I’m Still Running

Old Comrades
Last Wednesday I was back in Selex Galileo, meeting the unions this time. To my delight Shop Steward Jim Cull had arranged for the Branch Officials to be in attendance, which gave me the opportunity to meet some old colleagues, Stewart Kerr and Bob Hardie, who have now retired. I’ve not seen them since about 1992 and yet the first question they asked me was “are you still running?”

I am indeed and later that night I was running 5x800m reps in the dark, cold, rainy and windy conditions at Bellahouston Velodrome.  Thursday was my weekly ‘rest day’ and I did my long/steady state run on Friday, 10miles in 80mins exactly.

My 96th parkrun
Saturday had me scheduled to do 3miles easy, which of course in my mind equated to doing my 96th parkrun. I would have liked to have gone to Edinburgh to witness Gordon McDonald achieving his 100th but with the Ayr v Killie Semi Final at Hampden at 1pm, it would have been cutting it a bit fine. Instead I joined in with over 300 runners at a very icy Pollok Park.

The organisers quickly switched the event to an off road route, which saw us running three loops and a bit, of a somewhat muddy and rather heavy going course. Each lap witnessed numerous drop outs, as people realised how boggy and difficult the conditions were.

At various stages I ran alongside Tom Ross, Kenny Clarke, Marianne Wilson and Angela Campbell. I was just completing my second lap when the latest parkrun young gun, Ethan Sloan-Denniston shot past me and crossed the finish line. I increased the pace a bit in my final lap and overtook Marianne with about 200m to go but fair play to her, she showed another side to her personality, when she dug deep and found the determination and speed to pass me in the final strait. I placed 81st with a time of 26:07 for the 5.26k.

Full results

Not much post race banter as I had to get home for a shower and a quick brunch before heading to the Shed for the pre match entertainment. It’s been a long, long time since I had a drink before noon! I was spotted by some members of the Wardrope Clan from Dunlop, I doubt if I’ve seen them since I was at school but the first thing they said to me was “are you still running?”

Killie Final
Being born in Ayr, I always consider the Honest Men as my second team but I was a bit disappointed with their defensive tactics on the day. Killie were by far the more positive side and played some attractive football before finally scoring the only goal of the game in 109mins. As the buses headed back to Ayrshire, I settled for a quiet night in, with a couple of glasses of red, as I had another race to look forward to on Sunday.

Off they go....

Scottish Masters Road Relays
There was a record number of teams registered for this years’ veteran relays, 46 men’s teams of 4 and 19 women’s teams of 3, with some class runners in both the men’s and women’s events, including Kilmarnock’s Iain Connell who handed over in third place. I had a long wait, being the fourth and final runner of the Killie B team, which gave me the opportunity to chat with loads of friends, take a couple of photos and support the other runners before warming up for my race.  My photos here

The loneliness of the last leg runner

I had been forewarned that, once again, other park users and their dogs were showing their usual lack of support for the event, by walking three and four abreast and refusing to budge for the speeding runners. Club mate Kenny Wales had actually tripped over a poodle during his leg. I didn’t have to wait long for my first hurdle, as Jethro Lennox had just completed his team’s 4th leg and was standing in the middle of the path, bent over, being sick, as I set off.

Pic by Kenny Phillips

With Jethro successfully negotiated, I made my way clockwise around Strathclyde Loch’s 3.8miles. I spied a white haired Central AC runner ahead (John Millar) and was glad to have someone to aim at. As I narrowed the gap on him, I was thinking that I didn’t really want to be in a situation where I had to race with no other runner in sight. As luck would have it just as I overtook him at the 2k point, a Carnegie Harrier (Colin Reid) sped past the both of us. Although there was no chance of me matching his pace, I was able to keep him in sight for the rest of the race, as I weaved my way through the, for the most part, apparently oblivious to the race, other park users and dogs.

I maintained my place and crossed the line in a time of 26:03, an average pace of 6:51 and a wava of 71.55%.  Results
Excellent pics as usual on roadrunpics.com


Analysis
I later checked my training log to discover that I had completed the same race last year in a time of 24:39, a wava of 74.99%! I know I’m a lot slower this year, so I wasn’t too disappointed with my time. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was my best performance since 5th August 2011, when I ran the Bella Belter with a wava of 71.71%.

VLM Training
That's week 6 of my 18 week marathon training programme completed, only another 12 weeks to go.  Remember you can sponsor me here

parkrun 95 under my belt.....and new VLM Favourite...

