The Jimmi Henshite Experiences

3k Race on the Green - Results for 27 January 2012

2012-02-01T10:05:00.000Z

Posn Runner Category M/F Club Race Time
1 Russell Whittington Veteran M Bellahouston Roadrunners 00:09:31
2 Darran Muir Senior M Unattached 00:09:33
3 Niall McAlinden Senior M Westerlands 00:09:35
4 Craig Reid Senior M Bellahouston Roadrunners 00:09:39
5 Matthew Sogbanmu Senior M Glasgow University 00:09:40
6 John Denovan Senior M Westerlands 00:09:59
7 Elen McLean Martin Senior F Bjelland IL, Norway 00:10:06
8 Crispin Walsh Veteran M Bellahouston Harriers 00:10:13
9 Shazad Hakeem Senior M Ronhill Cambuslang 00:10:23
10 Robert Rossborough Senior M Ronhill Cambuslang 00:10:25
11 Andrew McCaffery Veteran M Calderglen harriers 00:10:27
12 Robert MacFarlane Senior M Kelvin Runners 00:10:28
13 Mark Ashby Super Veteran M Victoria Park 00:10:45
14 Alastair MacLachlan Super Veteran M Bellahouston Roadrunners 00:10:46
15 Bryan Burnett Veteran M Bellahouston Roadrunners 00:10:48
16 Derek Reid Veteran M North Ayrshire AC 00:10:57
17 Derek Leitch Super Veteran M East Kilbride AC 00:11:20
18 Stewart Robertson Senior M Bellahouston Roadrunners 00:11:35
19 Paul Viola Veteran M Unattached 00:11:38
20 Tony Judge Senior M Unattached 00:11:43
21 Mark Alexander Senior M Kilmarnock Harriers 00:11:44
22 Cameron Ferguson Super Veteran M Unattached 00:11:45
23 Stewart Tacchi Senior M Unattached 00:11:45
24 Conor McEllean Senior M Unattached 00:11:53
25 Juliane Foss McLean Senior F Bjelland IL, Norway 00:12:01
26 Neil McTavish Veteran M Unattached 00:12:19
27 Paul Walker Super Veteran M Unattached 00:12:41
28 David Edelman Super Veteran M Unattached 00:12:59
29 Tom Keenan Super Veteran M Bellahouston Harriers 00:13:02
30 Sofie Perby Senior F Unattached 00:14:03
31 Danielle Pieroni Senior F Unattached 00:14:07
32 Robbie Wishart Super Veteran M Levin Runners 00:14:14
33 Alan Sim Super Veteran M Unattached 00:14:16
34 Peter McGillion Veteran M Unattached 00:15:07
35 Alison McCall Super Veteran F Unattached 00:15:09

I’m Still Running

2012-01-30T14:48:00.007Z

Old Comrades
Last Wednesday I was back in Selex Galileo, meeting the unions this time. To my delight Shop Steward Jim Cull had arranged for the Branch Officials to be in attendance, which gave me the opportunity to meet some old colleagues, Stewart Kerr and Bob Hardie, who have now retired. I’ve not seen them since about 1992 and yet the first question they asked me was “are you still running?”

I am indeed and later that night I was running 5x800m reps in the dark, cold, rainy and windy conditions at Bellahouston Velodrome. Thursday was my weekly ‘rest day’ and I did my long/steady state run on Friday, 10miles in 80mins exactly.

My 96th parkrun
Saturday had me scheduled to do 3miles easy, which of course in my mind equated to doing my 96th parkrun. I would have liked to have gone to Edinburgh to witness Gordon McDonald achieving his 100th but with the Ayr v Killie Semi Final at Hampden at 1pm, it would have been cutting it a bit fine. Instead I joined in with over 300 runners at a very icy Pollok Park.

The organisers quickly switched the event to an off road route, which saw us running three loops and a bit, of a somewhat muddy and rather heavy going course. Each lap witnessed numerous drop outs, as people realised how boggy and difficult the conditions were.

At various stages I ran alongside Tom Ross, Kenny Clarke, Marianne Wilson and Angela Campbell. I was just completing my second lap when the latest parkrun young gun, Ethan Sloan-Denniston shot past me and crossed the finish line. I increased the pace a bit in my final lap and overtook Marianne with about 200m to go but fair play to her, she showed another side to her personality, when she dug deep and found the determination and speed to pass me in the final strait. I placed 81st with a time of 26:07 for the 5.26k.

Full results

Not much post race banter as I had to get home for a shower and a quick brunch before heading to the Shed for the pre match entertainment. It’s been a long, long time since I had a drink before noon! I was spotted by some members of the Wardrope Clan from Dunlop, I doubt if I’ve seen them since I was at school but the first thing they said to me was “are you still running?”

Killie Final
Being born in Ayr, I always consider the Honest Men as my second team but I was a bit disappointed with their defensive tactics on the day. Killie were by far the more positive side and played some attractive football before finally scoring the only goal of the game in 109mins. As the buses headed back to Ayrshire, I settled for a quiet night in, with a couple of glasses of red, as I had another race to look forward to on Sunday.

Off they go....

Scottish Masters Road Relays
There was a record number of teams registered for this years’ veteran relays, 46 men’s teams of 4 and 19 women’s teams of 3, with some class runners in both the men’s and women’s events, including Kilmarnock’s Iain Connell who handed over in third place. I had a long wait, being the fourth and final runner of the Killie B team, which gave me the opportunity to chat with loads of friends, take a couple of photos and support the other runners before warming up for my race. My photos here

The loneliness of the last leg runner

I had been forewarned that, once again, other park users and their dogs were showing their usual lack of support for the event, by walking three and four abreast and refusing to budge for the speeding runners. Club mate Kenny Wales had actually tripped over a poodle during his leg. I didn’t have to wait long for my first hurdle, as Jethro Lennox had just completed his team’s 4th leg and was standing in the middle of the path, bent over, being sick, as I set off.

Pic by Kenny Phillips

With Jethro successfully negotiated, I made my way clockwise around Strathclyde Loch’s 3.8miles. I spied a white haired Central AC runner ahead (John Millar) and was glad to have someone to aim at. As I narrowed the gap on him, I was thinking that I didn’t really want to be in a situation where I had to race with no other runner in sight. As luck would have it just as I overtook him at the 2k point, a Carnegie Harrier (Colin Reid) sped past the both of us. Although there was no chance of me matching his pace, I was able to keep him in sight for the rest of the race, as I weaved my way through the, for the most part, apparently oblivious to the race, other park users and dogs.

I maintained my place and crossed the line in a time of 26:03, an average pace of 6:51 and a wava of 71.55%. Results
Excellent pics as usual on roadrunpics.com

Analysis
I later checked my training log to discover that I had completed the same race last year in a time of 24:39, a wava of 74.99%! I know I’m a lot slower this year, so I wasn’t too disappointed with my time. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was my best performance since 5th August 2011, when I ran the Bella Belter with a wava of 71.71%.

VLM Training
That's week 6 of my 18 week marathon training programme completed, only another 12 weeks to go. Remember you can sponsor me here

parkrun 95 under my belt.....and new VLM Favourite...

2012-01-25T20:31:00.003Z

I decided to do my 14mile steady state run on Friday, rather than the weekend, which meant that I could have a nice relaxing couple of days. Again this was a bit further and indeed a bit faster than last week’s run. I’m starting to feel my face feel a wee bit gaunt. Of course I still had a couple of training runs to do: a 3mile recovery one and a 6mile general run. Although the Glasgow parkrun could never be described as an easy course, I decided to take part in the event as another training run. My real purpose was just to get another parkrun under my belt and get one step closer to my 100 target.

A number of friends managed to get PBs, congratulations to them. For my part, I was content to run a negative split, to finish with a time of 22:55 and to enjoy in the post race banter back in the Burrell Café.

London Marathon Favourite
I'm having some good and some bad days but to date I've stuck with my training plan, I knew that Andrew Lemoncello had got injured in his first week of VLM training, however I was a still shocked to hear that I had been installed as the new favourite: Marathon News

Joking aside, if you want to help me through my training schedule and support a good cause, then why not consider sponsoring me. See the link on the side of this page.

Boats and Planes and 21k

2012-01-16T15:10:00.005Z

Selex Galileo, Crewe Toll

Turning Back the Clock

A bit of a strange week with a Wednesday trip through to meet AeroSpace, Defence & Security Industries (ADS), an organisation which I have campaigned to get established for years. I actually did my Masters' Thesis on 'the need for a Scottish Aerospace Consortium?'. The trip was even more poignant in the fact that the organisation is based at Sellex Galileo, Crewe Toll, Edinburgh, where I used to work and was the union secretary for a number of very eventual years. After another meeting in Livingston, I made my way home and along to the Sherbrooke hills for a hard session, four long loops.

Thursday saw me having to get up just after 5am for a trip down to a Marine Industry meeting being held at the Boat Show in London. It was a long day with me getting back home at 9pm, just as well that it coincided with my ‘rest day’.

I was tired on Friday and with the weather being cold and icy, I settled for squeezing in a 3mile run on the treadmill at lunchtime.

