If you thought that all road race Championship races were flat, fast affairs - think again! Although most certainly not in the league of the Skye half the day before, the Dunfermline race had its fair share of hills, twists & turns. Add in over 5 miles of cycle paths devoid of anyone but racers & a few folks manning a water station & it becomes clear that the revised Scottish Championship course is suited best to the mentally strong & internally motivated runner!Here are accounts from Niamh Devlin & Jenny MacLean, plus results for your delectation.

[caption id="attachment_5399" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Women's Scottish 1/2M Podium"][/caption]I'm going to start by saying something that a good number of you may well disagree with - Half Marathons go past very quickly, in fact I'd go as far as to say that they zoom!When my alarm went off at 5am & I peeked out the curtains, the sky was blue. By the time I'd finished breakfast just before 6, it was decidedly heavy looking, so I was anticipating a much cooler, damper day for the Scottish half marathon than it had been on the scorching Saturday. With this thought in mind I happily headed off out up the hill to catch the bus to the start.

Expecting a biting cold & dull day, it was with some trepidation that I opened the curtains on Sunday. However, it was gorgeously sunny, fairly still and much milder than anticipated, which was a good omen for the day to come.So, with a mounting sense of excitement I strapped my rucksack on my back and stuck out to trot to Holyrood Park to take part in my first 10k of the year in the company of 10,000 others.