2013 in Review -My Long Road Back to Fitness

Some of my running medals

After missing almost six months of running due to my Chronic Fatigue, I was more than a little surprised to see that I've actually ran 29 races during 2013. My aim was to run a 10k and, if at all possible, to get a Half Marathon under my belt. I'm pleased to say that I achieved both but it was a long, long road back to fitness, with a couple of false dawns and for much of the first five months of the year. When I was feeling up to it, I'd do a wee bit of yoga and then a little walking before progressing to a 1km slow run, which I steadily increased over the weeks and months. In March I managed to run a total of 7miles.

My comeback race was the inaugural Tollcross parkrun, held on 4 May. I managed around the undulating 5k in a time of 25:18, which was quicker than I had expected. Two weeks later, I couldn't resist commemorating the early death of my sister, by running in the MND Scotland 6mile event at Strathclyde Park. Again I was happy with my performance, which saw me completing the run in a time of 47:10.

After a gap of six months, I returned to the Glasgow parkrun in Pollok Park on 1^st June and completed the testing 5k in a time of 24:25. The next week, I ran Strathclyde parkrun in 23:07 and on 12^th June I ran the Bonnet Guild 5k in my 'home town' of Stewarton in 24:13.

Bella Pacers at the 10k

I had agreed to pace 55 mins at the Men's Health 10k, which gave my training focus, and I completed my first 10k of the year in 54:16 on 16th June. On 6 July it was back down to Ayrshire for two races, my first attempt at Eglinton parkrun on 6 July (24:34) and Kilmaurs Gala 5k on 31^st July (23:35). Although I was enjoying being back racing, I was far short of where I used to be but I took positives from every race and kept on increasing my training. My mileage had increased steadily from 43 in April, to 57 in May, 66 in June and 94 in July.

Post Perth 10k

August saw the Tour of Clydeside series of four races in a week, I settled for two: the Kilbarchan Klassic 5.5mile race on the 5^th, where I placed second last in 41:17 and the Bella Belter 10k on the 9^th, where I placed further up the field in 47:33. The next day, I took my time and completed the Glasgow parkrun in 26:35. I returned the following week and took 60seconds off of my time. The 25^th August saw me trying a new race for me, the Perth 10k and my best performance of the season was spoiled by the course being short (9.67k), I finished in 46:20 and had clocked up 122 miles in the month.

Great Scottish Pacers

On 8^th September I ran, with a small field, in the inaugural Bothwell Scarecrow 10k completing the course in 47:44. I was now training to pace 2hours at the Great Scottish Half Marathon and the only other race of the month was a return to the 3k on the Green on 27^th September, where I was happy enough to complete the course in my slowest ever time of 12:52. My total mileage for the month being 106.

I planed to complete the Half Marathon on 6^th October in 1:58:00 and settled for being a little fast at 1:57:07. The next Saturday was the inaugural Victoria parkrun and I completed the flat 5k in 22:39. A fortnight later (26^th October) and it was back to Pollok Park, where I completed the undulating Glasgow parkrun in 23:52. I ran a total of 138 miles in October, the most that I had ever run during that month.

By now I was training six days a week and had found a new training partner in Adele Walker. My Club Training sessions being curtailed due to my Photography Club meeting on Tuesdays and my concern that I might have a relapse or get injured if I was to push myself too much at the Thursday Track Sessions. In November I did a wee tour of parkruns, doing Victoria in 22:24; Strathclyde in 22:43; Tollcross in 23:14; and Eglinton in 22:42 before heading off to the sunnier climes of Thailand. I ran 132 miles in November, which was another record for me.

Although the 20km Road Race, that I was planning in doing, was postponed due to protests in Bangkok, I did manage to complete a couple of Hash Runs and an 8.3k Race for the King's Birthday, in which I placed second. Although the 32C temperatures and busy roads made it difficult, I kept running six days a week, although my mileage was down.