An early night and my altered sleeping patterns had me wide-awake at 5am again! I thought about having an early morning run but decided instead to stay in bed and let the outdoor temperature rise a bit. My training plan had a 6mile, 13mile and 7mile run over the next three days. The most important run for marathon training is the long run, so I decided that I would make my way to Strathclyde Park, do a lap of the local parkrun as a warm up, do the race and then another two laps and another kilometre would do nicely for my long run. A bowl of porridge at 7am and I was set up for the day. However, I can’t believe that I missed the turnoff for Motherwell and got to Strathclyde later than planned, a queue in the toilets held me back even more and I had to settle for a 2.5k warm up before the start of the 90^th Strathclyde parkrun.

For whatever reason there was a super turnout of some 147 runners at the event and this was reflected across Scotland, with a record turnout of 1231 parkrunners.

There was some quality on display as well as Robert Gilroy and Nick Reid lined up at the front, I settled for a position 3 or 4 rows back. Race Director Ally Robb explained that the route had been changed slightly this morning and that there were some parts of the route a little icy before setting us on our way. I started steady enough as others seemed to make a mad dash at the start. The first kilometre took me an acceptable 4:19. I found myself running along with Anthony Butler for a while. I explained to him that I was doing a training run and as he maintained his pace, mine slowed to 4:31 for the 2^nd k.

The amended route, was more of an ‘out and back’ rather than the usual ‘loop’, but I was still amazed to see Robert Gilroy so soon. The only saving grace being the fact that he was about a minute ahead of the next runner, Nick Reid. The path around the turning point is quite narrow and I found myself behind two female runners with their dogs on long leads. Not easy to overtake. Once I managed to get past the first one, we met the outward going ‘slower’ runners, who had to adopt a single file approach as the dog decided to run to the right, rather than left. I was stuck behind the lead for a while and the 3^rd k took me 4:34. I eventually managed to get past and was confident that I would be able to make up some ground. I could see Anthony way in front with 3 or 4 runners in between us. The 4^th k took me 4:30. I was a bit surprised to be overtaken by a white haired runner but with a big gap in front of us, I decided just to stick in behind him for a bit.

I knew that there were a couple of signs indicating 200m and then 100m to go. I saw the yellow sign on the grass about 100m away and decided to go for it. I surprised myself at how much I increased the pace, as I made sure that I opened up a sufficient gap on the other runner. It wasn’t long until I saw the next sign, however rather than indicating that there was 100m to go, the sign said 200m! The yellow sign had been a ‘keep left’ one. I managed to hold onto my lead though but as Garmin beeped to tell me I had completed 5k, there was still another .09k to go. I crossed the line in 29^th position with the 5th k taken 4:17. A total time of 22:16 and 6seconds ahead of my challenger, who turns out was Peter Ogden running his first Strathclyde parkrun, having run the Glasgow event 11 times.

Robert Gilroy’s time was 15:57; Victoria Semple was first woman in a time of 21:38. Anthony placed 24^th, with a time of 21:52, with Ian Devoy finishing one spot ahead of me in 22:07. Full Results

Post Race

I completed my run along the shores of Strathclyde Loch, before being rewarded by some home baking, as ever provided by the friendly bunch of volunteers, and heading back to Glasgow, having banked 7miles.

Unlucky for Some

Glasgow Actually

February 28, 2011 was the last time that I had completed a 13mile run but I was confident that I could do it again. However the problem, as ever, was getting out of the door and having enough self-motivation to actually do it. I was ready to pack in my marathon training and just forget the whole thing but by 11:30, I was out and running towards Pollok Park. No gel, jelly babies or even water were required as it was going to be an easy training run. It was freezing cold but the sun was shining and it felt great to run along the White Cart, past Pollok House and beyond Lochinch. A couple of left turns and I headed along Mosspark Boulevard and onto Paisley Road West. The lights and traffic were against me, so I turned left, along Crookston Road and then another left onto Brockburn Road and my turning point at 10.5k.

The turn gave me some extra confidence and I headed back along the same route with a smile on my face. Of course, I tired and my lack of preparation resulted in some rather painful chapping in my nether regions but I did complete the 21k, without stopping and with a smile on my face. I’m so glad I did it and I tucked into my guilt free Steak Pie Dinner with relish.....and a glass or two of red wine.

Cold First Foot into 2012

2012-01-07T19:31:00.000Z

David Etchells

I caught another damn cold, when I was out running on Wednesday 28^th December, I had hoped to miss the rain showers but unfortunately that was not to be the case and things got worse when the freezing cold wind delivered some hail stones too. My legs were that cold, that they were burning! I struggled out on the Thursday to keep up my Marcothon and again on Friday, when I cut short my steady state run from 12miles to around 8. Things were not looking good for the parkrun on Hogmanay and I struggled around being overtaken by loads to finish in 23:29, the only light being a strong finish, where I just managed to catch Troon’s running farmer, David Etchells. Despite being way short of 100%, I had managed to complete the Marcothon and had run my 68^th race of 2011.

After a quiet old year’s night, I was lining up again at Pollok Park for my first race of 2012. I had broken out in a fever during my night’s sleep and was feeling a bit better. This was reflected in my performance, which was a little better, completing the testing 5k in 23:01, a 28 second improvement but still a long way short of where I would like to be. It was also good to exchange new year greetings with some good running buddies.

Although I had taken the decision to concentrate on my Marathon training this year, I just couldn’t resist the temptation to join in with the runners at Lenzie. Well I had a six mile training run to do and there was a 9k race at a cost of £1, with the promise of a cup of hot soup after the run. Wrapped up, against the cold wind, I joined in with over 300 others competing in one or other of the three races. My appearance was not to go unnoticed as the Community Council reported:

Pic by Karen Craig

The 2012 New Year Jog in Lenzie broke all previous records for numbers taking part by about a third. There were 308 entrants split between the short route, the 4.5k route and the two-lap 9k run. The weather was judged to be a significant factor. It was certainly very cold and slightly damp at times, but there was no snow and ice. This was a welcome relief to the organisers, as 2010 Jog was cancelled due to ice on the track and 2011 only went ahead with a route curtailment and after sterling work with shovels and salt on part of it.
The event was, as always, a combined effort of Kirkintilloch Olympians running club and Lenzie Community Council. There were many more ‘teams’ this year from as far away as Kilmarnock among other places and Lenzie Rugby Club was also represented.

I had hoped to run around with a group of other runners, who would help to shelter me from the wind and make the session a bit easier than doing it myself. However there didn’t seem to be anyone running at my pace and, particularly in the second lap, I found myself running alone until near the Finish, with only Alex Chatham in sight and no-one within a minute of my tail. My time of 40:14 was fine for a decent training run and once again it was good to meet some running buddies, some of which I hadn't seen since the same event last year.

A great night out at The Ferry with Chris Glen and the Outfit, featuring Gordon Bell on vocals, and I awoke with a stinking hangover to the worst storm that the country has had in a decade. It would be fair to say that my 5k recovery run on Tuesday was one of the slowest I’ve ever done.

Chris and Gordon

Wednesday 3^rd January was my first non-running day, since 30^th November, as I stuck to my training schedule and had a ‘rest day’. Thursday and I was at Bellahouston Velodrome doing my first track session in almost three years. 4x800m reps.

My legs were a bit heavy on Friday, as I ran my 8mile Steady State run, and I was fearful of doms as I made my way to my 93^rd parkrun on Saturday. I half decent warm up and I joined a bumper crowd of 358 for the 155th Glasgow parkrun. I was happy enough to take another 15secs off of my New Year’s Day time to complete the 5k in 22:46. A warm down took me to my scheduled 6miles and the end of week 3 of my Marathon Training, only another 15 to go.

As far as racing is concerned I’ve got 13.1mile Steady State runs scheduled for the 19^th February and the 11^th March, the first date coincides with the Kinloss to Lossiemouth Half, which I might do, whilst the latter coincides with the Inverness Half, which I’ve now registered for. Of course, I’m sure there will be one or two others along the way.

Remember if you wish to sponsor me to raise funds for Scottish MND can you can do so here.

