I managed my second race of MMX on Saturday, January 16. I knew that the Glasgow parkrun had an inspection at 8:15am, so I wasn’t sure if it would be on or not so although I stayed in on Friday, I had a rather pleasant bottle of Rioja Reserve.
Cross Country – Week Two
When I arrived at Pollok Park the car park was like an ice rink, so I wasn’t entirely surprised when Richard advised me that the road was too dangerous and we would be using the off road course for the second time in succession.
I hadn’t envisaged this and therefore hadn’t brought my spikes. After a short warm up I met up with Alasdair Murray of Kilmarnock Harriers who had arranged to bring my new club vest for me. Bearing in mind what the Killie Captain Connell Drummond had once said about a club vest not being an over-garment, I decided that I would run the race in my shorts and vest. Strangely enough I was the only one of the 60 runners who decided to do so. There were other runners who had arrived but decided to miss out on a cross country race.
We headed to where the race started last week, only to discover that we were blocked by a giant puddle. We about turned and made our way further down the road and around the puddles to a different start place where the three-lap course details were explained to us. The volunteers were at pains to point out how dangerous the course was, with a lot of ice on the ground.
The Off
The race started and we made our way around the perimeter of the first field, not too bad until we neared the bottom where we had to take a detour to avoid a large frozen puddle, over an ice covered wooden bridge and off to our left. There was a lot of ice to be negotiated here before a sharp left turn took us along the bottom of the playing field and then through some deep puddles to the far side. I thought at this stage that the course was too dangerous and thought seriously about quitting after the first lap. However it wasn’t too bad under the trees, a sharp left turn, a right turn and a left turn along behind the goals of the all weather pitch. Left turn along the side of the pitch and then right towards the road, left on the road and then back on the field to the start. One lap done and I was still in front of Alasdair and Erica, so I decided that I might as well complete the race. Not too much of a surprise given that I’ve never failed to finish one.
I was about a third of the way around lap two when Alasdair caught me and commented on my great looking vest as he overtook me. He ran into the distance as I continued my steady running, cautious of the underfoot conditions. I did increase the speed a little under the trees and continued around to the end of the second lap. This time I was overtaken by a couple of runners that I didn’t recognise, I didn’t chase after them but I did take the opportunity at the next bend to glance back and see if Erica or anyone else I knew was close to me. No one was close to me and I couldn’t make out the runners in the distance. I did my usual faster run down under the trees and as I approached the road the two guys who had overtaken me were in my sights. “C’mon Kilmarnock” enthused one of the marshals as I took the opportunity to push that little harder and catch and overtake them both. There was another runner in front but as I increased my pace to catch him, he with the end in sight was also digging deep. I thought my chance had gone but I was delighted to catch him and finish two seconds in front of him with a time of 23:39. My Garmin indicated that this week’s course was 5.04K.
Dissapointed
I was slightly disappointed however when I collected my token to see that I was in 21st place, one down from last week. I congratulated the three guys behind me and made my way to the race HQ, where I handed in my token and handed out some copies of the Scottish Running Guide before heading to my car for my running jacket and doing my post race warm down.
20th and 2nd Killie
When the results were published, later in the day, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had placed 20th, only two places behind the other Killie runner, Alasdair Murray who was a good bit in front of me with a time of 22:58. However he is a sub 20 min runner on the traditional Glasgow parkrun course.
Gil Who?
One place in front of me was a guy by the name of John Gilhooly, with 23:21. I half recognised the name and when I looked back at the records I noticed that he had beaten me on Christmas Day but I had returned the favour on Boxing Day. He had beaten me by two places and 27 seconds last week but I had narrowed the gap to one place and 18 seconds this week. He’s about the same age as me and it’s always good to have a runner of similar ability to target in a race. I’ll look out for him in the future and see what happens.
Erica Who?
I had a wee chat with Erica after the race and pointed out that in all the years that we have ran together, this was only my second ever time beating her. “Last week must have been the first then” she wisely pointed out.
Selected Results
18 Alasdair MURRAY
• 22:58 VM40-44 • 60.30% M Kilmarnock Harrier & A.C
Your PB remains at 19:52
19 John GILHOOLY
• 23:21 VM50-54 • 63.17% M Unattached Your PB remains at 21:49
20 Ian GOUDIE
• 23:39 VM50-54 • 63.35% M Scottish Veteran Harriers Club
Your PB remains at 21:18
21 Paul SINNOTT
• 23:41 SM35-39 • 56.79% M Unattached
First Run Congratulations on completing your 1st event!
22 Stephen POPE
• 23:42 SM30-34 • 55.34% M Unattached Your PB remains at 22:58
23 Douglas POPE
• 23:43 SM25-29 • 54.46% M Unattached
New PB Improved by 144 seconds
24 David BOAG
• 24:07 VM40-44 • 57.91% M Unattached Your PB remains at 22:12
25 Clare BARR
• 24:21 VW40-44 • 63.38% F Motherwell AC
Your PB remains at 21:42
26 Stephen Kenneth WILSON
• 24:35 VM40-44 • 57.22% M Unattached
First Run Congratulations on completing your 1st event!
27 Erica CHRISTIE
• 24:39 VW50-54 • 71.33% F Bellahouston Harriers
Your PB remains at 20:06
No comments:
Post a Comment