Bully Wee 5k at Broadwood

My legs have been tired since doing my 20 mile long run on Sunday, in a time of 2:45 as per training schedule. I missed out on the interval session on Tuesday and did a 5 mile general run instead, Wednesday was 8 miles in 64 minutes and although my legs felt stiff and tired I had a great run. I was looking forward to my 10 mile tempo run (75 mins) on Thursday when Tom Keenan reminded me of the Broadwood 5k race. This was only the fourth staging of the event, which I had run in 2008 in a time of 21:08. So I decided to miss my training and head out to the home of Clyde FC.



Broadwood 5k
I was a wee bit later than usual getting to the race start and after registration and a quick congratulatory chat with Tom, who achieved his first ever 70+% wava last week, I headed out for a short warm up and quick stretch.

They're off! (pic by Bryan Lamb)

Just before 7:30pm I lined up with over 150 other runners to listen to the pre race announcements. John Gilhooly asked me if I was going for a sub 20min run, to which I replied that I would be very happy with sub 21. As we set off, in the warm sunny evening, it wasn’t long before John, Alan Dempster, Mark McGoldrick and Annmarie McCaffrey and many others had established a lead on me. My legs were feeling heavy as I made my way along the road before heading uphill towards the local school. The hill was steeper than I had remembered and I wasn’t too disappointed to have completed the first and hardest kilometre in 4:11. After this we turned right and ran along side St. Maurice’s High School before a sharp right took us gradually downhill to the 2k marker. I was disappointed with my time of 4:17 and picked up the pace as I passed Mark McGoldrick, for the first time in my life, and Alan Fitzsimmons who had obviously had a good start. Alan gave me a shout of encouragement as I passed him and headed towards the Loch. I could see the Moray Runner (Jim McGregor), from last week’s Canal Canter, in front of me in a group of four or five runners and Annmarie, way in the distance. I focussed on keeping Annmarie in sight as we worked our way along the course with Broadwood Loch on our right hand side. Another sharp right took us to the 3k mark, where Garmin indicated a, slightly improved, time of 4:13. Only 2k to go I thought to myself as we now faced into a strong headwind. I wasn’t surprised at all when Mark McGoldick passed me and there was no way I could keep up with him. I had to stop briefly as I reached a group of elderly walkers in front of me (no not in the race!) and a speeding cyclist heading straight towards me in the gap on their left hand side. The third kilometre had taken a disappointing 4:19. Nevertheless I could still see Annmarie in front and the gap between us was closing. The course took us slightly uphill and along the periphery of the Blackwood housing estate, where we turned right. We made our way alongside the loch and then turned left and slightly uphill towards the road which we had started on. Jim McGregor was having a strong finish but I managed to catch the rest of the pack and with about 200 metres to go I sprinted past Annmarie and tried to decrease the gap with Mark, who incredibly, was now only one place in front of me. The final kilometre had taken 4:09, I had finished 50/154 and was a wee bit disappointed with my time of 21:11.  

Strong Finish (pic by Bryan Lamb)

I turned around to thank Annmarie for pulling me around the course, only to find that another two runners had overtaken her in the final strait. Unfortunately she had experienced problems breathing in the humid conditions and couldn’t sustain the type of pace which had seen her clock 20:32 at Strathclyde parkrun a few months. Nevertheless she still finished 1st FV35.  Mark congratulated me on my run as we collected our medals, water and biscuit and all for only £2 entry fee.

My time was 3 seconds slower than my previous attempt and 1 second slower than the recent Kilmaurs 5k. Others were also slightly disappointed with their times, with Alan Dempster being 11 seconds slower than his Kilmaurs time, still an excellent 20:27 though, likewise John Gilhooly who was 18 seconds slower, with 20:23.

After the usual entertaining post race chit chat, I gave Alan F a lift back to Glasgow before heading home for a quick shower and then to the famous Sammy Dow’s Jam Night.

 
 
Huge thanks to Kirkintilloch Olympions and their sponsors for putting on such an enjoyable event at such a low cost and getting the results published online on the night of the race.