I decided to do my 14mile steady state run on Friday, rather than the weekend, which meant that I could have a nice relaxing couple of days. Again this was a bit further and indeed a bit faster than last week’s run.  I’m starting to feel my face feel a wee bit gaunt.  Of course I still had a couple of training runs to do: a 3mile recovery one and a 6mile general run.  Although the Glasgow parkrun could never be described as an easy course, I decided to take part in the event as another training run.  My real purpose was just to get another parkrun under my belt and get one step closer to my 100 target.

A number of friends managed to get PBs, congratulations to them.  For my part, I was content to run a negative split, to finish with a time of 22:55 and to enjoy in the post race banter back in the Burrell Café.

London Marathon Favourite
I'm having some good and some bad days but to date I've stuck with my training plan, I knew that Andrew Lemoncello had got injured in his first week of VLM training, however I was a still shocked to hear that I had been installed as the new favourite: Marathon News

Joking aside, if you want to help me through my training schedule and support a good cause, then why not consider sponsoring me. See the link on the side of this page.

Boats and Planes and 21k

Selex Galileo, Crewe Toll

Turning Back the Clock

A bit of a strange week with a Wednesday trip through to meet AeroSpace, Defence & Security Industries (ADS), an organisation which I have campaigned to get established for years.  I actually did my Masters' Thesis on 'the need for a Scottish Aerospace Consortium?'.  The trip was even more poignant in the fact that the organisation is based at Sellex Galileo, Crewe Toll, Edinburgh, where I used to work and was the union secretary for a number of very eventual years.  After another meeting in Livingston, I made my way home and along to the Sherbrooke hills for a hard session, four long loops.

Thursday saw me having to get up just after 5am for a trip down to a Marine Industry meeting being held at the Boat Show in London.  It was a long day with me getting back home at 9pm, just as well that it coincided with my ‘rest day’.

I was tired on Friday and with the weather being cold and icy, I settled for squeezing in a 3mile run on the treadmill at lunchtime. 

An early night and my altered sleeping patterns had me wide-awake at 5am again!  I thought about having an early morning run but decided instead to stay in bed and let the outdoor temperature rise a bit.  My training plan had a 6mile, 13mile and 7mile run over the next three days.  The most important run for marathon training is the long run, so I decided that I would make my way to Strathclyde Park, do a lap of the local parkrun as a warm up, do the race and then another two laps and another kilometre would do nicely for my long run.  A bowl of porridge at 7am and I was set up for the day.  However, I can’t believe that I missed the turnoff for Motherwell and got to Strathclyde later than planned, a queue in the toilets held me back even more and I had to settle for a 2.5k warm up before the start of the 90^th Strathclyde parkrun. 

For whatever reason there was a super turnout of some 147 runners at the event and this was reflected across Scotland, with a record turnout of 1231 parkrunners.

There was some quality on display as well as Robert Gilroy and Nick Reid lined up at the front, I settled for a position 3 or 4 rows back.  Race Director Ally Robb explained that the route had been changed slightly this morning and that there were some parts of the route a little icy before setting us on our way.  I started steady enough as others seemed to make a mad dash at the start.  The first kilometre took me an acceptable 4:19. I found myself running along with Anthony Butler for a while.  I explained to him that I was doing a training run and as he maintained his pace, mine slowed to 4:31 for the 2^nd k.

The amended route, was more of an ‘out and back’ rather than the usual ‘loop’, but I was still amazed to see Robert Gilroy so soon.  The only saving grace being the fact that he was about a minute ahead of the next runner, Nick Reid.  The path around the turning point is quite narrow and I found myself behind two female runners with their dogs on long leads.  Not easy to overtake.  Once I managed to get past the first one, we met the outward going ‘slower’ runners, who had to adopt a single file approach as the dog decided to run to the right, rather than left.  I was stuck behind the lead for a while and the 3^rd k took me 4:34.  I eventually managed to get past and was confident that I would be able to make up some ground.  I could see Anthony way in front with 3 or 4 runners in between us.  The 4^th k took me 4:30.  I was a bit surprised to be overtaken by a white haired runner but with a big gap in front of us, I decided just to stick in behind him for a bit.

