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.

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