After my travels, I returned fit, healthy and confident to Bellahouston Harriers training sessions.  My training was starting to show results and I was finish the year on a high as I completed a windy Tollcross parkrun on 21^st December in 23:20; the Glasgow parkrun on Christmas Day in 22:39 and, to top it all off, the Ayr Turkey Trot 10k on Boxing Day, which was to be my best performance in 30 months. I completed the course in 44:42 with a wava of 72.16%. My December mileage was125, which takes my total for the year to 914, not too bad given my start to the year. That's a total of 8485 miles that I've run since reaching 50 years of age. If I have a good year in 2014, I might just reach 10,000 miles!

Finishing on a high at Ayr Turkey Trot

Hopefully, my training and recent performances will set me up well for a good 2014 but, to be honest, I'm just happy to be back running.

I hope that you've had a good 2013 and that it's finished on a high, many friends and running buddies have giving me support over the months which, believe me, is much appreciated.

Here's looking forward to 2014 and all it brings. May all your miles be happy ones! 

Christmas and Boxing Day Pics

Some of photos of me post Christmas Day Glasgow parkrun and participating in the Turkey Trot at Ayr on Boxing Day.  Many thanks to the photographers.

Pic by Christopher Quinn

Pic by Darren Ridout

Pic by Kenny Phillips

Great Day at Ayr Races!

After having a decent run on Christmas Day, I wasn't sure if I was going to race on Boxing Day. It would be good to close the year on a high and I had a slightly dodgy stomach but I remembered last year, when I was confined to my bed and decided that a bad run would be better than no run and I headed down the A77 to the town of my birth.

Parking was a bit of a nightmare, which was the first indication that a record turnout would be participating in the annual Ayr Turkey Trot 10k and 5k races. I had been reminded recently that I had done both races in 2011 but this year I was hoping for a decent 10k to end 2013.

After exchanging seasonal greetings with loads of running buddies, some of which I haven't seen for a long time, I headed out to the promenade, where a fresh wind welcomed me as I took part in my pre race warm up, stopping for a wee while to hand out some photography tips to a friend. It was then a dash to the Start line, where I joined another 350 other runners for the mid day race.

Tucked in a Group in the First Kilometre

The first kilometre was quite packed and I was happy to be running along in a group, although the pace was probably a bit fast for me and I must have then slowed as I started to get caught by a few familiar faces, including Motherwell's Clare Barr and Kirkintilloch's Ada Stewart. I knew there was little chance of beating either but thought that it would be good if I could keep them in sight for most of the race, although I realised that doing so would be far from easy.

Whilst, by her standards, Clare has had a difficult season, she recently completed the Victoria parkrun in 21:26, whilst my best time there is 22:24. Ada, on the other hand, is in great form and she beat me at Strathclyde parkrun on 9^th November, finishing in 21:34 to my 22:43.

I watched the two of them increasing their gap on me over the next three kilometres, where just after watching the leading runners on their way back, we turned left into Auchendoon Crescent and I lost sight of them, until I noticed out of the corner of my left eye Clare had pulled over off the road. I know that she has been suffering with stitches during her runs and hoped that she would rejoin the race. My only task now was to try to get Ada back in sight and to close the gap on her but I know that she's an Ultra runner and there would be no chance of her slowing in the second half. The only option was for me to run a faster second 5k.

I caught sight of her again on Doonfoot Road and started to overtake the runners between us, by the 8k mark, I was thinking that it would be possible to catch her but it wouldn't be easy and I'd need to keep on slowly digging into her lead, with the hope that I could out sprint her. 

Strong Running in the Final Kilometre

With support from the sidelines, I found some extra pace with about 500metres to go and managed to cross the line in a time of 44:42 and placed 127/351.  I was shattered and took a few seconds to fill my lungs before thanking Ada, who finished in a time of 44:48 in 129th place, for pulling me round and congratulating her and other running buddies, including Clare who had overcome her stitch to complete the race in 45:26 and my training partner, who had taken a leaf out of my book and had ran the 5k and 10k races.

Back in the hall, a quick change of clothes and we were rewarded with an excellent selection of sandwiches and home baking. Despite the record numbers, which saw the organisers running out of t-shirts, there was plenty of food and hot drinks to go round.

My training log, indicates that the performance was my best in 30months, with a wava of 72:16%, it sees me ending the year on a high and hopefully sets me up for a good 2014.