I knew that there were a couple of signs indicating 200m and then 100m to go.  I saw the yellow sign on the grass about 100m away and decided to go for it.  I surprised myself at how much I increased the pace, as I made sure that I opened up a sufficient gap on the other runner.  It wasn’t long until I saw the next sign, however rather than indicating that there was 100m to go, the sign said 200m!   The yellow sign had been a ‘keep left’ one.  I managed to hold onto my lead though but as Garmin beeped to tell me I had completed 5k, there was still another .09k to go. I crossed the line in 29^th position with the 5th k taken 4:17.  A total time of 22:16 and 6seconds ahead of my challenger, who turns out was Peter Ogden running his first Strathclyde parkrun, having run the Glasgow event 11 times.

Robert Gilroy’s time was 15:57; Victoria Semple was first woman in a time of 21:38.  Anthony placed 24^th, with a time of 21:52, with Ian Devoy finishing one spot ahead of me in 22:07.  Full Results

 Post Race

I completed my run along the shores of Strathclyde Loch, before being rewarded by some home baking, as ever provided by the friendly bunch of volunteers, and heading back to Glasgow, having banked 7miles.

Unlucky for Some

Glasgow Actually

February 28, 2011 was the last time that I had completed a 13mile run but I was confident that I could do it again.  However the problem, as ever, was getting out of the door and having enough self-motivation to actually do it.  I was ready to pack in my marathon training and just forget the whole thing but by 11:30, I was out and running towards Pollok Park.  No gel, jelly babies or even water were required as it was going to be an easy training run.  It was freezing cold but the sun was shining and it felt great to run along the White Cart, past Pollok House and beyond Lochinch.  A couple of left turns and I headed along Mosspark Boulevard and onto Paisley Road West.  The lights and traffic were against me, so I turned left, along Crookston Road and then another left onto Brockburn Road and my turning point at 10.5k.

The turn gave me some extra confidence and I headed back along the same route with a smile on my face.  Of course, I tired and my lack of preparation resulted in some rather painful chapping in my nether regions but I did complete the 21k, without stopping and with a smile on my face.  I’m so glad I did it and I tucked into my guilt free Steak Pie Dinner with relish.....and a glass or two of red wine.

Cold First Foot into 2012

David Etchells

I caught another damn cold, when I was out running on Wednesday 28^th December, I had hoped to miss the rain showers but unfortunately that was not to be the case and things got worse when the freezing cold wind delivered some hail stones too.  My legs were that cold, that they were burning!  I struggled out on the Thursday to keep up my Marcothon and again on Friday, when I cut short my steady state run from 12miles to around 8.  Things were not looking good for the parkrun on Hogmanay and I struggled around being overtaken by loads to finish in 23:29, the only light being a strong finish, where I just managed to catch Troon’s running farmer, David Etchells.  Despite being way short of 100%, I had managed to complete the Marcothon and had run my 68^th race of 2011. 

After a quiet old year’s night, I was lining up again at Pollok Park for my first race of 2012.  I had broken out in a fever during my night’s sleep and was feeling a bit better.  This was reflected in my performance, which was a little better, completing the testing 5k in 23:01, a 28 second improvement but still a long way short of where I would like to be.  It was also good to exchange new year greetings with some good running buddies. 

Although I had taken the decision to concentrate on my Marathon training this year, I just couldn’t resist the temptation to join in with the runners at Lenzie.  Well I had a six mile training run to do and there was a 9k race at a cost of £1, with the promise of a cup of hot soup after the run.  Wrapped up, against the cold wind, I joined in with over 300 others competing in one or other of the three races.  My appearance was not to go unnoticed as the Community Council reported:

Pic by Karen Craig

The  2012 New Year Jog in Lenzie broke all previous records for numbers taking part by about a third.  There were 308 entrants split between the short route, the 4.5k route and the two-lap 9k run.  The weather was judged to be a significant factor.  It was certainly very cold and slightly damp at times, but there was no snow and ice.  This was a welcome relief to the organisers, as 2010 Jog was cancelled due to ice on the track and 2011 only went ahead with a route curtailment and after sterling work with shovels and salt on part of it.
The event was, as always, a combined effort of Kirkintilloch Olympians running club and Lenzie Community Council.  There were many more ‘teams’ this year from as far away as Kilmarnock among other places and Lenzie Rugby Club was also represented.

I had hoped to run around with a group of other runners, who would help to shelter me from the wind and make the session a bit easier than doing it myself.  However there didn’t seem to be anyone running at my pace and, particularly in the second lap, I found myself running alone until near the Finish, with only Alex Chatham in sight and no-one within a minute of my tail.  My time of 40:14 was fine for a decent training run and once again it was good to meet some running buddies, some of which I hadn't seen since the same event last year.

