Dead Crooked Run

No not a race but a thrilling parade through the streets of Pollok brought to life by over 100 young folk from across the area. Dead Crooked tells the tale of The Red Eyed Dog of Crookston and the battle between The Earl of Lennox and King James III.

In 1445 Crookston Castle was under siege by King James III. Despite countless attacks against him and his army, The Earl of Lennox refused to give in. Meanwhile, rumours were spreading of a huge red eyed dog haunting Crookston Castle and terrorising the people of Pollok.

 The event held on Friday 25th October 2013 finished with a fantastic fiery finale at Crookston Castle. It wasn't an easy event to photograph but I managed to capture a few scenes.

More of my Dead Crooked photos are here

My 125th parkrun

I've increased my training over the last couple of weeks and I'm now back up to around 35 miles per week, which means that not only am I set to complete my highest month's mileage of my running Annus Horribilis but I'm also in line to exceed my highest ever October Mileage of all time.  I've accepted that this year is all about taking positives from my running and so it was today.  

Although I was feeling terrible, I decided to get my 125th parkrun in the bag and made my way along to Pollok Park for my 106th time running the Glasgow 5k event.  To be honest, I felt sick during my warm up and thought about giving it a miss, instead I convinced myself that a 'non starter' was just the same as a 'did not finish' but pulling out a wee bit earlier.  I also took strength from the fact that there are a lot of parkrunners who would be behind me, even in an off day.

With the National Cross Country races attracting a lot of the club runners, the front of the field was probably not as strong as usual.  I took up position behind a couple of charity runners as we set off at 9:30am.  I ran a fairly steady race in the first half, ignoring my Garmin and using runners in front of me to help pull me around the undulating coarse.  A few puddles, some muddy parts and quite a lot of leaves had to be negotiated, so a cautious approach was probably the right choice.  I managed to pick it up a little in the second half.  I hadn't set myself any targets, apart from getting around without being sick, so I was neither happy nor disappointed to place 98th with a time of 23:52.

A word of praise for the organisers and volunteers at the event who have tackled the long queues which used to greet many of the finishers further down the line  Today there was hardly any waiting at all as the team of barcode scanners performed their duties admirably. 

I squeezed in a mile warm down before joining some running buddies for coffee and chat in the Burrell Café, including Gerry and Sarah who had recently completed the TUI Marathon Palma de Mallorca and were taking a well earned rest.

A quick look at my fetch training log revealed that this had actually been my fastest time at Pollok Park since New Year's day.  Another positive :-)

West District Cross Country Relays

Welcome home to Hamilton

Cross-country running returned to Hamilton Park Race Course on 13th October 2013 for the first time in 45 years.  In the late 70s I had attended Bell College, which was across the road, and had lived for a while in the nearby Hamilton College Halls of Residence, but this was my first time in the Race Course itself.  It would have been good to have been racing in such a wonderful setting but I had to settle for supporting and taking a few photos too.  Unfortunately I missed most of the Women's Race but I did get to see all of the Men's event.

Elspeth Curran makes it look so easy

There were some great performances on the day in both races but the unsung hero was Clare Barr, convenor of the West District Road Running and Cross-Country Commission who, along with recently retired Shettleston’s chairman Bob Porteous, and host club Shettleston Harriers coach Tommy Paterson, who had done a lot of work in the background to return Cross Country running to its former home.  The Scottish National Cross-Country Championships were first held at the course in 1889!

Men's Race gets Underway

 

The going was tough as host club Shettleston's Marc McColl's expression shows

My photos are here

Results are here

Victoria parkrun #1

The Route

I continued my comeback on Saturday at the inaugural Victoria parkrun held in the Scotstoun area of Glasgow.  I had attended the test event a couple of weeks ago, when a dozen or so runners taken part and everything had gone like clockwork.  You can never tell how many people will turn up for a new race and I’m sure that the organisers must have been pleased, if not a little overwhelmed, when some 200 runners appeared, including 14 Bellahouston Harriers.

I did a warm up lap of the three lap course with fella Bellas Christopher Steward and Jim Carson before joining with loads of other running buddies for the 9:30am Start.  There was also a healthy turnout from Bellahouston Road Runners, including my old nemesis Norman Boyle, and from the local Kelvin Runners and Sweatshop Running Community.  My new training partner was also there with a few of her friends doing their first ever parkrun, I was doing my 124th!

My legs were still sore and heavy from last weeks Half Marathon and a hard hill session on Thursday night, so I was happy to settle in near the middle of the field.  I was even happier when I noticed that there was some confusion up the front of the field as a marshaled screamed and shouted at the runners to go “around the pond”.  The lead runners had actually taken the correct path, with the marshal sending us around a slightly shorter route, indicated by the dark dashed line in the map above.  The error had been rectified for the second and third laps.  I had initially played leap frog with fellow Harrier Angela Campbell but was content to sit in behind her for the second half.  That said, despite the course being flat, I still had to work hard, both mentally and physically, to drag myself around the 5k.

I crossed the line in 78th place with a time of 22:29, the fastest 5k that I’ve ran this year.  Whilst it’s still way short of where I’d like to be, progress is progress and I’m heading in the right direction.

Despite the slight problem it was still a great race and I'm sure that it will be a welcome addition to the parkrun family, my thanks to all involved.