Beith Harriers New Year Road Race Results 2012

2012-01-03T12:56:00.002Z

Pic by Kenny Phillips

Race No	Name	Club	Time	Category
46	Stuart Gibson	Ronhill Cambuslang	23.55	SM
7	Iain Connell	Kilmarnock	25.03	MV 35+
28	Stephen Wylie	Ronhill Cambuslang	25.11	MV 35+
12	Greg Turner	Giffnock North	26.15	SM
41	Jamie Findlay	Irvine	26.22	SM
42	Steven Campbell	Glenpark Harriers	26.32	MV 35+
51	Tony McKnight	Irvine	27.14	MV 35+
35	Davie Henderson	Glenpark Harriers	27.28	SM
8	Scott Martin	Kilmarnock	27.44	MV 35+
47	Ross Connelly	Kilmarnock	28.37	JM
49	Mark Livingstone	Irvine	28.49	MV 35+
25	Andrew Jeske	Jammys	28.52	MV 45+
30	Kara Tait	Kilmarnock	29.21	SW
48	Danny McLaughlin	Glenpark Harriers	30.2	MV 45+
13	Colin Evans	U/A	30.22	SM
18	Hugh Laverty	Clydesdale Harriers	30.24	MV 55+
36	Jim Sneddon	Irvine	30.25	MV 45+
45	Gary Kilpatrick	U/A	30.32	SM
19	Derek Reid	North Ayrshire	30.38	MV 35+
40	Emma Baxter	Glenpark Harriers	30.4	SW
11	Claire McAuley	U/A	30.48	JW
23	Gareth Brown	North Ayrshire	30.56	SM
50	James White	irvine	31.06	MV 55+
3	Michelle Hetherington	Helensburgh	31.11	FV 45+
4	Harry O'Donnell	U/A	31.19	SM
37	Mick Dunn	Glenpark Harriers	31.42	MV 55+
24	Stephen Kirk	Harrogate Harriers	32.18	MV 35+
5	Campbell Cromar	Helensburgh	32.2	MV 45+
6	Lindsay McMahon	Kilmarnock	32.28	FV 35+
38	Kenny Pryde	Glenpark Harriers	32.3	MV 45+
32	Dolina Rumbold	U/A	33.04	SW
22	Stephen Flannagan	Girvan	33.19	MV 45+
39	Eric Baxter	U/A	33.27	MV 55+
20	John Smith	Jammys	33.31	MV 45+
31	Colleen Tait	Kilmarnock	34.38	SW
9	Ian Devoy	Strathaven Striders	34.49	MV 45+
43	Anne Noble	Troon Tortoises	34.5	FV 45+
44	Peter Rudzinski	Clydesdale Harriers	34.59	MV 55+
29	Debbie Martin-Consan	Garscube Harriers	35.22	FV 35+
52	Hamish Gordon	U/A	36.05	MV 45+
21	Moira Nicol	Jammys	36.06	FV 45+
33	Viki Wilkinson	Glenpark Harriers	37.57	FV 35+
34	Jane MacLean	Glenpark Harriers	37.57	SW
15	Lorna Sloan	Kilmarnock	38.13	FV 35+
17	Bryce Kerr	Kilmarnock	38.51	MV 35+
16	Robin Wilson	U/A	39.15	MV 45+
14	Tracy Kerr	Kilmarnock	39.25	FV 35+
10	A Donaldson	U/A	40.2	MV 35+
26	Kenny Weir	U/A	41.06	MV 55+
27	Jack Maxwell	Girvan	44.23	MV 55+
1	William Drysdale	Law & district	52.25	MV 55+
2	Mark Donnelly	unattached	1E+05	SM

The Long Road to 2012

2012-01-01T19:20:00.009Z

I had no idea if I would beat last year’s total of 65 races this year but I suppose running three races on New Year’s Day gave me a good start. Of course it’s not just about quantity, quality counts too and I remain amazed to discover that, despite holding back, as I had another two races to follow, my first race of 2011 was, according to run Britain, was to prove to be my best performance of the year. The race was given an SSS of 2.81 and I completed the 5k run in 20:45. After a decent run in the brazing conditions at Portobello, which saw me complete the 4 miles in a PB of 27:10, I managed my second PB of the year, taken 5:26 to run down the Royal Mile at 1pm on 01/01/11.

The next day saw me at Beith, where I ran my best wava of the year, my second best of all time, at 74.15%. and my 3^rd PB of 2011 as I raced the 4.8 miles in 32:17. The ice and snow at Lenzie on 3^rd January made for difficult running conditions but I still managed my 4^th PB of the year, completing the 2.5mile course in a time of 18:06.

In what appears to be a happy hunting ground for me, I returned to Edinburgh on the 29 January for my second best performance of the year. My time was actually one second quicker than that of New Year’s Day, sprinting across the line in 20:44.

The 30th of January and I was off to a bitterly cold Strathclyde Park, for the LSK Masters Road Relay Championship. I was well chuffed to take 71 seconds off of my course PB, to complete the 3.7 miles in a time of 24:39, my 5^th PB of the year.

In February, I clocked up my 6^th PB of 2011, finishing the, undulating, Kirkintilloch Olympians' 12.5 Km Road Race in 69:17

In May, I was the 1^st MV50 at the MND Scotland 4 Mile race in Strathclyde Park, where I set my 7^th PB, with a time of 26:51. PB 8 was set on the one-off M74 14k race, which I ran in 1:04:30.

I earned my 9th PB of 2011 in Pollok Park, where I completed the Bellahouston Harrier’s 2mile Time Trial in 13:07. .

Although I didn’t set a new PB at 10k, I was happy with my performances during May and June, completing the first one, at Troon, in 43:25; Helensburgh in 43:00; the Land of Burns in 42:59; Dumbarton in 43:44; the Vale of Leven in 43:46; Kirkintilloch in 43:57 and the Brian Goodwin in 43:44.

With a distance of 6.58miles being a new one for me, I was guaranteed my 10^th PB of 2011 on the 18^th August, at the Crazy Craigie, held on Fenwick, which I completed in 29:07.

In October, I ventured to Bangkok, where I clocked up PB 11, whilst running the Amari Watergate Hotel 14th Charity Midnight 12k race in the heat of the night.

I Win Again!

Whilst that was to be the end of my PBs for the year, I actually went on to win my category in another couple of, albeit less competitive, races: the Glasgow Mo 5k, in November; and the Jog Scotland Xmas Cracker in December.

68 Races and the Marcothon

I completed the Marcothon for the first time, at the first attempt, and, despite doing a Saturday morning photographic course and having a bicycle accident, I managed to increase my race total, from 65 in 2010, to 68 in 2011, finishing the year with a spate of races, which saw me competing on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day (two races) and Hogmanay. Not too shabby for someone of 54 years of age.

All in all, a great year racing but one which I have absolutely no intention of repeating, as my attention now turns to competing in my first ever London Marathon* Of course, I’ll do a number of other races as well. It would be silly to put all my eggs in the one basket.

My thanks to all the running buddies I’ve met throughout the year and all the volunteers who ensure that there is always a race to run.

Stats:

4 category wins

11 new PBs

68 Races

Run: 1404 miles.

Cycled 1061 miles

Swimming 7.8 miles.

Blog hits: 21,744.

* If you would care to sponsor me for the VLM, I’ll be raising funds for MND Scotland, any donations would be much appreciated.

Turkey Trots....... Mine's a Double!

2011-12-27T15:57:00.009Z

Despite having stuffed myself with way too much food and cheap plonk at my brother’s on Christmas Day, I didn’t sleep very well on Christmas night as the howling, gale force winds woke me up every two hours or so. There’s no way that I was going to be able to run a 10k race with these preparations, I thought and checked my training plan, to discover that I had a 5 mile run scheduled. I could maybe do the Turkey Trot 5k I thought and checked the Start time and the previous results, which revealed that the Start would be at 11:15 and that around 100 runners might be participating. With my camera packed, so that I could take some photos of the 10k, which followed at noon, I made my way down the M77 to Burns Country.

I was surprised, to see that there were so many 10k runners arriving at the same time as me, including an early turnout from Kilmarnock Harriers. Club mate Ken Wales informed me that he was also doing the 5k, as were Sarah and Emily Munn and Toni, running her second race in two days.

It was also good to see Douglas Alexander MP participating in the festive frolics.

Take One

I knew that the forecast had been for 25mph winds. As I warmed up, I soon appreciated just how strong the winds would actually feel. These were some of the windiest conditions that I had raced in, I thought as I joined the throng of runners on the wind swept esplanade.

I was a bit surprised that I wasn’t able to stay with Ken Wales as he raced away from me from the very Start. Toni started cautiously but it wasn’t long until she passed me quipping “you won’t beat me today Ian”. I was then overtaken by a group of three runners, all dressed in black. As they too opened up a gap on me, I recalled a previous year, when I was running the 10k, hearing Jimmy Irvine bellowing at me to catch up and run with the group. I increased the pace and soon settled in with the threesome. I knew that I could run faster than the pace that they were setting but it seemed like a daft thing to do, when I wasn’t chasing a time and the gap in front to Ken’s group was some 200metres or so. Better, I thought, to conserve my energy and catch them in the second half.

There were times when had to close one eye and even both eyes, as the sand was blowing into my face. A cheap way to get an exfoliation, I thought.

5k pic by Kenny Phillips

We turned around a marshal at 2.5k and thankfully the wind was now behind us. However I wasn’t the only one who increased the pace. The pack of three split, when the female in the group (Christine Kling?) made her break, but the other two Chris McDermott, his personal trainer John Docherty and Ken, in front, were not for making it easy for me. I managed to catch them at 3.3k and, just as I was wondering if I should pass them or not, a surge of wind caught me and I found myself in front of all three.

I could see how strong Toni was running ahead of me and decided to focus on her, rather than the challenge of Ken behind me. The woman in black (Christine Kling?) pulled over with a loose lace and then a runner with a GBR vest pulled up. I was feeling good though and increased the pace with Toni in my sights. I saw her looking over her shoulders and I knew that I had a chance, with the Ayr supporters screaming at her not to be overtaking by me, I sprinted down the last strait and crossed the line in front of her in 22^nd place, with a time of 22:12.

Splits: 4:43; 4:59; 4:35; 4:03; 3:52

Take Two

As I made my way back to the Citadel a number of people asked me if I was doing the 10k , “of course I am” I jokingly responded. However as the hall emptied, I thought “Why not”, quickly filled in another entry form, pinned on my new race number and ran back to the Start Line just in time for the Off. I joined in with the 10k runners as we battled against the head wind. I hadn’t fuelled up for a 10k race, never mind a 10+5k race so I was happy to tuck in behind a slow pack and enjoy the race at a slower pace than normal.

The wind and the sand didn’t feel quite as bad the second time round. As I reached the 2.5k point, Louie Plenderleith appeared over my shoulder and, knowing that I had run the 5k too, said “you’re mad, Ian” as he ran past me.

