I was reminded earlier this week of the Bellahouston Harriers (open) Two Mile Time Trial which was being held on Thursday 11 August, I already had the Kilmarnock Harriers Crazy Craigie Handicap Race pencilled in for then but when this was rescheduled until 18 August I decided to do the Bella TT. I was quite pleased about that as this would be the final of the three race summer series and I had run the two previous ones, on 9 June and 7 July. That said, this is one of the hardest training weeks in my plan and I had to amend it to the fit the race in. this meant that I would follow up Monday's 8.2mile brisk run @7:19 pace, with a slower 9mile run on Tuesday @8:34 pace and a hard pyramid session on Wednesday. This meant that I had my interval training planned for Thursday (1m @8:34, 2m @ 7:25-7:05, 0.25@ 9:22, 2m @ 7:25-7:05,0.25@ 9:22, 1m @8:34), I figured that a 2mile TT with accompanying warm up and warm down would be a suitable alternative.
I had been reading up on positive thinking and motivation in an old running magazine and noticed a tip advising runners to look up when they are feeling negative. I knew that when I struggled up the final hill at Dundonald, that my head had been down and thought I'd take this on board when running up the hills in the second part of the course.
My plan was to grab a quick nap and to head along to Pollok Park in plenty of time for a decent warm up. However I slept longer than I should have and although I got to Cartha Rugby Club in time to register, my warm up was somewhat curtailed. However I did manage a wee jog along the road with Howie Scott and a few stretches before the 7pm start.
I had originally planned to start fast and to work hard at maintaining my pace but it didn't take long for my legs to tell me that they were a bit sluggish and that I'd need to ditch plan A. I settled into my run and after the first kilometre I could hear the sound of Howie running beside me and shortly after that the sound of Alan Dempster. I didn't need to look at either of them, I could identify them by the sound of their tread and breathing. What I couldn't do was to keep up with them when they both overtook me. It wasn't long until Richard Leyton joined them in passing me, as I tried to persuade myself that I was working hard. I kept my head up, both physically and emotionally, as I ran up the first hill. I was still looking up as I ran down towards the glade and thought for a moment that I was seeing a mirage, as I could see a reflection of the trees where the grass should be. The heavy rain over the last few days had turned the glade into a loch.
The next hill was much longer than the first one but I was doing fine. I couldn't hear anyone behind me and I was gaining some ground on Richard. A left turn took us down hill and through a narrow gateway back onto the first part of the course. I didn't feel that I could give much more but was confident that if I kept up my pace I would get closer to Richard, as it happened I crossed the line just after him in a time of 13:29. Five seconds slower than in July and 22seconds slower than in June. However I wasn't dishearted, of course it would be good to get progressively faster, rather than slower, but my training is aimed at a half marathon in four weeks time. From what I could tell, everyone seemed happy enough with their own performances and I felt good as we warmed down as around the course in the opposite direction.
Unfortunately I missed out on the after race soup, which wasn't good as I'd also missed out on my dinner/tea, and had to settle for a pint of Guinness instead, topped up with a few more in Sammy Dow's on the way home. Of course, if I was to cut down on the Guinness and red wine I'd have more chance of running faster but heh life may be a lot more boring.
Full Results
Place Name Age Club Time
1 Tommy McDonald 18 Bellahouston Harriers 10:34
2 Steven Prentice 37 Bellahouston Harriers 11:01
3 Shazad Hazeem 32 Cambuslang 11:03
4 Mark Paterson 35 Bellahouston Harriers 11:08
5 Matthew Brown 20 Bellahouston Harriers 11:09
6 Brian Douglas 38 Bellahouston Harriers 11:16
7 Crispin Walsh 39 Bellahouston Harriers 11:18
8 Makonan 16 unattached 11:31
9 Tom Lauckner 29 Bellahouston Harriers 11:34
10 RV MacDonald 26 Bellahouston Harriers 11:35
11 Graeme Gemmell 46 Bellahouston Harriers 11:42
12 George Adams 41 Bellahouston Harriers 11:43
13 David Martin 28 unattached 12:04
14 Sandy Eaglesham 58 Cambuslang 12:25
15 Keith Gibb 48 Bellahouston RR 12:25
16 Suzanne McMahon 40 Bellahouston Harriers 12:39
17 James McIvor 49 Bellahouston Harriers 12:56
18 Alan Dempster 35 unattached 12:57
19 Craig Ferguson 24 unattached 13:01
20 Erica Christie 54 Bellahouston Harriers 13:04
21 William McAllister Jnr 22 unattached 13:10
22 Brian Barr 47 Bellahouston Harriers 13:13
23 Howard Scott 60+ Bellahouston Harriers 13:16
24 Richard Leyton 38 Bellahouston RR 13:28
25 Ian Goudie 54 Kilmarnock Harriers 13:29
26 Kristina Greig 20 Bellahouston Harriers 13:35
27 William McAllister Snr 47 Bellahouston Harriers 13:40
28 James Cargill 33 unattached 13:50
29 Tom Henery 39 Bellahouston Harriers 14:04
30 Jim McMillan 60 Kibarchan 14:15
31 Ian Macleod 54 Bellahouston Harriers 14:25
32 Michael Healy 33 Bellahouston Harriers 14:37
33 Jim Byers 38 Bellahouston Harriers 14:41
34 Mel Ronald 39 Bellahouston Harriers 14:48
35 Zanda Viksna 21 Bellahouston Harriers 14:52
36 Hari 38 Bellahouston Harriers 14:56
37 Katy Smith 41 Bellahouston Harriers 14:56
38 Suzanne Boyle 31 Bellahouston Harriers 15:04
39 Allan Moore 30 unattached 15:25
40 John Softley 62 Bellahouston Harriers 15:31
41 Tarlok 41 Bellahouston Harriers 15:34
42 K Macleod 51 Bellahouston Harriers 15:39
43 Charanjit 55 Bellahouston Harriers 16:20
44 Lisa Montford 33 Bellahouston Harriers 16:35
45 Liz Gordon 46 Bellahouston Harriers 17:00
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