Full results

Tha am Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail a’ tighinn a Phàislig!

Welcome to Paisley

Burn the Witch!

I popped along to Paisley on Friday night to take some photos of the Torchlight Parade organised to mark the opening of the Royal National Mòd, which is being held in the town for the first time.  The parade marched from the top of the High Street to Paisley Town Hall, taking a break to inform us of the history of the language in the town and the persecution of those who spoke it, in particular women, who were, of course, deemed to be witches.  It was a good night and interesting too even for someone like me who doesn't quite understand why we promote Gaelic so much, whilst ignoring Scots and other indigenous languages.

Care to dance?

Flaming Gaels

More of my photos of the evening are here

Great Scottish Pacing

Pacers at the ready!

Despite having a torn calf muscle, I agreed to one again act as a pacer for this year's Great Scottish Run Half Marahon.  I was confident that a week away from running would be enough to heal the muscle and I maintained some level of fitness by cycling 100k during the week.  However it wasn't ideal preparation for  a Half Marathon, as I'd hoped to get a few more 16mile runs prior to the race.  Despite my break from running, I'd been feeling and looking tired during the last two weeks to such an extent that I had to take Thursday off sick.  I'd already booked Friday off on annual leave and with a restful Saturday, I was hoping to be OK to run on Sunday.

After registering and collecting our brightly coloured t-shirts, balloons and pacer signs, I joined in with some other pacers and thousands of others on the short walk from Glasgow Green to George Square for the Start of the race.  I was pacing 2hours this year, which meant that I was in the Green Wave, which was scheduled to set off at 11:10.  However there had been some 'issues on the route' which meant that the race would be delayed by 15mins, which I spent giving advice to the enthusiastic runners assembled around me on how best to achieve their goals.  I advised them that I'd be running at constant effort and that over the course we would average 9min/miles, which would take us 1:58 to complete the 13.1 miles.

One of the hardest parts of the course is at the beginning, which takes us up St Vincent Street and over into Finnieston.  This is a nightmare for pacers as the runners are either full of adrenaline and enthusiasm and edged on by the large number of supporters dash off too quick or they struggle with the steep incline, or a combination of both.  

From Finnieston we run over the Kingston Bridge, which is usually preserved for motor vehicles only, past Scotland Street School and through Kinning Park.  By this point my pacing partner was commenting on how hot it was and the humidity was taking its toll on me.  Despite the fact we'd only ran 5k, I was glad to see the water station and to have a drink before pouring the rest of the bottle over my head to cool me down.  There was still 10miles to go and I was starting to struggle! 

We urned into Paisley Road West and soon we caught sight of the elite and club runners who were making their way along the other side of the road.  Exchanging shouts of support with so many running buddies and friends helped peck me up and I shared my positive strength with those around me as I encouraged them along the new route, which took us along Dumbreck Road and Mosspark Boulevard, through Bellahouston Park, past the Palace of Art Centre of Sport Excellence and back onto Paisley Road West.  With Ibrox Stadium on our left hand side, it was our turn to exchange support with the slower runners who were making their way along towards Bellahouston Park.  By this time I'd given up on trying to reel in my pacing partner, whose youthful exuberance and lack of experience resulted in her running way too fast.

We turned left onto Govan Road as the rain came on, around the outside of Festival Park to Pacific Quay.  I was still meeting new people, answering their questions and lending support along the way.  Over the squinty bridge aka the Glasgow Ark and leftwards along Finnieston Quay we ran, joining Stobcross Road and towards the new Riverside Museum.  Although I was well below par, I was still enjoying the run. Unfortunately the race was taking it's toll on a few runners and the sight of people lying at the side of the road being treated by medical personnel brought back unhappy memories. 
I gave advice to those around me as we climbed up the hills before and after the new, award winning, Museum.  I knew that this year's course was now a straight flat run back to Glasgow Green and I had to show real discipline not to increase my pace, especially with the crowds edging us on as we reached the Broomilaw and the final few kilometres.  We exchanged 'Hi Fives' with Des Clarke as we ran past the Daily Record building to our final mile. 

The crowds grew as we approached the Green, with many friends amongst them shouting us on.  I crossed the Finishing Line to be met with the familiar face of race commentator and fellow runner Bryan Burnett.  Brian declared to all that "Ian Goudie has now finished after pacing the 2 hour runners, how good a job did he do finishing in a time of 1:59!"  Job done.

I handed in my chip, collected my Goody Bag and made my way to the Baggage Area before meeting up with some of my fellow pacers in the Marshal's Tent where after chatting and a bite to eat, I made my way home to a cold bath and hot bed, happy that I'd played my small part in making the event such a major success.

Congratulations to everyone who ran, marshaled, volunteered or supported the event, there were some great performances from Haile Gebrselassie, who ran the fastest ever Half Marathon in Scotland, and Susan Partridge, who won the Women's Race,  but also throughout the field with a number of people telling me that I had helped them get a PB.  It's just a shame that it clashed with the Neil McCover Half.

For the record my chip time was 1:57:10.

Adaks Photoshoot

I made use of the September holiday weekend by doing a photoshoot with Adaks in Glasgow Green.  The sun was a bit bright and it was windy too but we used a range of locations and techniques to capture a variety of shots.  I hope that you like some of them.

You can view a larger selection of the photos on my photography web site iangoudie.com