It’s a long journey from Jomtien to Glasgow but it’s one that went as smoothly as possible for me. I’d booked a ‘limousine’ taxi for the 120k journey to Bangkok, which took about 90 minutes and cost 1200 Bhat, or about £24. I thought that I’d got my flight times mixed up when I arrived at the KLM Check-in Desk at 21:30 to discover that there was no queue. Once relieved of my luggage, I made my way to the appropriate Departure Gate, just in time to board the aeroplane. I was pleased to hear that the plane wasn’t full and even more so when I discovered that the adjoining two seats to mine where unoccupied and that I would be able to lie down, after a fashion, and get some shut eye. The process was just as efficient when I reached Amsterdam airport. I made my way to the appropriate Departure Gate, just in time for boarding and a smooth flight to a dark and wet Glasgow, where my brother was waiting at 7:35 to take me home.
The flight had taken its toll though and I was shattered for the rest of the day, I ventured out to Sammie’s, for a wee while, in the evening to see Independence and their regular Thursday night Jam Session. Although the welcome I received was as warm as ever, it was nothing like the “Welcome” that you get when you approach any bar in Thailand.
3K on the Green
I started near the back of the field and stayed there as my initial pace of 3:44, slipped to 4:08 and then settled into a pace of 4:18, increasing it slightly to 3:54 for the last 0.5k. My time being 12:21, 22 seconds slower than my last outing in February, but I was still happy enough with my performance. I could have worked harder and I could have increased the pace a bit more in the final strait but it wouldn’t have made too much difference. I enjoyed the run and meeting up with so many running buddies, it was also good to meet ex Kilmarnock Harrier, Allison Simpson nee Higgins. The former Commonwealth Game’s athlete was making her return to racing, after retiring through injury three years ago.
After my warm down, I bumped into another Killie Harrier Harald Bartl as I headed to the Winter Gardens with Tom Keenan to sort out the world’s economic woes, over a cup of coffee and slice of carrot cake.
Results
parkrun 84
On Saturday morning I made my way along to Pollok Park for my 72nd outing at the Glasgow event and my 84th parkrun. It seemed a lot quieter than usual. I knew that the Big Fun Run was on at 11am and that many club runners would be competing at the Allan Scally Road Relays, later in the day, but it still seemed very quiet. However there was no need for concern as, with around ten minutes to go, the numbers swelled to a healthy 264 runners, including at least four who had raced the previous day’s 3k on the Green.
After my warm up and pre race catch ups I joined the assembled ranks in time for the 9:30am Start. I was right about the lack of some of the regular club runners but despite the attraction of earning some decent points, I decided that I would be taking it relatively easy. I knew that Tom Keenan was looking for a decent run and I noticed that he set off quickly as I trundled down the first part of the course. I kept my eye on him for much of the race and he was looking very determined as he battled it out with Watson Jones around the two lap 5k course. I was content to settle for getting another race under my belt, although I did step it up a bit for the final kilometre and gained a few places to finish 62nd with a time of 22:50. Tom had placed 52nd in 22:31, with Watson two places behind in 22:34. I didn’t realise that Jennifer Clark had used me as a target and had taking 55 seconds off of her previous PB to finish one place and one second behind me, earning runner up spot in the women’s race, with a new PB of 22:51.
As for me, again considering everything, I was happy enough with my run and, as usual, enjoyed the post race coffee and chat.
Results
Southside Six
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| Andrew Wright |
With its close proximity to my holidays, I had decided not to enter the inaugural Southside Six 16 mile undulating race around six parks in Glasgow’s Sou’side. However I did want to get a decent cycle in before the end of October. I was amazed at the lack of bicycles in Thailand, and I hadn’t been on a bike since 28 September. My initial intention was to do a few miles, get a Sunday newspaper and watch the Great South Run as I enjoyed my brunch before supporting the finishers of the 16 mile race. However I decided to cycle to Queens Park and follow any arrows indicating the route of the race. When I reached Stewarton Road, I looked at my watch and worked out that I could get back to Queens Park just about in time for the Start. I cycled along with the 220 runners to Linn Park and then made my way back to Stewarton Road to provide some more support as the runners exited Rouken Glen Park.
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| Jenny MacLean |
I then cycled down to Nithsdale Street and guided the runners onto Pollockshaws Road towards the Finish back at Queens Park before peddling to the Finish and enjoying in the post race banter, soup and cakes.
By the time I had stopped off for a paper and reached my home, I had cycled a total of 39.71k, not too bad for my first cycle of the month. My total for the year now stands at 1560k, with a target of 2011. My other targets of swimming 10k, has been achieved (12k to date) and I’m well on course to reach my running target of 2011k, having already run 1920k.
Results
Thanks
In summary, three great races , which all relied, almost exclusively, on people volunteering their services and doing a heck of a lot of hard work in the background to ensure that the races run smoothly and incident free. My thanks to each and everyone of you!
Work
It was back to work today, after being on annual leave since 28th September, a bit of a shock to the system but all good things etc
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