D33 Review

I travelled up on the lunchtime train on Friday to Aberdeen in preparation for the race so after checking in to the Travelodge which is right outside the station i decided to jog down the mile to Duthie Park as a recce for Saturday morning. Once in the park i jogged round anti clockwise as i got to the far end i saw the painted line with D33 on the ground, at least i had found the Registration point and the start point the only thing missing was where it went, as this was my first time on the course i continued around the park until i noticed a cyclist heading out by a post with a sign on it so off i went to check it out, this was the route,so i continued along for a while as it it was a great night for a run, before i knew it i was out 4 miles so i about turned and headed back.
On Saturday morning i was up sharp and feeling good so i again jogged down to registration, i was first there, George and the guys were just setting things up, so i introduced myself, got my number and headed back to the hotel. the only downside with the travelodge is you have to be out by 12 noon and they don't have anywhere to store your gear so i headed round to the railway sation and booked my bag in before heading down to the race, i had only realised on the road down that i had built up 15 miles since my arrival, anyway on the start line most of the usual faces where there and the weather was turning out just nice. George gave out the details before we set off, Grant as usual was away from the start followed by the rest of us,at 15.5 miles i could feel that i had put on the wrong shoe, i thought i could have got away with a racer as the course was flat and as it had been sunny the route would be dry but by 15.5 when i moved into 3rd place as Scott Bradley from carnegie passed me,i knew by now that it was going to be a long day, by 19 miles Marco passed, moving me in to fourth and from there it just got worse, my right hip was in pain and i was still being passed, i continued along and as you were passing runners we were all exchanging "well dones", it helped you along at 25 miles i managed to get some ibuprofen gel at the water station which i applied, it certainly helped in the later stages but before this i found myself having to walk in some parts while i tried to loose the pain from my hip, with 31 miles in the pain started to ease and i knew it wasn't far to the finish, my main aim before the race was to get in under 4 hours, thanfully i did this with seconds to spare.
 Looking back i felt in shape for sub 4 and got it but overall i am dissapointed that i went off  too fast in the first half , this combined with the wrong shoe,which i felt caused my hip pain, i paid the price for including a couple of black toe nails and affected how i should have ran, overall It was a great day, and well done to everyone who took part. Well organised George and Karen, i'll be back