After my exploits in the hot Thai sun it was back to the extreme Scottish cold. After travelling for 24 hours I had no idea how I would fare at the 100th Glasgow parkrun on Saturday 4th Dec 2010. The early winter weather had meant that the special parkrun could not be held along the usual route but would have to take place on an alternative, three lap, off road route instead. Some 138 runners lined up, supported and assisted by 22 volunteers, at the alternative start line before heading out around the snow covered course. I sprinted off, for about 20 metres before feeling the tiredness kick in. I thought that I might have been able to stick in behind Claire Barr when she passed me but she was running really well and I had no chance. I warmed up sufficiently after the first lap to discard my jacket however it wasn't long into the second lap when both Suzanne McMahon and Ewan McDonald overtook me. Both are sub 20minute Glasgow parkrunners, so I was a bit surprised when I was able to catch Ewan almost immediately and hung on behind Suzanne for a wee while before her class showed and the gap increased as she worked her way through the field. I managed to keep Ewan at bay, despite a number of times when he closed the gap that much that I could hear him breathing right behind me. Near the end of the third lap I was catching up on Martin Myant, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to catch him before the line but I gave it a shot and dug deep in an effort to catch him. However as I caught him, he responded well and managed to hold me off. We both overtook, parkrun first timer, Graham Thom as we battled it out to the finish. I congratulated Martin, Suzanne, Graham, Ewan and others before making my way to the barcode station. I had placed 49th, with an acceptable time, for the conditions, of 25:51. Garmin revealed that I had run the first kilometre in 5:26, followed by 5:14; 5:13; 4:55 and a final kilometre of 4:50.
The encouragement from the marshals and others was second to none, with many commenting that I must be feeling the cold worse than others given my recent trip. (Ewan was using the 5k as part of a longer run, as he is training for the Highland Fling)
After a short warm down it was off to packed Burrell Cafe, where birthday cake, tea and coffee was consumed with much post race banter and awards where handed out to, well deserving, Al McLauchlan and Nicola Kincaird for winning the annual men's points and the women's points tables respectively. It's good to be back.
Thanks to 'GammyKnee' for the photo.
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