The route then turned left, along the river path and gave us some respite from the wind. Another left, past the car showroom and along the road we headed.

Pic by Liz Mcderment

It wasn’t that long until we met the elites, making their way back, led by in form Stuart Gibson. I applauded Stuart and shouted words of encouragement to the others as I ran along. It wasn’t long though until a marshal directed me left and back into the wind. A right turn and as I looked up to acknowledge Connell Drummond’s support, I could see Stuart flying along the esplanade with the wind in his back.

Pic by Andrew Scott

Another right turn took me past the 5k point and I was soon back on the road and heading back. I was now offering support to the slower runners as they made their way towards the 4k mark. I caught Louie at around 5.5k. I was enjoying my race, increasing the pace slightly every kilometre and reeling in other runners as I did. We got the benefit of the wind behind us for the last 3k, or so.

I had another Killie Harrier (Brian McManus) in my sights and managed to catch him at 9k, I managed to get away from him as I completed the final kilometre in less than 4mins, to cross the line in 48:13. I placed 127 out of 247 finishers and supported a number of other runners completing their final 200metres before heading back to the Citadel to shelter from the wind and enjoy some fine post race banter and an excellent Boxing Day buffet.

Splits: 4:51; 5:32; 5:06; 5:03; 4:55; 4:51; 4:49; 4:41; 4:27; 3:58

I really enjoyed both races and I think that my splits show that I ran quite intelligently. I received loads of support in both races and in particular the 10k where Connell Drummond and Ken Wales kept popping up to offer me words of encouragement. Huge thanks from me to my fellow runners, the marshals and the photographers who all helped for a great couple of races.

Races 66 and 67 in the bag, mine’s a double!

Results

Photos

Christmas parkrun

2011-12-26T18:12:00.001Z

I was still feeling a bit rough on Christmas Eve, so I resisted the temptation to go out and settled for a couple of glasses of vin rouge before retiring. I still wasn’t 100% on Christmas Day as the dreaded ‘second day hangover’ took control of my body but of course this wouldn’t stop me completing another parkrun. I was surprise that over 100 other runners appeared at Pollok Park for the morning 5k, including speed merchants Luke Traynor and Jethro Lennox as well as Ayr’s Toni McIntosh making her return to running after a lengthy period out injured.

My VLM training schedule had me down to run 3miles, so a wee 5k would do fine and enable me to tick off day 25 of the Marcothon.


The Finish ...Pic by Chris Cue

I was feeling a lot better than the day before but didn’t want to overdo it, as I knew I was racing at Ayr the next day. I thought about taking it easy and running at 5min/k pace but then thought that it would be good if I could take a couple of seconds off of yesterday’s time of 23:20. I ran along chatting with Angela Campbell for the first mile, before she dropped off the pace a little. I was surprised to see that Martin Myant wasn’t far in front as I made my way round the course at a constant pace. Angela kept me in her sights and as I crossed the line in 34^th place, with a time of 23:18, I was pleased to see that she finished immediately behind me in 23:19. Job done as far as I was concerned but Angela was upset, as she thought that she had worked hard and had hoped to take more than 4 seconds off of her time. I did point out that the conditions were harder and in particular the strong wind would have slowed most runners. It will be interesting to see if Run Britain confirms this or not. Especially as Luke and Jethro didn’t seem to be too effected, crossing the line in an incredible 15:22 and 17:05 respectively. Toni placed 40^th but her goal was just to make it around the course without any reoccurrence of her injury.

Post Race with Al, Toni and Jim

With the Burrell closed, many of the runners and volunteers had brought along hot drinks, cakes and chocolates to share. It was just a bit of a shame that the cold wind didn’t make for amenable conditions for standing around chatting.

I had run my 90^th parkrun and my 65^th race of the year.

Results

Photos

Rough Running on Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T21:09:00.004Z

It’s Christmas but I’m not a Christian……..which doesn’t really matter as the festival is actually an old Pagan one, which the Christians adopted and capitalism exploited. Of course it’s always a good reason for families to get together, for better or worse, and the running family is no exception. The kind volunteers at Glasgow parkrun put on their usual Saturday morning event and will follow up on Xmas Day with another, whilst my hometown of Ayr puts on the Turkey Trot races on Boxing Day. Oh as well as running there are parties and other festivities too and of course holidays from work.

I’ve been on holiday since close of business on Thursday and put Friday to good use, running a steady state 10mile run as part of my London Marathon training and the Marcothon too. This was the furthest I’ve ran since 22 September and I was pleased with my consistency as I maintained a 5min/k pace throughout the run. I had to hit the shops later on in the day and the madness was enough to remove any doubts that I may have had about going to Sammy Dows. I had an excellent night being entertained by the Dangerous Brothers. However I must have had too many pints of the black stuff and I was feeling very rough on Saturday morning, I was nearly sick as I brushed my teeth, so the only thing for it was to head along to Pollok Park for my 89^th parkrun.

Despite the overnight wind and rain, there were loads of running buddies participating with almost 300 runners, some of them dressed in their Santa outfits or hats. I managed a warm up without being sick and settled in somewhere near the middle of the pack for the race start. I found myself running along with former referee Kenny Clark for a while, before bidding him good luck as either he increased his pace or I slowed, at about 800m into the course. “I’m sure you’ll catch me later” he said as he ran ahead. I was then joined by, former Bellahouston Road Runner club mate, Louie Plenderleith and then Norman Boyle. It was as if we had turned the clock back as we ran along together. Norman took the lead, with Louie and then me. However as we turned left and started up hill, just after 2k, I took the lead. I was pleasantly surprised to be overtaking by, the much improved, Angela Campbell at this point.

Angela, Norman and rough me......

I was feeling rough as Norman overtook me on the downhill section but with him, Angela and Kenny all ahead of me, I had plenty of targets to keep me going. I caught Kenny at about the same spot as he had left me in the first lap. I then found myself running at the same pace as a man and woman (Katrina Kynaston?) who were running together. The three of us passed Angela on the downhill section just before turning left. I could see Norman ahead and the gap between us decreased as we ran the final kilometre. I was quite happy to finish behind him until the final downhill 100metres, when I sprinted towards the finish. Although I did catch other runners, Norman must have heard me and sprinted the last 10metres or so, holding out both his arms as he crossed the line just in front of me.

I congratulated Norman and Angela before finding a tree to be sick behind and then making my way to the barcode scanning area where I shared congratulations with Louie and Kenny before doing my warm down and getting my daily mileage up to 5miles, as per my training schedule.

It was good to see so many runners and volunteers in the Burrell for post race coffee and chat.

I had placed 94^th with a time of 23:20, had completed the 24^th day of the Marcothon, and had run my 64th race of 2011. Once again huge thanks to everyone for making it a great wee race and congratulations to Stuart Gibson for winning with a new course PB of 15:29!!

Results

Photos

Blue Skies and Black Ice

2011-12-17T13:03:00.001Z

‘Twas a gorgeous winter morning in Glasgow today, the sky was blue and the sun was shining, however these conditions are usually accompanied by low temperatures and today was to be no exception. The temperatures had plummeted over night and yesterday’s melted snow had turned to black ice. The attempted early morning inspection of the Glasgow parkrun course revealed that not only was the usual route too dangerous to run but that the roads into Pollok Park itself were also extremely hazardous. The unusual decision to cancel the event was taken at about 8:30am and tweeted to the nation.

View from my flat

My Plan B was to go to Strathclyde parkrun and congratulate Ross Goodman as he completed his 1000^th kilometre of the year. However, despite my four wheel drive option, my car was unable to make it up the 200m of black ice which would have taking me to the relative safety of Pollokshaws Road and on my way to Motherwell.

Instead, I had to abandon the car, make my way home and opt for Plan C, a run along the road of at least 3miles to qualify me for day 17 of the Marcothon.

The other view from my flat

I carefully negotiated my way over the ice and snow, the pavement being slightly less risky than the road, and was rewarded by a well gritted, and relatively quiet A77. I made my way along through Shawlands, where I could use the salted pavements, towards the Pollok Avenue entrance to the park. The safety of the pavement decreased between Shawlands and Bar 1901, where there was no option but to resort to running on the road. My initial assessment of Pollok Ave was that it wasn’t that bad, however it didn’t take me long to realise that my feet were sliding as I reached the ice. I heard a voice saying “Is it a bit slippy” and turned to see the only other runner that I would see this morning………………………..Jacqui Thomson! I advised her that the parkrun had been cancelled but, like me, she was content to get a run under her belt. Her trainers had more grip than mine, so I decided to return to the safety of Pollokshaws Road and head back towards home. Whilst the run would have been about 4 miles and more than enough for the Marcothon, I decided to add another couple of miles and turned around at the junction with Moss-side Road. This time as I ran down the road CatrionaGourlay, waiting in her car at the red light, called my name and we chatted about the cancellation and the underfoot conditions. I, and thousands of others, are indebted to Catriona, Richard Leyton and the other core parkrun volunteers who give up so much of their time, in all weather, so that runners can have a Saturday morning 5k.

This time, I turned right and ran along Haggs Road, where the entrance/exit to Pollok Park was worse than Pollok Ave, with the road being covered by black ice. Again, I turned around and rejoined the main road and ran back towards Shawlands, a detour onto Victoria Road took me over 10k, my target for the day. A cagey warm down over the black ice and snow took me to the warmth of my home and an earlier than usual but no less deserved cooked brunch.

