Bluebell Trail 10k
I ran a 10k at Dalkeith Country Park through the Bluebell Trail on an incredibly warm day.
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| A wooden finishers medal. |
Why Bluebell Trail 10k
I signed up for this race in 2020, but that never happened thanks to a worldwide pandemic. I thought about doing it in 2022, but I was away from Edinburgh that weekend.
I didn't look into doing it last year, but I did go to Dalkeith Country Park in May of last year, which is the first time I was there when the bluebells were in bloom.
It was incredibly gorgeous, which made me keen to do the race in 2024.
The journey
I could have cycled to this race, but it's pretty hilly to get to, so I opted for the bus. My tired post-run self would come to greatly appreciate this decision.
The convergence of runners started early this race. I met a fellow race participant at the bus stop, and there were quite a few other runners taking the same bus to the race.
The race
Hot, sunny day
It was a gorgeous day out, sunny and high of 69F. Hot weather doesn't translate to great running conditions, but at least this was a trail race with lots of shade.
Dalkeith Country Park looked especially stunning on such a beautiful day.
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| Dalkeith Palace. |
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| Pre-race jump. |
The warning to arrive early
The race organizers gave a strong warning to not arrive last minute as you needed to collect your race number on the day, and they had long queues in previous years. Not wanting to piss off these organizers, I did as instructed and arrived an hour ahead of time.
I got my race number within a few minutes, and luckily there was a junior 1k run on before the 5k and 10k to fill up the time before the race. Little kids finishing a race is an adorable thing to watch.
A rectangular toilet arrangement
I didn't take a picture of the toilet queue, but I thankfully joined when it was relatively small. They had the toilets in a rectangle, though, so no one could tell there were empty port-a-potties along the sides of the rectangle not directly facing the runners queuing.
So the queue was longer than it needed to be because of poor toilet placement. Lesson learned in human queuing behavior, you're better putting toilets in a straight line.
The intense warm-up
They had a warm-up before the race, which had to be the most intense warm-up I've done before a race. It felt more like a dance routine, and I was sweating and exhausted by the end of it.
Kudos to the warm-up instructors, who did not choose the music and had to make the best of what was playing. They did very well creating warm-ups to the beat of Uncle Kracker's 'Follow me', which then unexpectedly transitioned into Reel 2 Real's 'I like to move it'.
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| Waiting for the start. |
An undulating and muddy course
For a course described as 'mostly flat', I'd say this run was pretty undulating. It was probably one of the flatter trail runs I've done, but there was still a lot of up and down as you went. It's just that the incline and declines weren't massive.
Between the undulation and the heat, I found this race exhausting, and it felt like it was taking forever. The organizers said not to wear headphones, so I had no music to liven things up. I normally stop listening to music on trail runs anyway, but I could have done with some bopping beats this race.
This also ended up being a very muddy race. Being that it was such a warm day out (and that it had been warm and sunny the past few days), I was surprised to consistently find muddy stretches along the route. I had mud all up the back of my legs when I finished.
The bluebells
Twice in the 10k route we got to pass the park's Bluebell Trail, which was the gorgeous selling point of the race. It was the one area I took mid-race photos.
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| Mid-run selfie with the bluebells. |
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| The pretty bluebells. |
Leaving the bluebell trail was up the biggest incline of the race (affectionately named 'heartbreak hill') and right at the very end of the race, too.
I've run up worse hills, but my legs felt tired finishing this race. I didn't have a specific time in mind, but I put myself in the 50 to 70 minute starting pen, so I was hoping for under 70 minutes.
My finishing time ended up being 1:06:20, averaging 10:38 per minute, which is pretty decent for me on a trail run.
So I got my under 70 minutes, and I certainly felt the hard effort I put in. Overall, a scenic, challenging, and easy-to-get-to race. What's not to like.
Next race
I still need to sort my accommodation and travel, but it seems likely I'll be heading to Paris for a 10k open to the general public happening as part of the Olympics.
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