Many thanks to everyone involved in organising, supporting and participating in this great event.

Results  here

Photos by Kenny Phillips

Ho Ho! Best of the Year at Christmas parkrun!

100% - Toni, Jim and me.

It's five years now since the inaugural Glasgow parkrun Christmas event.  In 2009 the 5k had to be run on an alternate, out and back route through the snow, ice and slush. Thirty hardy souls braved the winter weather and Luke Traynor and Toni McIntosh won the races, with times of 17:49 and 19:15 respectively, Toni placed second overall and Jim Buick placed third, in a time of 19:43. All three maintained their 100% record at the Glasgow Christmas parkrun by competing in 2013. I hadn't realised that only four of us have raced in every Glasgow parkrun held on the 25^th December.

Numbers have swelled over the last five years and we four were joined by an amazing 262 other runners who turned up this year, many of them dressed in Christmas related outfits.

After exchanging Christmas Greetings with a large number of running buddies, I lined up for the 9:30am Start. The weather was a lot better than in 2009 but there were a number of large puddles to make the course even more tricky than usual and it wasn't long before we reached the first one.

I started of running alongside and chatting with Toni but she dropped off the pace and I found myself running with ex club mates, Claire Thompson and Robert McEwan, trust me that doesn't happen too often as they are usually well in front of me! Although Claire's been injured and Robert, I think, was pacing another runner, I decided to use them to help me around some of the race. That, the support from the marshals, and the usual race against some of my contemporaries resulted in me ditching Plan A, which was to jog round, and adopt Plan B, of having a good run but keeping some in the tank for the next day's Turkey Trot.

Although I had been out on Christmas Eve, I've been training hard, and my legs were feeling strong and fast. I was also feeling mentally strong and was confident of reeling in a few runners in the second half. As the race progressed, I caught sight of Club President Erica Christie, away in the distance, and went about trying to close the gap on her as much as possible. I crossed the line three places behind her in 66^th place (Thai for 66 is Ho Ho!), with a time of 22:39, my fastest in Pollok Park since November 2012.

I was delighted with my run and I exchanged Festive Greetings and mutual congratulations with various running buddies as I made my way back through the puddles to hand in my barcode. There was a wide and varied selection of cakes, mince pies, chocolates and assorted home baking accompanied by hot coffee and all tea provided by volunteers and runners alike, which added to the community spirit of the day. It all made for a great start to Christmas Day 2013. My thanks to everyone involved: runners; organisers; volunteers; photographers and supporters. Merry Christmas one and all!

Giffnock North take Gold

Five in a row for Luke

Men's Race

Giffnock North's Luke Traynor maintained his 100% Christmas record, winning the event in a time of 15:36, with Bellahouston Harriers Alastair Scott and Stuart MacDougall, earning Silver and Bronze, in times of 16:38 and 17:36, respectively.

Women's Race

Giffnock North's Ruth Joss won the women's event, placing 15^th overall, completing the 5k in 19:08. Allie Chong was runner up and 29^th overall, in 20:08 with Michelle Hetherington, seeing off the threat of her two daughters, placing third, 32^nd overall, in 20:19.

Full results here

Merry Christmas !

Wishing all my readers, friends, family and running buddies a very Merry Christmas!

parkrun 130 bagged at Tollcross

Back Club Training

With the camera club closed for the Christmas Holidays I made my return to training with Bellahouston Harriers, it was good to be back. The session was three times around the Sherbrook Hills, a session that I've been doing on my own most Thursday nights, although I tend to do them at constant pace, rather than this session, which was fast up the hills and then jog recoveries. I was pleased with my performance and the kind words from my running buddies about my level of fitness and loss of weight. An 'easy' run around Queens Park on Wednesday and I was back at the Club again on Thursday. This time it was around Bellahouston Park, for an extended warm up, followed by 8x 220 interval reps along Fleurs Ave. It was cold, dark and wet and ice was starting to form on the road, which meant that underfoot conditions were a little hazardous. I had another good outing and was running alongside others who would have normally been well ahead of me. A rest day on Friday, should have seen me race fresh for Saturday but my legs were still a bit tired from my exertions on Thursday.