Not a bad start to the weekend. It’s great being a runner!

Running in Holiday Mode

2011-12-11T14:37:00.000Z

It was my office Xmas party on Friday so I wasn’t expecting to be in any great state for racing on Saturday. With that in mind, I gave the West of Scotland Cross Country Championships a miss, deciding instead to bag another parkrun. However, I felt surprisingly good on Saturday morning and was confident that I would improve on my last outing. Unfortunately though, the weather was not conducive to fast times, with black ice and puddles making the course even more difficult than usual. Race Director, for the day, Campbell Joss wisely advised the runners to “save our PBs for another day”.

Jacqui Thomson

I had a wee chat with Jacqui Thomson during my warm up and she advised me that as well as coming back from an operation, she was also suffering from a cold. Despite her handicaps, I was surprised to find her running on my shoulder for the first third of the race. She never said anything but she did seem to have a surprised look on her face when, rather than run around two runners, I shouted “runner coming through” and they moved out of my way. We were running at 4:16 pace and on a very good day I might have been able to maintain that but running along side someone who has completed the course in 18:47 was a bit intimidating and rather than using Jacqui’s presence as a spur to a good performance, I did my usual and took my foot of the pedal a bit. That said, I thought I was still having a good enough run and was making my way slowly up through the field. I was just about to increase my pace for the final kilometre, when I noticed that the two runners that had let me pass them in the first lap were on my shoulder, there was no way that I was going to let them pass me. I focussed on a guy in white in front and managed to catch another few runners before sprinting down the final 200m to cross the line in 22:31 in 39^th place.

As usual I shared congratulations with the runners around me. The two guys had actually been father and son and they both complimented me, not only on my race but also my running style. The dad, Graeme Pert, was delighted to have run a PB of 22:45, taking 8 seconds off of his previous best time and asked me if I could take a photo for them to mark the occasion. For my part, I was disappointed with my time but delighted to have finished so far up the, albeit depleted, field of 162 runners.

My time was actually the same as my chip time last Sunday, which to be fair was on an easier course. I had improved last week’s Glasgow parkrun time by 12 seconds but if I had worked a bit harder it could have been much more. However I had chalked off another day in the 31 day Marcothon and my 63^rd race of 2011 not too bad given that I am kind of in ‘holiday mode’ with my London Marathon Training scheduled to begin on 18 December.

Once again, huge thanks to my fellow runners, the supporters and in particular the marshals and other volunteers who seemed to be in fine fettle despite it being such a cold morning.
Full results

Snow Photo

2011-12-07T18:36:00.000Z

I've tried a few times to capture snow falling with the camera with little success to date but I think this one works quite well:

Cracker of a Race @Strathclyde Park

2011-12-04T20:48:00.007Z

I had a good night at Sammys on Saturday, revelling in Killie’s win against Rangers last Sunday and being entertained by The Strangers, who put on their usual great show. I probably drank too much of Arthur Guinness’s famous Stout during the night and I couldn’t resist topping the night off with a warming glass of Glayva. Not surprisingly, I slept well but woke in plenty of time to make my way to Strathclyde Park for the Jogscotland 2011 Christmas Cracker 5k Challenge. My thinking being that I’d need to run a minimum of three miles anyway to fulfil the requirements of the Marcothon.


Festive Jammy Henshite

I was a bit surprised, when I arrived at the race, to find that Jim Buick and John Owens had travelled through from , snow bound, Edinburgh for the event but not at all surprised to see that, fresh from his 50^th parkrun, John Smith was in attendance, as was his lovely partner Moira Nicol and a number of other Jammys. I, of course, had my Jammy Henshite t-shirt on. It was good to see Gerry Gallacher and Sarah Whalen, who had replaced their moustaches, of two weeks ago, with Santa outfits.

I hadn’t pre-registered and although the organisers had extra race chips, they didn’t have any extra numbers. Instead they wrote my number (359) on a piece of A4 yellow paper, with a felt tip pen. I fitted the chip to my running shoe and pinned the number on to my Jammy vest before doing my usual pre-race warm up routine. I then made my way with the others to the Start Line, which was about 1k around the loch. I said to Moira that although I had heard that the route had been changed due to some flooding, the weather conditions were almost perfect for running.

Unfortunately the race didn’t kick off at the scheduled 11am but at 11:10, by which time the sky had darkened and a cold wind had appeared. One minute into the race, things got worse as a heavy fall of sleet greeted us as we ran into the headwind. “It will be behind you on the way back” cried a marshal as I tucked myself in behind another runner.

The first kilometre took me 4:22, which I was happy enough with, as I usually shoot off too quickly. I thought that it would be quite good to place first M50 but when I saw John Owens up ahead; I decided that I wasn’t going to race against him today. I overtook a tiny lass, who later returned the favour, but she looked that young that it just didn’t feel right to race against her. Instead I settled into my own pace and ran, rather than raced around the loch. The wind died down and the sleet abated, there were a few puddles to negotiate and a bit of an incline around 4k but nothing severe enough to decrease my enjoyment. Not surprisingly, the conditions had a bigger impact on my impromptu number. Initially the ink had started to run but that wouldn’t matter much as the wet sleet took its toll on the thin paper and finally the wind blew it off my chest, leaving the naked safety pins in place.

Decent Goody Bag

A fairly young lad caught me with about half a kilometre to go, I increased the pace slightly and managed a bit of a sprint in the final strait, to cross the line in a time of 22:35. The volunteers removed my chip for me and rewarded me with a decent goody bag and t-shirt. I shared congratulations with a Clydesdale Harrier, who had finished behind me, before joining in with the other finishers. I was wary of catching another cold, so I didn’t hang about too long after the race but got changed into some dry clothes and trainers and warmed down on the way back to my car. As I left the park, I could see a number of others making their way along their final few hundred metres. My friendly car horn beeps were met with smiling faces and waves of appreciation. I had fulfilled day four of the Marcothon, had run a reasonable race, my 62^nd of 2011, had met up with some old and some new friends and had supported a worthwhile cause, all before noon. It’s great to be a runner!

UPDATE: Chip Time 22:31
It transpires that the 'tiny lass' was Heather Fawcett U13, who runs for Kilbarchan AC; the fairly young lad was 'Rory Harkins'; John Owens is younger than he looks and is only a M45, meaning that I was the 1st M50 (22nd overall); and the Clydesdale Harrier was Al Kerr.

Full Results here

Jammy Billy's Photos here

Marcothon, Mojo and Music

2011-12-03T16:03:00.005Z

My cold(s) and injury, combined with the terrible weather and demands of my new job had curtailed my running in November. In fact I hadn’t run, cycled or swam since the Movember Run on Sunday, 20 November. This isn’t a disaster as I’ve had a good year and I probably needed a rest before starting my London Marathon Training Schedule on 18 December.

I wasn’t able to do the Marcothon last year as I was in transit between Thailand and Glasgow for over 24 hours and wasn’t able to run whilst flying. The challenge being to run a minimum of 3 miles or 25 mins every day in December. I’m not sure if I agree with the whole Ron Hill concept of running every day, arguing instead that rest is an important part of any training plan. However I had lost my mojo in late November and was prepared to use anything to motivate me to get the trainers on and head out for a run in the dark and wet winter nights of old Glasgow toun. So on Wednesday 1 December, after returning from a meeting at Ayr College, I donned my trainers, leggings, long sleeved vest and gloves and headed out for a slow 3.63 mile run in 32:23. Of course I rewarded myself on Thursday night with a few pints in Sammy Dowe's, where I had the pleasure of chatting with percussionist legend RayWeston after he performed two numbers with host band Independence.

Unassuming Ray Weston @sammys

Friday was a holiday to mark St Andrew’s Day and I headed out for a similar run, although this time I increased the pace for the middle kilometre and completed 3.74 miles in 31:30.

I had wanted to support the Glasgow University Hares andHounds 5 mile race on Saturday but didn’t feel that I was ready for it and settled for the Glasgow parkrun’s third anniversary instead, my 75^th. I didn’t want to push myself too much but found myself sandwiched for much of the race between Martin Myant and Killie Women’s captain, Liz McDerment, Bella Harrier Jennifer Clark, having overtaken me at the 3k mark, much to my relief as she was making me work too hard. I took the foot off the gas for the 4^th k but increased it slightly in the last kilometre to cross the line in 68^th position, with a time of 22:42.

After sharing mutual congratulations with my fellow runners, I introduced, first woman, Paula Wilson to Jennifer, who plays in the band Horse, which Paula is a big fan of and was actually going to see on Saturday night.

A short warm down and I made my way to a packed Burrell to get changed into some dry clothes and enjoy some post race chatting, a hot cup of coffee and some birthday cake. Congratulations to John Gilhooly, who won the men’s annual points league and his female counterpart, who’s name I didn’t catch. In fact I didn’t catch much of, Race Director, Richard Leyton’s speech and I’m sure that I’m not the only one, as although he is a self confessed geek and does a power of work for parkrun, I’m afraid that public speaking is just not one of his strengths.

I would have loved to have gone to Garscube to support the 5 mile racers, or even make the trip to Rugby Park to watch the famous Ayrshire Killie, I thought it was probably better that I headed home for brunch, a hot bath and a well earned siesta.