A great night out at The Ferry with Chris Glen and the Outfit, featuring Gordon Bell on vocals, and I awoke with a stinking hangover to the worst storm that the country has had in a decade.  It would be fair to say that my 5k recovery run on Tuesday was one of the slowest I’ve ever done.

Chris and Gordon

Wednesday 3^rd January was my first non-running day, since 30^th November, as I stuck to my training schedule and had a ‘rest day’.  Thursday and I was at Bellahouston Velodrome doing my first track session in almost three years.  4x800m reps.

My legs were a bit heavy on Friday, as I ran my 8mile Steady State run, and I was fearful of doms as I made my way to my 93^rd parkrun on Saturday.  I half decent warm up and I joined a bumper crowd of 358 for the 155th Glasgow parkrun.  I was happy enough to take another 15secs off of my New Year’s Day time to complete the 5k in 22:46.  A warm down took me to my scheduled 6miles and the end of week 3 of my Marathon Training, only another 15 to go. 

As far as racing is concerned I’ve got 13.1mile Steady State runs scheduled for the 19^th February and the 11^th March, the first date coincides with the Kinloss to Lossiemouth Half, which I might do, whilst the latter coincides with the Inverness Half, which I’ve now registered for.  Of course, I’m sure there will be one or two others along the way.

Remember if you wish to sponsor me to raise funds for Scottish MND can you can do so here. 

Beith Harriers New Year Road Race Results 2012

Pic by Kenny Phillips

Race No	Name		Club	Time	Category
46	Stuart Gibson		Ronhill Cambuslang	23.55	SM
7	Iain Connell		Kilmarnock	25.03	MV 35+
28	Stephen Wylie		Ronhill Cambuslang	25.11	MV 35+
12	Greg Turner		Giffnock North	26.15	SM
41	Jamie Findlay		Irvine	26.22	SM
42	Steven Campbell		Glenpark Harriers	26.32	MV 35+
51	Tony McKnight		Irvine	27.14	MV 35+
35	Davie Henderson		Glenpark Harriers	27.28	SM
8	Scott Martin		Kilmarnock	27.44	MV 35+
47	Ross Connelly		Kilmarnock	28.37	JM
49	Mark Livingstone		Irvine	28.49	MV 35+
25	Andrew Jeske		Jammys	28.52	MV 45+
30	Kara Tait		Kilmarnock	29.21	SW
48	Danny McLaughlin		Glenpark Harriers	30.2	MV 45+
13	Colin Evans		U/A	30.22	SM
18	Hugh Laverty		Clydesdale Harriers	30.24	MV 55+
36	Jim Sneddon		Irvine	30.25	MV 45+
45	Gary Kilpatrick		U/A	30.32	SM
19	Derek Reid		North Ayrshire	30.38	MV 35+
40	Emma Baxter		Glenpark Harriers	30.4	SW
11	Claire McAuley		U/A	30.48	JW
23	Gareth Brown		North Ayrshire	30.56	SM
50	James White		irvine	31.06	MV 55+
3	Michelle Hetherington		Helensburgh	31.11	FV 45+
4	Harry O'Donnell		U/A	31.19	SM
37	Mick Dunn		Glenpark Harriers	31.42	MV 55+
24	Stephen Kirk		Harrogate Harriers	32.18	MV 35+
5	Campbell Cromar		Helensburgh	32.2	MV 45+
6	Lindsay McMahon		Kilmarnock	32.28	FV 35+
38	Kenny Pryde		Glenpark Harriers	32.3	MV 45+
32	Dolina Rumbold		U/A	33.04	SW
22	Stephen Flannagan		Girvan	33.19	MV 45+
39	Eric Baxter		U/A	33.27	MV 55+
20	John Smith		Jammys	33.31	MV 45+
31	Colleen Tait		Kilmarnock	34.38	SW
9	Ian Devoy		Strathaven Striders	34.49	MV 45+
43	Anne Noble		Troon Tortoises	34.5	FV 45+
44	Peter Rudzinski		Clydesdale Harriers	34.59	MV 55+
29	Debbie Martin-Consan		Garscube Harriers	35.22	FV 35+
52	Hamish Gordon		U/A	36.05	MV 45+
21	Moira Nicol		Jammys	36.06	FV 45+
33	Viki Wilkinson		Glenpark Harriers	37.57	FV 35+
34	Jane MacLean		Glenpark Harriers	37.57	SW
15	Lorna Sloan		Kilmarnock	38.13	FV 35+
17	Bryce Kerr		Kilmarnock	38.51	MV 35+
16	Robin Wilson		U/A	39.15	MV 45+
14	Tracy Kerr		Kilmarnock	39.25	FV 35+
10	A Donaldson		U/A	40.2	MV 35+
26	Kenny Weir		U/A	41.06	MV 55+
27	Jack Maxwell		Girvan	44.23	MV 55+
1	William Drysdale		Law & district	52.25	MV 55+
2	Mark Donnelly		unattached	1E+05	SM