Tollcross parkrun #34

After a 1k warm up,  I lined up with 45 others, including my training partner Adele Walker and another four Belahouston Harriers. Myself and many others marked the occasion by donning Santa hats or other festive attire. It was a bit cold and there was a slight breeze as we lined up for the 9:30am Start. With no Dave Thom or Shaun Butler, it looked as if it would be an easy win for Cambuslang's Shaz Hazeem who sprinted away from the off as did Adele in the women's race. I wasn't out to break any records and settled into my own race. After the first kilometre, I found myself just behind a tall Athetite Tri Club runner, Derek Boyd, but managed to catch him on the uphill alongside Muiryfauld Drive. I think I'm quite good at running downhill, so I was a bit surprised to hear footsteps catching me as I raced down, from the side of my eye I noticed that it wasn't the Tri Athlite but a runner in a blue top, as he overtook me, I realised that it was fella Bella Ian Anscombe, who's had a great Season. I would have been happy just to sit in behind Ian but he seemed to slow and I stepped out and ran passed him. He caught me again at the 2k point but I pressed ahead and started to focus on those ahead of me, including Adele. The weather was worsening, the wind was getting up and the rain was coming down. I used all my experience to keep positive and managed to catch the three runners between myself and Adele, finishing strongly to place 15^th just one spot behind her. I was disappointed with my time of 23:20 but it wasn't a day for P.Bs. Ian placed16^th in 23:35.

Results

As predicted Shaz had stormed to victory, crossing the line in a time of 19:02, Martin McNellis earned Silver in his first attempt and a non barcode runner placed third. In her second race at Tollcross, Lisa Noble maintained her 100% record, winning the woman's race in an excellent time of 21:17, placing 9^th overall. Adele placed second woman, 14^th overall, with a great time of 22:58, with Bellahouston Harrier, Katy Smith, continuing her fine form, to place 3^rd, 21^st overall, with a time of 24:30.

Other Bellahouston Harrier times: Angela Campbell, 4^th woman, 22^nd overall, in 24:46 and Robbie Smith 30^th in 26:42.

Post Run

With the weather turning even nastier, I joined the other runners hurdled under the Bandstand for some cake and tablet before heading home in the driving rain. Once again it was great to spend my Saturday morning with running buddies and a special vote of thanks to the volunteers who braved the conditions to allow the event to take place.

Parkrun 130 in the bag!

Full Results

Photos

Photos, Races, Raffles and Clutha Fundraising

I awoke in the early hours of last Friday morning screaming with pain from cramp in both of my calf muscles. The tightness in my muscles put paid to any chance I had of racing over the weekend but I was able to run and I'm pleased to say that the pain has now gone. However I still played a small part in supporting the Scottish running community by cheering and taking photos at the Tollcross parkrun on Saturday morning and the Scottish Veteran Harriers Association's handicap race, at Pollok Park, on the Sunday afternoon. As usual it was good to spend some time with my running buddies.

They're Off at Tollcross parkrun

Tollcross photos here

Craig Brown runs to victory at the SVHA handicap race.

SVHA photos here

Trunk Monkey in Sammy Dow's

Clutha Fundraiser

In between supporting the runners, and walkers, I also played a small part in a fundraising night in support of those affected by the Clutha Vaults tragedy, hosted by Trunk Monkey and held in Sammy Dow's.

The band kindly donated their fee to the fund, as did Perfect Remedy who had performed on the Friday night, numerous other guest musicians and singer on the night. Sammy's staff also organised a raffle and a collection and to date some £925 has been collected for the extremely worthwhile cause. Thanks to everyone for their support.  

Lucky Raffles

As it happens, I was quite lucky with the raffle at Sammy's and the one after the SVHA race on the Sunday, winning an Akito Cobra biker's jacket on the Saturday and a bottle of wine on the Sunday.

Farewell Comrade Mandela

Nelson Mandela

As an active trade unionist and in particular a TASS member the struggle against the apartheid regime in South Africa was close to my heart.  Every year we would organise a Christmas Card campaign and send thousands of cards to the South African authorities demanding the release of our colleague (Ian) David Kitson and ANC member Nelson Mandela.

