Blue Skies and Black Ice

‘Twas a gorgeous winter morning in Glasgow today, the sky was blue and the sun was shining, however these conditions are usually accompanied by low temperatures and today was to be no exception.  The temperatures had plummeted over night and yesterday’s melted snow had turned to black ice.  The attempted early morning inspection of the Glasgow parkrun course revealed that not only was the usual route too dangerous to run but that the roads into Pollok Park itself were also extremely hazardous.  The unusual decision to cancel the event was taken at about 8:30am and tweeted to the nation. 

View from my flat

My Plan B was to go to Strathclyde parkrun and congratulate Ross Goodman as he completed his 1000^th kilometre of the year.  However, despite my four wheel drive option, my car was unable to make it up the 200m of black ice which would have taking me to the relative safety of Pollokshaws Road and on my way to Motherwell.

Instead, I had to abandon the car, make my way home and opt for Plan C, a run along the road of at least 3miles to qualify me for day 17 of the Marcothon. 

The other view from my flat

I carefully negotiated my way over the ice and snow, the pavement being slightly less risky than the road, and was rewarded by a well gritted, and relatively quiet A77.  I made my way along through Shawlands, where I could use the salted pavements, towards the Pollok Avenue entrance to the park.  The safety of the pavement decreased between Shawlands and Bar 1901, where there was no option but to resort to running on the road.  My initial assessment of Pollok Ave was that it wasn’t that bad, however it didn’t take me long to realise that my feet were sliding as I reached the ice.  I heard a voice saying “Is it a bit slippy” and turned to see the only other runner that I would see this morning………………………..Jacqui Thomson!  I advised her that the parkrun had been cancelled but, like me, she was content to get a run under her belt.  Her trainers had more grip than mine, so I decided to return to the safety of Pollokshaws Road and head back towards home.  Whilst the run would have been about 4 miles and more than enough for the Marcothon, I decided to add another couple of miles and turned around at the junction with Moss-side Road.  This time as I ran down the road CatrionaGourlay, waiting in her car at the red light, called my name and we chatted about the cancellation and the underfoot conditions.  I, and thousands of others, are indebted to Catriona, Richard Leyton and the other core parkrun volunteers who give up so much of their time, in all weather, so that runners can have a Saturday morning 5k.

This time, I turned right and ran along Haggs Road, where the entrance/exit to Pollok Park was worse than Pollok Ave, with the road being covered by black ice.  Again, I turned around and rejoined the main road and ran back towards Shawlands, a detour onto Victoria Road took me over 10k, my target for the day.  A cagey warm down over the black ice and snow took me to the warmth of my home and an earlier than usual but no less deserved cooked brunch. 

Not a bad start to the weekend. It’s great being a runner!