This year was my 2nd attempt at the 10k turkey trot held in Ayr however this years edition ended up being ran on the beach due to the ice. Now I have a lot of great places to go running in Stirling- theres great trails, a track and a lot of pavement to follow. The one thing we dont have is any sand.
So there I was doing my warm up on the beach, running on sand for the first time in 3 years. Theres a lot to think about- should I run on the hard but slightly wet stuff? Is it faster to run on the softer dry sand? Which line should I follow for I have no idea where the turn around point is at the other end? And will Ayr United football club mind us interruptin there game of beach football as 200 plus runners come hurtling by? I finally decided to give up thinking and just follow the person in front.
With the most basic of race plans the race began. It was 2laps of 5k out and back along Ayr beach and for 9.95k of that I followed the person in front. This was by far no way easy in fact it was probably one of the, if not the toughest experiences of my life. From 3ks onwards I felt that I was just hanging there hoping the pace would not go up. The final 2k`s was a series of the person leading making a surge, me losing a few steps and then clawing my way back up.
With 300metres to go I thought he had finally escaped me but I hung on 5metres back and then managed to edge back a metre at a time before I sneaked past with about 20 or so metres remaining. 33.36 for 10k on the beach was pretty good going.
The next day I convinced myself I deserved to pop into Walkers and picked up a new pair of Sidi cycling shoes- white since I`m of to spain soon and I hear white is all the rage over there.
David McNamee, International Triathlete
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