David Kitson in London, mid-1980s (Source: Rob Scott http://www.robscottphotography.com)

 David studied mechanical engineering in Durban in the 1940s.  Upon graduation, he served as a sapper in the South African army, thereby learning to apply his training as an engineer in ways that would later benefit the anti-apartheid struggle.  At the end of WWII, David moved to London, where his father had been born.  There he worked as a draughtsman for de Havilland Aircraft.  He played an active role in the engineering union TASS which would sponsor him to study at Ruskin College, Oxford for two years.

When almost the entire leadership of MK was arrested at Rivonia in July 1963, David was propelled into the four-strong replacement High Command of the organisation.  He served a little more than four months in this role before he too was arrested.  At his subsequent trial he was jailed for twenty years for sabotage and membership of the Communist Party.  Despite our union's campaign, he served almost the full-term; eventually being released in May 1984.  Mandela was to remain behind bars until 1990.

In 1990, following Mandela's release, I received an unexpected letter from the ANC thanking me for supporting them through the years and enclosing a photo of Nelson Mandela, which I still have.

Almost unnoticed, Dave Kitson died in South Africa on 9 November 2010, his old comrade Mandela died on 6th December 2013, between them they had served almost 50 years in prison.  We owe them both a dept of gratitude for making the world a better place.

Amandla!

Jungle Hashing in Pattaya

Bellahouston Hash Harrier

With the Race in Bangkok being postponed due to the political unrest, I decided to stay on in Pattaya and to join with one of the local Hash House Clubs for their Sunday Run. As it happens the pick up point was only a 10 minute walk from my hotel and I met up with them at 3pm to be bused out into the countryside for the Hash.  The event took place here and the actual course, apparently was this:

Hash Route and Profile

They're Off!

Having run a Hash in Pattaya with the Monday Group two years ago I knew what the format was and was happy to join in and play my part at helping navigate our way around the testing course.  It was damn hot, mighty hilly and dangerous underfoot, add the 6' plus grass at sections and the lack of proper marking at points. This all led to a stop/start event which is apparently meant to allow the faster and slower runners to regroup every so often.  Although in there were 72 participants, I significant number of these either walked , a short part of the course, or just went to the small bar.

I started cautiously and worked my way up the field settling in near the front of the runners, I say runners but everyone would have had to walk/climb there way along at least part of the 8.2k route.  Although I've ran every day of my holidays, this was the furthest and the hottest!

A record number of Jungle Hash Newbies

After the race we were fed and provided with ample amounts of beer as the organisers went through the usual Hash rituals of ordering people to drop their pants and sit on blocks of ice, or in an ice bucket, whilst receiving verbal abuse but being rewarded with a beer for their troubles.

Grin and Bare It

It's not really my thing but as it's held out in the middle of a jungle with no alternative transport back to civilization, then I was prepared to grin a and bare it, so to speak, in order to get a race of some sort under my belt and of course to make some new running buddies.

Report

Photos

Rosie Time at Eglinton parkrun

Pre Race

I had already decided to do the Eglinton parkrun when old school buddy Rosemary Blackwood contacted me through Facebook to let me know that she was back in Scotland for a short time and was meeting up with Sandra Murphy for coffee at the Tournament Cafe after the race.

I was hoping to look my best but unfortunately my worst sleep for ages had me looking a bit rough and feeling sluggish as I drove down through the icy fog to Ayrshire.  I arrived in plenty of time for the usual pre race pit stop, warm up and catch up with running buddies.  At 9:30am, with the temperature just creeping above 0c, I lined up, in my shorts, with some 94 other hardy souls and Neil Ash sent us on our way around the 5k mixed terrain course.  Icy paths meant that there were a couple of small changes to the course, resulting in even more of the route than usual being off road.

Cross Country Running?