I had run my third run of December, my 61^st race of 2011 and my 87^th parkrun and, of course, I have another run tomorrow.

Movember

2011-11-29T08:03:00.001Z


I wonder what became of her.

There's a lot of dodgy looking moustaches around at this month as people raise funds and awareness of men's health issues. Of course, some of us were looking like Douglas Fairbanks Junior long before Movember .

Me and my best mate, the late, Willie McFall

Douglas Fairbanks Jnr

30,000 Thanks

2011-11-26T08:24:00.000Z

I've now clocked up my 30,000th hit since adding a counter to my Blog, Thirty thousand thanks to you.

STV Mo Running Report

2011-11-21T23:40:00.001Z

Mo Running Glasgow, forward play to 2:53 to see the coverage of the event including me at the Start in my pink charity t-shirt.STV News

Phlegming Nora !

2011-11-21T16:02:00.003Z

I’ve been suffering with the cold for a wee while now and didn’t manage a race last weekend. I had planned another race free race this weekend, as I wasn’t up to racing the Brampton to Carlisle 10 mile road race, nor the Ayrshire Cross Country Championships. Instead I enjoyed the relatively unusual occurrence of a Friday night out and had a few drinks in Sammy Dows as Kong put on another excellent show. However when I awoke from my stupor at 8:50am on Saturday, I knew that I could, just about, make the 9:30 Start Line for the weekly Glasgow parkrun. A quick wash and I was out the door with my bottle of Lucozade Sport and heading towards Pollok Park. “You’re looking a bit rough” commented a running buddy and he was right, in fact I was probably feeling even worse than I looked. My choice was either to stay in bed and rest, or run and try to sweat the cold and alcohol out of my system. Obviously, I chose the latter.

I coughed, spluttered and spat out phlegm as I struggled around the undulating course, increasing my pace slightly in the second lap to overtake, amongst others, Kilmarnock youngster Alasdair McGhee and Gerry Gallacher of the Scottish Prison Service, on his way to a new PB. I managed to hold off a strong challenge from Alan Bow to place 110th with a time of 23:30 in my 86th parkrun.

Results

Back in the Burrell Café, Gerry and Sarah Whalen asked if I was doing the inaugural Glasgow Mo Running 5k Race on the Sunday. Although I had thought about it, I hadn’t got around to registering and the race site indicated that the event was full.

Mo Running
I was up bright and early on Sunday morning and was looking forward to a decent cycle ride, however the possibility of running my 60th race of 2011 was playing on my mind, so I decided that I would include Glasgow Green as part of my ride and enquire about the possibility of being a ‘late entry’. I met up with Gerry and Sarah as they approached the registration desk and I was pleased when the organisers agreed to accept my £15. A bit expensive but it is for a good cause and the organisers had provided a breakdown of costs on their web site.

It's Not About the Bike
A quick change into running mode and I was just about to chain my bike to the railings when, Race Director, Dave Krangel asked, over the tannoy, if anyone had a bike that he could use to lead the race around the course. I immediately volunteered my bike, gave my bag to Annette Whalen for safe keeping and set about warming up. Although there was an organised session, I prefer to do my own race preparation, which, to be honest, is very much like the pre rugby preparation that I first learned about 40 years ago. Suitable warmed up, I made my way along to the Start line where I joined with Cambuslang’s Shaz Hakeem, a guy from Motherwell AC and another 170 runners and walkers for the 10:30 start. The race started on rather soft grass but it wasn’t long until we were on la terre ferme and following some of the Jog Scotland 5k route.

I was a bit surprised to see so many people pass me in the early stages but I was confident that I would catch at least some of them as the race progressed. Although there were a large number of fun runners, there were still a significant number of decent runners for me to compete against. Again I was coughing, spluttering and spitting phlegm but today my pace was a bit faster. It took almost half of the race for it to settle down and allow me to start targeting runners in front. As I thought he would, Shaz led the race from start to finish. I tried to keep the leading lady, Elodie Bourgault, in sight. Although there was no chance of catching her I did manage to catch a few others especially in the long flat section after the 4k marker. I was slowly catching the two runners immediately in front as we approached the final strait but they both found an extra gear and sprinted towards the Finish. I found a little bit more speed to race across the Line and finish in a watch time of 21:35. I received my goody bag and headed behind a tree for some more coughing and spluttering before rejoining the mutual congratulations. I was advised to return to the Race Directors tent, where I added my race number and received a print out of my gun and ship times as well as my placing. I had finished in 19th position and 1st M50+, with a chip time of 21:32. All things considered, I was more than happy with that.

After his exertions the day before, Gerry had decided to run round with Sarah and they finished 54th and 53rd with chip times of 25:37.

60 Races
A did an interview for quirky young journalist Harriet Brace of the Glasgow Journal before collecting my bag and bicycle and making my way home for a hot shower and well earned brunch. I had run my 60th race of the year, had done quite well and had supported a good cause.

Mo Results

Old Target Met, New Challenges Set

2011-11-17T15:50:00.008Z

2011 in 2011
I ran my 2011th kilometre today as part of a 5k ‘recovery’ run, thereby achieving one of my goals for the year 2011, with plenty of time to spare.

Gie's a Joab

I also took up a new post today, having successfully interviewed for the position of Sector Development Manager – Aerospace, Defence and Marine Construction at Skills Development Scotland (SDS) the day before I left to go to Thailand. These are industry sectors that I know well, having worked in the Aerospace and Defence Sector and more recently Project Managed Construction Glasgow. For many years I’ve researched, lobbied and campaigned for employers to invest in the skills of their workforce to drive innovation and productivity. My new role should enable me to work with partners to develop the necessary learning and training opportunities to support individuals in gaining the skills that employers require, both now and in the future. In the current economic climate it may be a bit of a challenge but it’s one that I’m looking forward to. However I’m now located in the organisation's Head Office at Alambra House, Waterloo Street which, unfortunately, neither has a gym nor shower facilities. I had both at my previous place.

London Calling

The other news, which I received through the post the day I was leaving for Thailand, was that I had been successful in the ballot for places for the 2012 London Marathon. I’d heard just how difficult it can be to get a place so was more than a little surprised to get a place at my first attempt.

I ran the first Edinburgh Marathon in 1983 with only four weeks of training, although you won’t find my name amongst the records. My good friend William McFall had entered the race but had died, following an accident whilst in Spain, where he was representing Scotland in the National Water Polo team. As a way of saying goodbye to Willie, I kept his marathon number and ran under his name.

It was in the days before electronic chipping devices and high tech running shoes, socks and vests. I don’t think I even had a watch, never mind a fancy Garmin and I recall it seemed to take ages for me to actually cross the Start line in Hollyrood Park. I think the route took us along the Grassmarket, down on to Princes Street and down into Leith where we headed along to Cramond where we turned around and headed back towards Leith and then up Easter Road to the Grandstand Finish in Meadowbank Stadium. I was delighted when two days later the Scotsman published the results and William McFall had finished with a time of 3:26:12. I later gave the medal to Willie’s fiancée but kept the memories and the photo of me sprinting across the line.

With a little more training, I ran the Glasgow Marathon in 2000 and missed my four hour target. I did train well for the 2008 Edinburgh Marathon and even managed to get a free place from the organisers to mark the 25th anniversary of Willie’s death. However the weather was against me and the heat coupled with my Chronic Fatigue resulted in me collapsing and spending an hour on a drip before convincing the medics that I was ok to complete the final six miles or so. My chip time was 4:43:04.

More recently I had won a free place for the Loch Ness Marathon but with my previous experiences and my Chronic Fatigue, I bottled it. Despite following Hal Higdon’s Marathon Training Schedule and enjoying the training the prospect of collapsing again played heavily on my mind and I decided to give the race a miss.

Hopefully I’ve recovered from my Chronic Fatigue and feel in a stronger frame of mind to undertake a new running challenge. I’ve uploaded an 18 week training plan onto Fetcheveryone aimed at getting a 3:30 time, although it’s early days. I officially commence my VLM training on 18th December, to keep me focussed I’ve decided to seek sponsorship for the race and I’ve selected MND Scotland as my chosen charity.

Mind my Sister

My younger sister, who won a number of medals for running, died of Motor Neurone Disease and MND Scotland supports both sufferers and their carers, if you would like to make a donation then please do so here

It Was a Misty Morning ..........

2011-11-07T15:00:00.004Z

Leading Ladies at Bellahouston Park

My original intention was to race Strathclyde parkrun on Saturday morning but, with the National Cross Country Championship Races being held later in the same day, I decided to do my local Glasgow parkrun instead. As well as being quicker to get to, Glasgow would also allow me to chart any progress from last week’s attempt at the same venue.

Frolics in the Fog

I arrived at a cold and foggy Pollok Park in time for a quick catch up with some running buddies and a brief warm up. As usual, I retied my shoe laces after my warm up and made my way into the assembled pack of runners. A number of regulars were noticeable by their absence, with the XC races and the next day’s run With the Wind 10k race providing alternatives. However the addition of 31 first timers helped to ensure a considerable turnout of 303 runners and walkers for the 105th staging of the event. For some reason, their also seemed to be a significant number of buggies on display today, this was good news for Chris Upson who will, hopefully, be in the market for one in the near future.

