No Kilmaurs but a 120th Anniversary Race and Olympic Breakfast too!

M77

I joined with the Nation in watching the fantastic opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on Friday night. Take a bow Danny Bolye.  Of course, in solidarity with my international comrades, I enjoyed a very nice bottle of red wine whilst watching the show.  The only down side was that the programme went on into the wee sma’ hours. Not the perfect preparation for my second race in two days:  Glasgow parkrun #184.

East Kilbride

I had missed the Kilmaurs 5k on Wednesday when my Head Gasket blew as I made my way south on the M77.  Strathclyde Police were great, my insurance company (Admiral) were hopeless and the AA were bizarre in there response. Taking three vehicles and three hours to get me home, via East Kilbride!

Car less, I cycled along to Cartha Queens Park to meet up with my club mates on Saturday morning to celebrate the Club's 120th Anniversary.  However by the time I got there, they had taken the group photos and were leaving for their warm up to the Burrell and the Start of the Glasgow parkrun.  A quick change and I followed them along through the park.  My legs were heavy after yesterday’s 3k and I didn’t want to run too hard and tire myself too much before the race started. 

At 9:30 some 48 Bellahouston Harriers assembled together with another 302 runners at the start of Glasgow parkrun #184.  This was my 95^th running of the event and my 110^th parkrun.

I had managed to take 16seconds off of my time last week to finish in 23:13 and my target this week was to try to get a 22min something time.  Although, to be truthful, I wasn’t 100% confident of doing so and my 1^st k time of 4:25 didn’t exactly convince me otherwise.  I had lots of support from the marshals, photographers, supporters and some of my fellow runners too which helped to keep me working steadily throughout the race.  Nearing the end of the 4^th k, I couldn’t hold off the challenge of club mate Angela Carson, who has been running well at training.  However as I upped the pace for the last k, I managed to catch her and a few others too.  I had spotted Giffnock North’s Martin Myant ahead and was concentrating on getting close to him.  I surprised myself, when I caught him with 200ms to go and I gave it my all down the final hill, as I know that he has a good finish in him, especially when he’s racing against me!  Fortunately my strong finish took me over the line without any major problems from my tight hamstring and I was delighted when I looked at my watch for it to reveal that not only had I got under 23mins but I had finished in 96^th position with a time of 22:29, 43seconds faster than last week!

I congratulated Martin Conlon, who had finished just in front of me with anew PB of 22:28, before turning to exchange mutual congratulations with Martin (22:34), who said that it was good to see me back racing against him again, even if neither of us is at our peak at the moment.

There were some fine performances throughout the Bella Harriers huge contingent and a number of PBs too, including:: Mark Patterson, who seems to have his Mojo working again after having a wee break from racing, 17:36; Louise Warren 1^st Woman in 18:44; Jennifer Clark, 2^nd Woman in 19:10 ; Ian Taggart 19:18; Allan Allison 21:12; Kristina Greig 21:51; Angela Carson 22:36; Ilse Meijerrink 26:10 and Sharon Scott 29:14.  There were also a few first timers.  Congratulations to you all.

After the, more than usual, post run conversation and a couple more photo opportunities we warmed down back to the club house where a hot shower and a hearty cooked Olympian breakfast awaited us. 

A great start to the Olympics and a great way to celebrate Bellahouston Harrier’s 120^th Anniversary.

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