  After the first kilometre, I found myself between Irvine AC doyens Jim White and Mike Flinn.  I would have been more than happy to finish between these two, who have amassed 38 Eglinton parkruns between them, with course PBs of 20:47 and 21:51 respectively.  My only other outing had taken me 24:34 and I was hoping to take at least one minute off of this.  With Garmin indicating that the 1st k had taken me 4:44, I knew that I would have to work harder to achieve my target.  I held off a couple of challenges from Mike but couldn't prevent him from overtaking me at around 2k.  It was then a question of using Mike to help drag me around the remaining 3k.  A strong finish saw me crossing the line in a time of 22:42, which was frankly a lot faster than I had hoped for.

After getting my breath back, I handed in my token, which indicated that I had placed 26th, before chatting with various old and new running buddies and enjoying a decent warm down.  Incidentally this took my mileage above my previous November record and bears well for the future.

Post Race Smiles

A quick change and I joined some fellow runners and volunteers in the Cafe where I rewarded myself with a coffee and roll in Ayrshire bacon, of course.  Rosie joined Sandra and I later and we caught up on some of our life events which had passed since we last met, some 38 years ago.  Let's hope it's not another 38years before we meet again!  Sure to want me back another day...

Results

Pics by Sandra Hunter

Progress in the Sherbrook Hills

I'm not wanting to turn this Blog into a training log but I do like to monitor my training and see if there are any signs of progress.  My last three outings in the Sherbrook Hills in Glasgow's Southside, would indicate that I'm getting back to fitness, slowly but surely.

Nov 21, 2013            Oct 31, 2013 Oct 24, 2013

Distance	10.43km	10.45km	10.46km
Time	55:40	57:12	58:35
Avg Speed	11.2 km/h	11.0 km/h	10.7 km/h
Avg Pace	5:20 min/km	5:28 min/km	5:36 min/km
Calories	932 C	939 C	937 C

Studio Shoot with Aaron Bird

This week's Kinning Park Camera Club tutorial was a studio shoot with a male model, Aaron Bird of the Model Team.  I was hoping to capture a couple of shots which were harsher than the soft light used for female model shoots and also wanted some of his face to be in the shadows. I was quite happy with the results and he was pleased with them too.  I hope that you like them.

The pictures are available here:

Comments

From Aaron: Hey, cool! Thanks for showing me. I liked the harshness of the photos you took. The high contrast looked very interesting! And it made me realise that I have more stubble that I thought! Thanks for sharing. 

From  Allan Fotheringham: Well as a photographer myself, I do get sick of other photographers slagging every other photographer off. I'll tell you this though, you have to be yourself in your style. You have style, those images are great, lots of shadows, very good indeed. Superb......

Discovering Positives from Negatives

Creative networking with Dundee based Make Up Artist Jillian Elizabeth

As chance would have it, I had work in Dundee last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, which afforded me the opportunity to, for the first time in my life, spend the night in the City of Discovery, well two actually.  As luck would have it, the first ever Dundee Creatives Network meeting was being held in the city on the Tuesday, which is my normal camera club night and also my 'rest day'.  It was good to have some like minded people to share a few drinks and laughs with on my first night on Tayside.  On Wednesday, I had my first ever Dundee run, along the N77 and past the airport and back. It was windy, very windy, on the way out but I was like an Olympic Champion on the return leg with the wind at my back.

With no hill work in my training week, I decided to take in the Tollcross parkrun with its 10 hills instead.  It's difficult to compare one course/race with another but, as mentioned in a previous post, Run Britain have devised a handicap for races, known as SSS or standard scratch score.  The Glasgow parkrun, which I had recently raced, was graded as 1.5, the full length Victoria parkrun 1.2 and Strathclyde parkrun 1.0.  This week's Tollcross parkrun was graded 3.0!

The runner's individual performance is calculated and a vSSS awarded.  The lower the vSSS the better the runner has performed.  In 2010, I was running well and managed to get 7 vSSSs which were awarded negative scores.  It's been a long time coming but on Saturday, I achieved a -0.4 for the race.  I had achieved a +0.6 at Strathclyde and +0.2 at Victoria park but this was my first negative vSSS in almost 3 years!

Now that's what I call a positive, relatively speaking of course.