The Long Road to 2012

I had no idea if I would beat last year’s total of 65 races this year but I suppose running three races on New Year’s Day gave me a good start.  Of course it’s not just about quantity, quality counts too and I remain amazed to discover that, despite holding back, as I had another two races to follow, my first race of 2011 was, according to run Britain, was to prove to be my best performance of the year.  The race was given an SSS of 2.81 and I completed the 5k run in 20:45.   After a decent run in the brazing conditions at Portobello, which saw me complete the 4 miles in a PB of 27:10, I managed my second PB of the year, taken 5:26 to run down the Royal Mile at 1pm on 01/01/11.

The next day saw me at Beith, where I ran my best wava of the year, my second best of all time, at 74.15%. and my 3^rd PB of 2011 as I raced the 4.8 miles in 32:17.   The ice and snow at Lenzie on 3^rd January made for difficult running conditions but I still managed my 4^th PB of the year, completing the 2.5mile course in a time of 18:06.

In what appears to be a happy hunting ground for me, I returned to Edinburgh on the 29 January for my second best performance of the year.  My time was actually one second quicker than that of New Year’s Day, sprinting across the line in 20:44.

The 30th of January and I was off to a bitterly cold Strathclyde Park, for the LSK Masters Road Relay Championship.  I was well chuffed to take 71 seconds off of my course PB, to complete the 3.7 miles in a time of 24:39, my 5^th PB of the year. 

In February, I clocked up my 6^th PB of 2011, finishing the, undulating, Kirkintilloch Olympians' 12.5 Km Road Race in 69:17

In May, I was the 1^st MV50 at the MND Scotland 4 Mile race in Strathclyde Park, where I set my 7^th PB, with a time of 26:51.  PB 8 was set on the one-off M74 14k race, which I ran in 1:04:30.

I earned my 9th PB of 2011 in Pollok Park, where I completed the Bellahouston Harrier’s 2mile Time Trial in 13:07.   .

Although I didn’t set a new PB at 10k, I was happy with my performances during May and June, completing the first one, at Troon, in 43:25; Helensburgh in 43:00; the Land of Burns in 42:59; Dumbarton in 43:44; the Vale of Leven in 43:46; Kirkintilloch in 43:57 and the Brian Goodwin in 43:44. 

With a distance of 6.58miles being a new one for me, I was guaranteed my 10^th PB of 2011 on the 18^th August, at the Crazy Craigie, held on Fenwick, which I completed in 29:07.

In October, I ventured to Bangkok, where I clocked up PB 11, whilst running the Amari Watergate Hotel 14th Charity Midnight 12k race in the heat of the night.

I Win Again!

Whilst that was to be the end of my PBs for the year, I actually went on to win my category in another couple of, albeit less competitive, races: the Glasgow Mo 5k, in November; and the Jog Scotland Xmas Cracker in December.

68 Races and the Marcothon

I completed the Marcothon for the first time, at the first attempt, and, despite doing a Saturday morning photographic course and having a bicycle accident, I managed to increase my race total, from 65 in 2010, to 68 in 2011, finishing the year with a spate of races, which saw me competing on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day (two races) and Hogmanay.  Not too shabby for someone of 54 years of age.

All in all, a great year racing but one which I have absolutely no intention of repeating, as my attention now turns to competing in my first ever London Marathon* Of course, I’ll do a number of other races as well.  It would be silly to put all my eggs in the one basket. 

My thanks to all the running buddies I’ve met throughout the year and all the volunteers who ensure that there is always a race to run.

Stats:

4 category wins

11 new PBs

68 Races

Run: 1404 miles.

Cycled 1061 miles

Swimming 7.8 miles.

Blog hits: 21,744.

* If you would care to sponsor me for the VLM, I’ll be raising funds for MND Scotland, any donations would be much appreciated.