Leader of the Pack

I started a little further back than usual and, when the race got underway, I watched a bit of a melee as runners jostled for places as their exuberance got the better of them. “They’re wasting a lot of energy” I thought to myself as I negotiated my way down the hill. The road veered left and, as we made our way towards the ‘woodpecker’, I found myself, as usual, at the head of a pack with a bit of a distance to those in front, whose numbers included the very consistent pairing of Martin Myant and Jim McMillan. I decided to increase my pace and, as we entered the woods and climbed the first hill of the course, I was already picking off runners, catching Martin and Jim just after the 1k point. In fact, as my Garmin beeped to inform me that the lap had taken 4:26, I noticed Martin look down at his watch.

John Hagemeister must also have had a slow start as he caught up with me shortly after this and his efficient running style soon left me behind. I was quite happy with my pace and I managed to complete the first lap of the course with no problems. I was working quite hard as I weaved my way along the zigzag part of the course and back onto the park road. However with two miles under my belt, I noticed the wheels of a buggy to my right hand side, closely followed by the sound of someone chatting to me. “WTF?” I thought. When the buggy pusher drew level with me, I was relieved to see that it was Stephen Prentice, who is a class runner. I managed no more than a grunt in response to the words emitting from his happy, smiling, relaxed looking face as he ran past.

220m to go........

I now realised that I had a ‘frog in my throat’ which was impeding my concentration and breathing. Things got worse when I noticed that my right lace had come undone. With leaves, puddles and even horse droppings to manoeuvre through, I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to complete the race without losing at least one running shoe. Perhaps this would be my chance to try out barefoot running. However I kept to my task and refocused my attention on a guy with a blue Edinburgh Marathon t-shirt ahead of me. With about 900m to go, I was disappointed to find myself dropping a place, as Alan Dempster overtook me. His advantage was short lived though as I attacked the last hill and opened up a gap on my way around to the last 200m down hill finish. I was still a bit concerned about my footwear but someone was on my shoulder and his presence made sure that their was no slacking on my part.

Sixty Nine
I crossed the Line in 60th place, with a time of 21:41. Only one place higher than last week BUT an improved time of no less than 69 seconds! Of course there’s still a lot of improvement required to get near my PB.

Worth a Mention
Further up the field Cambuslang’s Martin McLaughlin crossed the line first in 17.00, followed by Max Lancaster of Giffnock North in second place (with a new PB of 17.15) and Callum Matthews from Kilbarchan in third place (17.24).

Stewarton’s Andy McGhee placed fourth with a time of 17:27; there was a quartet of PBs for Graeme Gemmell; Andrew Carson; Paul McNally and John Gilhooly who placed 15-18 respectively.

John Hagemeister finished 38th with a time of 20:22, three places ahead of Central’s youngster, Emily Greenan, who won the women’s race with a new PB of 20.25. Second woman was Hilary Robinson in 20.36, followed by Romy Beard in third place in 22.20.

Alan Dempster finished two places behind me, in 62 place with a time of 21:45, with Jim McMillan 72nd in 22:15 and Martin Myant 79th in 22:24.

Ayrshire lass, Marianne Wilson was also among the 74 runners achieving a PB, placing 80th (fourth female) in 22:30. Kilmarnock Harrier's youngster Terry Mulholland took eight seconds off of his previous time to place 85th in 22:53. His mother, Sylvia, also did well, taken an impressive 40 seconds off of her PB to place 117th in 24:01, just ahead of Suzanne Boyle, who took 10 seconds off of her PB. Whilst Katy Smith’s time of 24:05 was just one second off of her PB, her son Robbie took the family plaudits by taken 39 seconds off of his PB, to place 250th in 30:09.

Post (and Pre) Race Repartee

After a quick coffee and cake with Chris Upson, Niall McAlinden (who were sugar loading before their XC race) and Claire Larravide (who had run the recent Dublin Marathon), I made my way along to Bellahouston Park to cheer on the runners and take a few photos of the first class action in the glorious winter sunshine, before having some lunch with four of Motherwell AC's finest and, eventually, making my way home in time to hear the Famous Kilmarnock FC being hammered by their highland opposition.

Luncheon Ladies

Thanks

Thanks to the 21 super volunteers that made Glasgow parkrun happen, to Chris Upson for the use of his pics and to all the runners and organisers at Bellahouston Park.

Full Results

Chris Upson’s Photos

My Photos of the XC Senior Races

XC Report from SA

XC Results

Back Home to Three Races

2011-10-31T14:13:00.004Z

It’s a long journey from Jomtien to Glasgow but it’s one that went as smoothly as possible for me. I’d booked a ‘limousine’ taxi for the 120k journey to Bangkok, which took about 90 minutes and cost 1200 Bhat, or about £24. I thought that I’d got my flight times mixed up when I arrived at the KLM Check-in Desk at 21:30 to discover that there was no queue. Once relieved of my luggage, I made my way to the appropriate Departure Gate, just in time to board the aeroplane. I was pleased to hear that the plane wasn’t full and even more so when I discovered that the adjoining two seats to mine where unoccupied and that I would be able to lie down, after a fashion, and get some shut eye. The process was just as efficient when I reached Amsterdam airport. I made my way to the appropriate Departure Gate, just in time for boarding and a smooth flight to a dark and wet Glasgow, where my brother was waiting at 7:35 to take me home.

The flight had taken its toll though and I was shattered for the rest of the day, I ventured out to Sammie’s, for a wee while, in the evening to see Independence and their regular Thursday night Jam Session. Although the welcome I received was as warm as ever, it was nothing like the “Welcome” that you get when you approach any bar in Thailand.

3K on the Green

I headed down to Glasgow Green on Friday for the second of the 3k Run on the Green Series of Races. It was a beautiful, sunny day, albeit a little cooler than what I was used to recently. It was good to see so many running buddies, many of whom had kept in touch during my holidays through Facebook. My warm up only helped to confirm that I was still shattered and jet lagged but nevertheless I still lined up, with the other 30 runners, under the McLellan Arch for the 12:30 start.

I started near the back of the field and stayed there as my initial pace of 3:44, slipped to 4:08 and then settled into a pace of 4:18, increasing it slightly to 3:54 for the last 0.5k. My time being 12:21, 22 seconds slower than my last outing in February, but I was still happy enough with my performance. I could have worked harder and I could have increased the pace a bit more in the final strait but it wouldn’t have made too much difference. I enjoyed the run and meeting up with so many running buddies, it was also good to meet ex Kilmarnock Harrier, Allison Simpson nee Higgins. The former Commonwealth Game’s athlete was making her return to racing, after retiring through injury three years ago.

After my warm down, I bumped into another Killie Harrier Harald Bartl as I headed to the Winter Gardens with Tom Keenan to sort out the world’s economic woes, over a cup of coffee and slice of carrot cake.

Results

parkrun 84

On Saturday morning I made my way along to Pollok Park for my 72nd outing at the Glasgow event and my 84th parkrun. It seemed a lot quieter than usual. I knew that the Big Fun Run was on at 11am and that many club runners would be competing at the Allan Scally Road Relays, later in the day, but it still seemed very quiet. However there was no need for concern as, with around ten minutes to go, the numbers swelled to a healthy 264 runners, including at least four who had raced the previous day’s 3k on the Green.

After my warm up and pre race catch ups I joined the assembled ranks in time for the 9:30am Start. I was right about the lack of some of the regular club runners but despite the attraction of earning some decent points, I decided that I would be taking it relatively easy. I knew that Tom Keenan was looking for a decent run and I noticed that he set off quickly as I trundled down the first part of the course. I kept my eye on him for much of the race and he was looking very determined as he battled it out with Watson Jones around the two lap 5k course. I was content to settle for getting another race under my belt, although I did step it up a bit for the final kilometre and gained a few places to finish 62nd with a time of 22:50. Tom had placed 52nd in 22:31, with Watson two places behind in 22:34. I didn’t realise that Jennifer Clark had used me as a target and had taking 55 seconds off of her previous PB to finish one place and one second behind me, earning runner up spot in the women’s race, with a new PB of 22:51.

As for me, again considering everything, I was happy enough with my run and, as usual, enjoyed the post race coffee and chat.

Results

Southside Six

Andrew Wright

With its close proximity to my holidays, I had decided not to enter the inaugural Southside Six 16 mile undulating race around six parks in Glasgow’s Sou’side. However I did want to get a decent cycle in before the end of October. I was amazed at the lack of bicycles in Thailand, and I hadn’t been on a bike since 28 September. My initial intention was to do a few miles, get a Sunday newspaper and watch the Great South Run as I enjoyed my brunch before supporting the finishers of the 16 mile race. However I decided to cycle to Queens Park and follow any arrows indicating the route of the race. When I reached Stewarton Road, I looked at my watch and worked out that I could get back to Queens Park just about in time for the Start. I cycled along with the 220 runners to Linn Park and then made my way back to Stewarton Road to provide some more support as the runners exited Rouken Glen Park.

Jenny MacLean

At this stage the main places for the first runners were already settled, with Carnegie’s Andrew Wright having established a significant lead over his closest rival, Grant Baillie of East Kilbride, with Bellahouston Road Runner Bruce Carse in third place. Likewise in the women’s race Edinburgh’s Jennifer MacLean was well ahead of Bellahouston Road Runner, Deborah Gray although at this stage there was a bit of a battle for third spot, with little to choose from between Deb’s club mate Katie Padgham and the evential victor, Giffnock’s Mary McCutcheon.

