Ronnie Cairns Running

     I had a really enjoyable race this week in the first of the Polaroid 10k series in Helensburgh. It was a perfect night for a run, dry and sunny although there was a bit of a stiff breeze on the way back. The organisation was excellent and thanks you to all at Helensburgh ACC for being such great hosts, to their army of volunteers and marshals for their support and encouragement all the way to the finish and to the people of Helensburgh, who came out to support the runners. I was slightly nervous at the start of the race, because my new coach Derek Hawkins was also running and I new he would be looking for me to give it my best. I started well and decided that if I kept to a steady pace of 6 mins per kilometre then I had a chance of breaking the hour, which would be great. For the first 5k it went well and I was on schedule, having just run under 30mins which was my fastest 5k to date, then on a slight down hill, when I should have been making up a bit of time, I started chatting with a fellow runner which knocked me off pace slightly, I then decided to take some water on at the 6k point promptly choking as I tried to draw breath and drink at the same time. I managed to recover and realised I had to make up some time and tried a last push to the finish. As I came into the last 200m it was good to see the friendly face of Kenny Taylor from Dunoon Hill Runners, cheer me on. Kenny probably had enough time to finish his race have a shower and a drink before seeing me come in. I now knew I wasn’t even the first Dunoon runner home! I just missed out on my goal time by a minute but happy with a new PB and know it will not be long before I get that monkey off my back.

Derek Hawkins

I collected my medal and my goodie-bag and went for a change of shirt, a cool-down and stretch and have a well-earned cup of tea and a scone. Oh! How things have changed for me since taking up running. I stayed around for the presentation and was delighted to see that Derek had won the race with an incredible time of 30mins 30 secs. I went over to catch-up and congratulate him but him but he was more interested in my time and how I got on and talking about my preparation for next week’s race in Dumbarton. So that’s my first 10k completed and I can now look forward to next week, where I can do it all again raising funds for the Yorkhill Children’s Charity. www.justgiving.com/ronniecairnsrunning