Following my illness, I've been quietly
and slowly working away to increase my fitness and strength.
Starting with walking and then progressing to jogging I've been
increasing the my distance by around 10% every week. I'm now running
more than 5k but less than 10k, although I'm far from race fit and
was working towards doing the Eglinton parkrun in a few weeks time, having previously
worked at Eglinton farm. However I couldn't pass the opportunity to
participate in the inaugural Tollcross parkrun on Saturday May 4th.
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| Nice to see you're back..... |
Whilst this was Tollcross's first
parkrun, it was my 118th and there were a few friends and
running buddies wishing me well as I took part in my first race since
New Year's Day. I lined up with some 92 other runners in the east
end of Glasgow morning sunshine and, at 9:30am, we were set off on our
way around the undulating course. Although I've been working on my
distance, it will take some time to build up my muscles, strength and
stamina. I haven't done any hill work and I knew that the two and a
half lap course would be challenging.
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| We're off! |
We ran, slightly uphill, towards
Shettleston Road and then veered left and the gradient increased, 200
metres parallel with Shettleston Road and a left turn took us over a
brae and down, back towards the middle of the park. With Garmin
informing me that I had ran my first kilometre and Chris McKiddie
shouting support from his marshal position, We turned right and ran
towards Muiryfauld Drive. A left hand turn, took us southwards,
another left and we were running with Tollcross Road on our right
hand side, over a steep hill and then back to the beginning. Any
thoughts of dropping out, were banished by the sound of the Johnston
Brass Band blasting out The Olympic Fanfare. Ally Robb provided
additional support as I reached the 2k point, as did Chris at 3k.
Another lap would take me to the cut off lane and the final 100m over
grass before reaching the Finish in a time of 25:18. Whilst hardly
record breaking, I was happy enough with my performance, as I had set myself
a target of 26mins. I placed 35th out of 93 finishers.
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| Focussed |
Up front, Ronhill Cambuslang had stamped
their mark on the event, winning the men's and women's races and
claiming 5 of the first 9 places. The Lanarkshire club's David Thom,
who completed Strathclyde last week in a time of 17:22, won the first
Tollcross parkrun in a time of 18:00. Central AC's father and son
team of Alex and Ross Milne, earned second and third consecutively.
Dad finishing in 18:07, twenty seconds in front of Ross. In the
Women's event Ayrshire lass, Kirsty Grant, won Gold for Cambuslang
with a time of 24:30, placing 30th overall. Sixty-six
year old Liz Corbett earned runner-up spot with a time of 25:32, 36th
overall, with Airdrie's Emma Mann placing third, 39th
overall, with a time of 25:48.
Providing favourable weather, live
music and home made cake, the organisers can take a well earned bow
for staging such a successful race. I'm sure it will go from strength
to strength, I know that I'll be back.
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