I ran the Glasgow parkrun #122 on Saturday. My target was to improve on last week’s time of 21:48. I started off fairly cautiously and was just behind Erica Christie for the first kilometre or so. I overtook her on the right and increased the speed a bit before turning left into the woods and the first hill. I noticed fellow Killie fan, Stephen Jones and his wife Caroline, both adorned in their blue Maryhill Harriers vests, in front of me. I managed to narrowly beat both of them at the Marymass 10k last year, when I PB’d with 42:30. However since then I’ve noticed both their times have been improving. Stephen has run a 41:54 10k and Caroline isn’t that far behind having timed 42:11. It wasn’t that long until I had lost sight of Stephen and Caroline was but a dot in the distance.
Encouraged by the shouts of encouragement by the merry band of marshals and supporters, who help to make the parkrun such a success, I kept to my task of trying to run faster than last week. I increased the pace in the second lap, with Caroline some eight or nine places ahead and started to reel in, one by one, the runners in front of me. I always used to struggle on the hills but not so often these days and it gives me so much confidence when I overtake people on them. At the top of the last hill there were still a few people between us but by the time we reached the final 200m downhill section, I was only two places behind. I thought for a moment that I might catch her but it wasn’t to be and she finished with a time of 21:20, with me two seconds behind in 62nd place out of 400.
As we congratulated each other, Stephen appeared from the bushes. He had run a great time of 20:23 but had been rewarded with a bout of vomiting. I guess that can happen if you really push yourself. Garmin revealed that my Heart Rate had increased throughout the 5k and had averaged 155.
I was happy to have taken 26 seconds off of last week’s time. In all of my 63 Glasgow parkruns, I’ve only completed four of them quicker than on Saturday. However there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Race Results
As far as the elites were concerned there were some great performances and PBs from both the local Bellahouston Clubs, who between them claimed 9 of the top 15 places. First over the line was Westerlands’ Niall McAlinden, with a PB of 16:39, followed by the first of the Bella’s, Road Runner Liam Conway in 17:16. Greenock’s Michael McLoone’s PB of 17:23 was rewarded with third spot.
Women's Results
In the women’s race, pride of place went to Clydeside Orienteer Jana Jurackova, who placed first in 20:12, ahead of Motherwell’s Clare Barr in 20:57, with Caroline’s time of 21:20 securing her third place in her first outing.
Full Results
Photos
Post Race Birthday Cake
The après race was even better than usual this week as we helped Suzanne McMahon celebrate her 40th birthday with coffee and various cakes.
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