My 25th Glasgow parkrun

My 55th race of the year and my 25th Glasgow parkrun took place on Saturday October 10 at 9.30am. It was the morning after the Bella Awards Dinner and some people commented on how remarkably fresh looking I was. I advised them that it was only a facade! As the race approached, I had to decide how I was going to approach the run. My heel is injured but I managed five miles on the treadmill on Friday and of course, I was slightly worse for wear from the previous night's consumption of copious amounts of alcohol. However I found my self near the front of the runners and decided to work hard.

At the off, I tried to start my Garmin only to discover that the batteries were flat. I would need to run blind of my time. I set off at a decent pace and rather than slowing like last week I attempted to keep up the pace for as long as I could. Of course this didn't stop the better runners from overtaken me before we reached the woods. First Marjon said 'good luck' as she passed me on the right hand side and then Robert McEwan patted me on the back as he overtook me on the left. Although Robert soon dissapeared ahead of me, I was able to keep Marjon in my sight.

As I ran down the 'glade' Jules Rose overtook me and settled in front of me. I pulled out and returned the favour. He was on my tail until the start of the third hill, where I accelerated uphill and left him behind. However it wasn't long until he caught me and left me behind as we approached the glade for the second time.

I hung on in and could see Jules and Marjon in front of me all the time. Although I had no chance of catching them, I was trying to close the gap between us. As I ascended the last hill and made my way to the finishing straights there was no one within catching distance. However I knew I was running well and decided to go for the best possible time I could achieve.

I sprinted down the hill and over the line. I had no watch to stop and could only ask Jules and Marjon their times to gauge my result. 20:58 and 20:51 respectively, I was five places behind Marjon and three behind Jules, so I had a good chance of getting a PB but I would need to wait to find out.


Me chatting with Mairi Stangley, winner of the women's race.

As I enjoyed my Ayrshire Bacon roll and soya latte in the Burrell Cafe, I was pleased to be informed by Richard Leyton that they had compiled the results and I had finished in 21:18, a further improvement from last week of 12 seconds. I new course PB for me and my ninth PB of 2009. A good start to the weekend.