A Single Snapshot: The Great Scottish Run That Wasn’t
I was supposed to race in the Great Scottish Run...
Active travel is where it’s at.
For the longest time, I’ve fantasized about running in a road race abroad. I could just see myself: crossing the finish line, fists pumping, eyes blazing, heart thundering, and all of it happening against the backdrop of some of my favorite cities.
So when I began planning my trip to Scotland and I found out about the Great Scottish Run, an annual 10K and half-marathon road race in Glasgow at the beginning of September, I completely changed my travel plans so I could participate. Instead of arriving in Edinburgh mid-week as I’d originally planned to do, I decided to get into Glasgow a full five days earlier to make it in time for the race. Although I had my misgivings (I hadn’t been training for the race at all), I figured at worst I’d have to walk for parts of the course but I didn’t care. Here was an opportunity to strike an item from my travel “bucket list” and achieve one of my dreams.
But it was not to be. Missing my flight into the UK all but destroyed any chance I had at running the race, and when I finally did arrive in London and discovered that my luggage (which contained my running gear) didn’t make the trip with me, all hope was lost.
So I completely missed the race. I finally arrived in Glasgow on Sunday evening, hours after the race had been run. I got a little lost looking for the taxi stand at the bus station but when I finally found it, I was incredibly fortunate to get Andy (who’s gotta be the friendliest taxi driver in all Glasgow) as my taxi driver. I felt withdrawn and depressed by my run of awful luck, but Andy’s warm demeanor and wide smile drew me out of myself. When I mentioned to Andy that I was in town for the race but missed it, he looked at me through the rearview mirror, pointed a finger to his chest proudly and told me that he’d run the race. On our way to the guest house, he took me past George Square where the race had begun, and where the bright blue race banners still hung overhead. Andy told me all about the course (oh, gawd–hills!) and finished his story by declaring that he’d run the race for both of us.
In that moment, missing the race didn’t feel so bad after all.
Andy, if you ever stumble across this post–thanks. You were the first bright spot of my trip.
What are some of the best road races worth traveling for? Any traveling runners out there willing to comment on their favorites?
Ok, that was super sweet of Andy. Aw! Seriously thought, this better be the last of your bad luck on this trip. I pray that the tale from now on will be pure bliss. (crossing fingers)
LOL, Rhona. It gets better…eventually. I promise.
I’m so sorry you missed the race, but glad you lucked out with such a great driver – how sweet!
I’m a runner and have raced in a handful of places across the U.S. (California, Arizona, Washington – State & D.C., Virginia, Maryland…). I ran my first non-U.S. race in August, Sydney’s 14K City2Surf, which it turns out is actually the world’s largest race. (And let me just say that seeing 85,000 people in one place is a little crazy!) It was fun to see how a race is managed in another country and how people interact on the course. I’m hoping to have time to train for Sydney’s annual marathon next September and I’d love to run the Paris marathon at some point – we’ll see! My absolute favorite race is DC’s Marine Corps Marathon. The crowds, the runners, the volunteers and the Marines are all so enthusiastic that the distance flies by. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fun marathon course.
Fingers crossed for you that the next race you include in your travels works out, Marsha!
All of those races sounds like so much fun! Almost every runner I know loves the Marine Corps Marathon so I may have to work a DC trip around that one of these days.
Although Sydney has Australia’s biggest running race The City To Surf; Melbourne has a race of it’s own The Melbourne Marathon that is run once a year as well. I was traveling on the train on the day that the race was run one particular year and at one stop literally a hundred people with their bikes got on the train after running the race and were going to ride home from their respective train stations. That in my book is hardcore.
[...] do something ballsy and athletic on your next trip that you’ve never done before. Sign up for a road race like a 5K or a marathon. Plan to climb a mountain. Maybe go scuba diving. Aim for any fitness [...]