I then cycled down to Nithsdale Street and guided the runners onto Pollockshaws Road towards the Finish back at Queens Park before peddling to the Finish and enjoying in the post race banter, soup and cakes.

By the time I had stopped off for a paper and reached my home, I had cycled a total of 39.71k, not too bad for my first cycle of the month. My total for the year now stands at 1560k, with a target of 2011. My other targets of swimming 10k, has been achieved (12k to date) and I’m well on course to reach my running target of 2011k, having already run 1920k.

Results

Thanks

In summary, three great races , which all relied, almost exclusively, on people volunteering their services and doing a heck of a lot of hard work in the background to ensure that the races run smoothly and incident free. My thanks to each and everyone of you!

Work

It was back to work today, after being on annual leave since 28th September, a bit of a shock to the system but all good things etc

3k Run on the Green Race 2 of 3, 28 Oct 2011- Full Results

2011-10-28T17:11:00.000+01:00

	Runner	Category	M/F	Club	Race Time
1	Thomas McDonald	Senior	M	Bellahouston Harriers	0:09:40
2	John Denovan	Senior	M	Westerlands	0:09:41
3	Darran Muir	Senior	M	Unattached	0:09:52
4	Matthew Brown	Senior	M	Bellahouston Harriers	0:10:03
5	Steve Gray	Senior	M	Arbroath Footers	0:10:06
6	James Cassidy	Senior	M	Unattached	0:10:11
7	Robert Rossborough	Senior	M	Ronhill Cambuslang	0:10:31
8	Shazad Hakeem	Senior	M	Ronhill Cambuslang	0:10:33
9	John Gibbons	Senior	M	Kelvin Runners	0:10:34
10	Robert Rogerson	Super Veteran	M	Kirkintilloch Olympians	0:10:42
11	Mark Ashby	Super Veteran	M	Victoria Park	0:10:50
12	John Gilhooly	Super Veteran	M	Unattached	0:10:51
13	Barnie Gough	Super Veteran	M	Ronhill Cambuslang	0:11:03
14	Allison Simpson	Senior	F	Unattached	0:11:06
15	Gordon Gallacher	Veteran	M	Unattached	0:11:07
16	Alasdair Murray	Veteran	M	Kilmarnock Harriers	0:11:11
17	Christopher McKiddie	Senior	M	Unattached	0:11:22
18	Paul Viola	Veteran	M	Unattached	0:11:27
19	John Murray	Senior	M	Garscube Harriers	0:11:34
20	Cameron Ferguson	Super Veteran	M	Unattached	0:11:41
21	Clare Barr	Veteran	F	Motherwell AC	0:11:42
22	Tony McGale	Veteran	M	Springburn Harriers	0:11:44
23	Mark Alexander	Senior	M	Kilmarnock Harriers	0:11:48
24	Alan Dempster	Senior	M	Unattached	0:11:58
25	Scott Howie	Veteran	M	Unattached	0:12:11
26	Victoria Semple	Senior	F	Ronhill Cambuslang	0:12:18
27	Ian Goudie	Super Veteran	M	Kilmarnock Harriers	0:12:21
28	Neil McTavish	Veteran	M	Unattached	0:12:34
29	Greg Dimmer	Veteran	M	Unattached	0:12:35
30	Tom Keenan	Super Veteran	M	Bellahouston Harriers	0:13:01
31	Alan Sim	Super Veteran	M	Unattached	0:14:04

A Hash of a Race in Pattaya

2011-10-19T11:31:00.003+01:00

Hash House Harriers pride themselves as being for ‘drinkers with a running problem’, so some of my readers might be surprised to know that I’ve never enjoyed one of their events until now. I Scroogled for running clubs in Pattaya and came up with PH3, a quick look at their web site and I found the invitation: When in Pattaya come join us for a little running, then a drink in one of our hash bars. How could I refuse? A couple of emails later and on Monday at 3pm I was on the local Bhat Bus to Pattaya Soi 13 and the meet-up point for the Harriers. I had been informed that the run would take about an hour and had loaded my rucksack with a change of clothes and water, both for drinking and a post race wash.

Parks of Pattaya

Despite, their reputation for being heavy drinkers, I found them to be a rather subdued lot as we boarded their, less than luxurious, coach to take us to the race location. Numbers were lower than I had expected with their weekly newsletters indicating that they usually have about 50 participants. We stopped outside of Tesco on Sukhumvit Road and picked up some others and when we reached our destination at the Chinese Graveyard, there were others, who had arrived either by motorbike or car, awaiting us. I joined in a queue behind a pick up, which, as I had deduced, was for registration. I paid my 350Bhat and then joined with the others in a circle as the Ring Master, a 6’4 bald German, who looked like a cross between a Sergeant Major and a rugby lock, introduced me and the other two Hash virgins to the others.

The pre-circle team talk.

A short briefing on how the route could be identified by looking for pieces of white paper, either tied to tree branches or bushes, or simply strewn on the ground and we were sent on our way. Well we might have been, I wasn’t sure, as the ring master pointed to his left and said ‘I believe the start is over there somewhere’. Those around me started to walk towards where he was pointing but I could see that there were others ahead who were running. I started my Garmin and chased after the front runners, still not sure if I was now racing or warming up. Not much later we stopped at a ‘check point’ and I reset my Garmin, thinking that this was the actual Start. Two paths lay ahead and although I initially thought that those running down them were looking for a last pit stop before the race, I soon realised that the runners had lost their way and were trying to decide which route to take. A cry from the right, indicated that a runner had spied a paper marker and we headed after him accordingly. However within a minute we were lost again and I followed a tall athletic looking guy as he made his way through the long grass and bushes. He cried out “Bees” and those behind me asked what the cry was. “Effin’ Bees”, I replied, as I led them on a slight detour away from the offending honey makers. The next obstacle was, what appeared to be a dried out Well. As I climbed down and up the other side, some others, perhaps correctly, decided that this was not the route and headed back towards the check point.

I continued behind the front runners and we soon found the elusive white markers again. The route took us through long grass and between young trees and bushes as we headed towards the edge of a small airfield. I copied the front runners, yelling out every so often, so that those behind could follow me. We got lost a couple more times and at one point had to retrace our footsteps and join the others, many of whom were walking. The fable about the tortoise and the hare came to mind, as I made my way past the majority of participants, as I tried to keep the front runners in sight. We were on an undulating narrow path, when the guy immediately in front of me tripped and fell. I helped him to his feet and returned his cap to him, before taken my opportunity to overtake him, of course.

The route continued through some heavy undergrowth, where I managed to catch another runner before hearing a cry of “barbed wire”. The person who had laid out the course, had warned us of the barbed wire but not only did he said that it was well marked with white paper but he also said that it was near the end of the run. Garmin revealed that we had been running for about 20mins, rather than the 60mins that I had been informed about. Once over the barbed wire, the route joined an old dirt track and headed back towards the Start. I presumed that to add some distance to the course, the route would head straight up the hill and then turn left back to the Start/Finish. However a cry came from behind me, which I took as telling me that I was going the wrong way and I cut back and headed for the more direct path to the Finish. I arrived at the finish some 22mins and 39secs after starting and had covered a total of only 1.94miles. Apparently the run was supposed to be much longer. I placed 4^th out of 66 and waited to thank the runner behind me before heading over to the drink station. Another pick up with about half a dozen crates of ice containing a mixture of water, iced teas, soft drinks and of course ice cold beer. I restricted myself to the non-alcoholic options, accompanied by fresh fruit, until the sweat had stopped pouring out of my body. I headed behind the bus and used my water for a shower before changing into my dry clothes and rewarding myself with some San Miguel Light. I chatted with my new running buddies, who came from Germany, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, France, England, Scotland, the USA drinking beer, as the light faded and the Ring Master assembled us into circle formation.

I’m afraid that the next part, which seemed to drag on for ages, was all a bit too Public School/Rugby Club for me, with overtones of Land of the Flies, as various Hashers took their turn in the centre of the circle, in true Jack like manner, and nominated their fellow Hashers to pull their trousers down and sit ‘bare assed’ either on one of the blocks of ice, or in the bath tub of melting ice cubes. For their humiliation, they would be rewarded with a free glass of beer as and as they sat with their cheeks freezing, their buddies sung about “how they were no use to anyone”. It was this kind of behaviour, which had made me avoid the more traditional rugby clubs, during my playing days and my distaste for it had not changed over the years. Of course the newbies were not to be spared from the ritual and I, like the others, took my initiation without complaint, as for the umpteenth time the others recited their little ditties.

Time to try the bucket for 'Dodic'

I must admit that I was pleased when the beer ran out and we made our way back to Pattaya. That said, there is a lot of work that goes on in ensuring the transport; the course; the beer and other refreshments; a raffle, with some excellent prizes, including a microwave oven; and of course in providing two ice blocks and an ice bath. Indeed if you are into that particular form of post run entertainment it would be hard to beat and to be honest all of the guys seemed to be decent enough blokes.

Some of the 'Blokes'

Going Back to my Roots

2011-10-17T04:48:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd take the opportunity for a bit of a change during my time in Thailand. My ancestors were Vikings and my name Goudie or Goldie referred to the colour of their hair, in the same way as the most common name in Scotland, Brown. So I've gone blonde for a while, it was a bit of a shocker when I first looked in the mirror but hopefully it's toned down a bit now.