It Was a Misty Morning ..........



Leading Ladies at Bellahouston Park

 My original intention was to race Strathclyde parkrun on Saturday morning but, with the National Cross Country Championship Races being held later in the same day, I decided to do my local Glasgow parkrun instead. As well as being quicker to get to, Glasgow would also allow me to chart any progress from last week’s attempt at the same venue.


Frolics in the Fog

I arrived at a cold and foggy Pollok Park in time for a quick catch up with some running buddies and a brief warm up. As usual, I retied my shoe laces after my warm up and made my way into the assembled pack of runners. A number of regulars were noticeable by their absence, with the XC races and the next day’s run With the Wind 10k race providing alternatives. However the addition of 31 first timers helped to ensure a considerable turnout of 303 runners and walkers for the 105th staging of the event. For some reason, their also seemed to be a significant number of buggies on display today, this was good news for Chris Upson who will, hopefully, be in the market for one in the near future.

Leader of the Pack

I started a little further back than usual and, when the race got underway, I watched a bit of a melee as runners jostled for places as their exuberance got the better of them. “They’re wasting a lot of energy” I thought to myself as I negotiated my way down the hill. The road veered left and, as we made our way towards the ‘woodpecker’, I found myself, as usual, at the head of a pack with a bit of a distance to those in front, whose numbers included the very consistent pairing of Martin Myant and Jim McMillan. I decided to increase my pace and, as we entered the woods and climbed the first hill of the course, I was already picking off runners, catching Martin and Jim just after the 1k point. In fact, as my Garmin beeped to inform me that the lap had taken 4:26, I noticed Martin look down at his watch.

John Hagemeister must also have had a slow start as he caught up with me shortly after this and his efficient running style soon left me behind. I was quite happy with my pace and I managed to complete the first lap of the course with no problems. I was working quite hard as I weaved my way along the zigzag part of the course and back onto the park road. However with two miles under my belt, I noticed the wheels of a buggy to my right hand side, closely followed by the sound of someone chatting to me. “WTF?” I thought. When the buggy pusher drew level with me, I was relieved to see that it was Stephen Prentice, who is a class runner. I managed no more than a grunt in response to the words emitting from his happy, smiling, relaxed looking face as he ran past.

220m to go........

I now realised that I had a ‘frog in my throat’ which was impeding my concentration and breathing. Things got worse when I noticed that my right lace had come undone. With leaves, puddles and even horse droppings to manoeuvre through, I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to complete the race without losing at least one running shoe. Perhaps this would be my chance to try out barefoot running. However I kept to my task and refocused my attention on a guy with a blue Edinburgh Marathon t-shirt ahead of me. With about 900m to go, I was disappointed to find myself dropping a place, as Alan Dempster overtook me. His advantage was short lived though as I attacked the last hill and opened up a gap on my way around to the last 200m down hill finish. I was still a bit concerned about my footwear but someone was on my shoulder and his presence made sure that their was no slacking on my part.

Sixty Nine
I crossed the Line in 60th place, with a time of 21:41. Only one place higher than last week BUT an improved time of no less than 69 seconds! Of course there’s still a lot of improvement required to get near my PB.

Worth a Mention
Further up the field Cambuslang’s Martin McLaughlin crossed the line first in 17.00, followed by Max Lancaster of Giffnock North in second place (with a new PB of 17.15) and Callum Matthews from Kilbarchan in third place (17.24).

Stewarton’s Andy McGhee placed fourth with a time of 17:27; there was a quartet of PBs for Graeme Gemmell; Andrew Carson; Paul McNally and John Gilhooly who placed 15-18 respectively.

John Hagemeister finished 38th with a time of 20:22, three places ahead of Central’s youngster, Emily Greenan, who won the women’s race with a new PB of 20.25. Second woman was Hilary Robinson in 20.36, followed by Romy Beard in third place in 22.20.

Alan Dempster finished two places behind me, in 62 place with a time of 21:45, with Jim McMillan 72nd in 22:15 and Martin Myant 79th in 22:24.

Ayrshire lass, Marianne Wilson was also among the 74 runners achieving a PB, placing 80th (fourth female) in 22:30. Kilmarnock Harrier's youngster Terry Mulholland took eight seconds off of his previous time to place 85th in 22:53. His mother, Sylvia, also did well, taken an impressive 40 seconds off of her PB to place 117th in 24:01, just ahead of Suzanne Boyle, who took 10 seconds off of her PB. Whilst Katy Smith’s time of 24:05 was just one second off of her PB, her son Robbie took the family plaudits by taken 39 seconds off of his PB, to place 250th in 30:09.



Post (and Pre) Race Repartee

After a quick coffee and cake with Chris Upson, Niall McAlinden (who were sugar loading before their XC race) and Claire Larravide (who had run the recent Dublin Marathon), I made my way along to Bellahouston Park to cheer on the runners and take a few photos of the first class action in the glorious winter sunshine, before having some lunch with four of Motherwell AC's finest and, eventually, making my way home in time to hear the Famous Kilmarnock FC being hammered by their highland opposition.



Luncheon Ladies



Thanks

Thanks to the 21 super volunteers that made Glasgow parkrun happen, to Chris Upson for the use of his pics and to all the runners and organisers at Bellahouston Park.


Full Results

Chris Upson’s Photos

My Photos of the XC Senior Races

XC Report from SA

XC Results