local Loch for our picnic lunch as it was too busy in Bellahouston Park. When we got there I decided I was fit enough to take a walk around the loch - it's only 3 miles after all. I am glad I did though as it loosened me up a fair bit and we saw a pair of great crested grebes, a coot building a nest and a Swan sitting on some eggs, all in all it was a magic walk.
After that we went home, I showered and we went off to the other half's folks for tea and watched a breathtaking rugby league match between Wakefield and Widnes.
posted by Running Queen @ 8:26 PM
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