Two Minutes Faster at Tollcross #parkrun

Tollcross Park this morning

My seventh race in as many weeks saw me heading to Tollcross Park for the 29th staging of the east end of Glasgow event.  I had run the inaugural Tollcross Parkrun as my comeback race on 4th May this year, in a time of 25:18.  I'm a lot healthier and fitter than then and was confident of getting a course PB, although I knew that the ten hills, on the two and a half laps course, would mean that my time would be slower than that recently recorded at both Victoria and Strathclyde parks.

The introduction of the easier and faster Victoria parkrun had  helped to decrease the, already small, turnout at Tollcross and only 27 had participated in the previous week's race.  However the organisers had worked hard to boost numbers and were delighted with the turnout of 56 runners, the 5th highest attendance that they've achieved to date.

Myself and my training buddy, Adele Walker, started near the front of the race and at 9:30am we were set on our way, wth the other 54 participants, around the hilly and windy course.  I was confident that, as a result of our hard training and her performances at Victoria and Strathclyde parkruns that she would do well and that she even had a chance of a, confidence boosting, victory in the women's race.

I started strong but it wasn't too long before I was being overtaken.  I worked hard around the course, using all of my experience to keep focused and determined and managing to catch a few runners in the second half of the run.  I was satisfied with my performance, placing 13th with a time of 23:14, more than two minutes faster than my previous time.

Women's Race

As I hoped, despite this being her first outing at Tollcross, Adele won the women's event, with a time of 23:22.  Bellahouston Harrier's Katy Smith, was similarly delighted to earn Silver with a course PB of 24:40, with Emma Craig placing third woman, with a time of 24:47.  Katy's son Robbie and fellow Bellahouston Harrier Linda McLean also clocked up course PBs.

Men's Race

With neither Dave Thom nor Shaz Hakeem in the men's race, I had thought that the scene was set for Shaun Butler to take Gold for the first time.  Although he managed his 5th PB in as many outings and took an amazing 33seconds off of his time two weeks ago, his time of 18:55 was bettered by dark horse Billy Gibson, of Dundee Hawkhill, who completed his maiden Tollcross race in 18:27.
Shettleston's John Duffy placed third with a time of 19:19. 

Thanks

Congratulations to all runners and the dozen volunteers who made the event such a success.  The free cake and bottles of milk were added bonuses to reward us for our efforts before making our way back to Tollcross Leisure centre for coffee, rolls, chat and a truly efficient results service.  Many thanks to all concerned in making my 128th parkrun so enjoyable.

Tollcross parkrun

Studio Shoot with Claudia

Saturday afternoon was an 'open day' at Dreghorn Studios, I'm a member of their associated Camera Club and took the opportunity to gain some more studio time and catch a few images of young model Claudia Todd.

Thanks to Hamish and Stuart for the opportunity and their guidance and of course to Claudia for modelling for us.  I'd recommend her if you're looking for a model.

More photos of Claudia are here

Popular Photo Site

Running AL Gannet

14,193 thanks to you! 



That's how many hits we had on iangoudie.com on Friday 8th November. An unbelievable amount and blows all previous records out of the water.  I had posted a few pics of some of those running in the Southside Six on my Facebook page but there were only a total of 281 participants, so I was overwhelmed to see that we had over fourteen thousand hits.

Thanks again, it's much appreciated.

Allie Chong

My 13th Strathclyde Parkrun - Unlucky for Some?

I ran my 13^th Strathclyde parkrun on Saturday 9^th November. Conditions were good as the heavy rain ceased around 9am and there was no wind, or bright sunshine to worry about. There were a few puddles and the alternate, longer?, route was used. After last week's run which I had found difficult, I had decided to start much slower and run a more even paced race. After a sleepless night, the first part of the plan was easy, however after the 1^st k, my pace dropped and stayed there for 3k, I did manage to raise the pace for the last kilometer but not enough to make up for the middle part of the race. I placed 41^st out of 141, with a disappointing time of 22:43.

It did feel good though to finish strong and at no point did I think about dropping out.  I've continued to train hard and this was my 4th parkrun in 4 weeks.  My time was actually 43 seconds better than my last outing at Strathclyde and co-incidentally was the same time that I had run there on 11^th December 2010. There's always positives if you look hard enough :-)

Race report

I had noticed that Garscube's AlanBlair was well in front when I saw the faster runners and he ended up winning in a time of 17:15, some 35secs in front of runner up Richard Mannering, with Motherwell's Andrew Buchanan placing 3^rd with a time of 17:56.

Unfortunately Alan's wife, Emma wasn't so successful as she missed the Start. The plaudits in the Women's event went to Claire McArthur, who won Gold (9^th overall) with a time of 19:22. Remembering her barcode this week, Ada Stewart had another great run to place second in 21:34 with Red Star youngster Gillian Johnstone placing third in 21:58.

In her first outing at Strathclyde and only her second ever parkrun, my training buddy Adele Walker placed 4^th woman and 36^th overall, in a time of 22:02, 9 seconds faster than her Victoria Park time of two weeks ago.

It was good to see so many running buddies again at one of the friendliest events on the Scottish running scene and to catch up with some old friends over coffee at the Waterfront cafe.  I had ran my 127th parkrun.  Thanks to all for making it such an enjoyable day and good luck to Moira Nichol and Pat Smith who should both clock up their 100^th parkruns next week.. Who knows, I might clock up my 128^th.

Southside Six

Winning Man - Alastair Scott

I've not yet had the opportunity to run this local race, through six parks in Glasgow's Southside, although one is actually in East Renfrewshire.  The event has only been going for a couple of years and sells out within a matter of hours.  I've run most of the course and I've cycled it all.  It's hilly, over mixed terrain and is 16miles long!

Women's Race Winner Katie White

Some 400 runners had signed up this year, including a large number of my running buddies. Unfortunately a few of them had fallen by the wayside by the date of the race but that didn't affect the remainder who enjoyed the testing event in decent weather.  I say 'enjoyed' obviously that was after the race itself had finished, during the race and in particular the last few miles the race had taken its toll on many of the runners.  However most of them still managed a smile for the photography, who also helped them across Darnley Road.

Well done to everyone who competed or supported the event.  New Bellahouston Harrier Alastair Scott won the race with a time of 1:32:22, a new record!  Whilst Garscube's Katie White won the Women's event in 1:40:35 (11th overall).  Some 281 runners completed the 16miles.   I'll maybe join you next year.....

Results here
 
My Photos here

NB some entrants had obviously given their places to other runners without advising the organisers.

Greenock Glenpark's Donna Clark enjoys the last mile

Best Race in 12 Months

I had my hardest training week of the year and I'm cofident of getting the results in the months ahead but my 126rd parkrun and my second at the new Victoria Park event gave me the opportunity to test my progress.  There was a good turnout of running buddies, not least of the contingents from Clydesdale Harriers and Bellahouston Harriers, among the 177 runners who lined up in the west of Glasgow for the free 5k event.  It was a bit chilly as we lined up for the 9.30 Start and the frozen marshals kept us right as we ran around the three laps of one of Glasgow's prettiest parks.  I started fairly quickly and then unfortunately slowed down a bit as I struggled a bit both mentally and physically but after playing leap frog with Maryhill's Chris Hever, he eventually left me behind as he ran to a PB. I did manage to catch Westerland's Peter Grassl in the final strait to cross the line in 74th place, with a time of 22:24.  Slower than what I would have liked but 15 seconds faster than two weeks ago, round a slightly shorter course.  So I'm still making progress and I was delighted to look back at my records to see that it was actually my best race performance in 12 months, just outside of my target of 70% wava and enough to bring my Run Britain Handicap down, albeit it only by 0.1.  But progress is progress and as I said earlier, I'm sure all the training I'm doing at the moment will transform into performances in future races.   

Once again many thanks to the volunteers who braved the cold weather to allow us to enjoy our run.

Dumfries House

The Duke of Rothesay

Work took me down to Dumfries House in Ayrshire for a workshop on a Prince's Trust programme to assist young people gain access to rural employment.  The Princes himself was in attendance and I had the opportunity to meet him and a number of people working on various projects within the estate.  Of course, I took my camera with me and managed to take a few photos, despite the rain and mud.

Working Horses

The new arboretum

Female plasterer

are you pointing at me?

My photos are here