Fast First Footing at Pollok Park

Concentration! - pic by Christopher Quinn

The first day of 2014 and I made my way along to run Glasgow parkrun for the 108th time. I had hoped to get in a decent warm up but I spent most of the time exchanging New Year greetings with numerous running buddies. When I did get round to doing some running, I realised just how slippy the road and with a temperature of just 2C, I wasn't surprised to learn that yet another alternate route had been devised by the team of great volunteers involved in providing the weekly, free, 5k event.

I lined up with 248 other runners, including seven Bellahouston Harriers and four Kilmarnock Harriers, on the soft grass facing up towards the Burrell, as the Race Director explained the amended course and warned us of the tricky conditions before wishing us a Happy New Year and sending us on our merry way.

I started a little further up the field than usual and set off at a relatively good pace. After only 70 metres we turned a sharp right, where a further 220metres up hill took us through the woods, where joined the usual route at the start of the squinty hill section. The Race Director had forewarned us that we would have the pleasure of ascending the hills three times today, rather than the usual two. The race was a bit congested at this point and with a number of kids running around me, I had to take my time as we joined the paved section. It wasn't long though until I was able to increase the pace and set out to escape the congestion. I found myself passing Erica Christie, who had beat me by 9secs in my last outing on Christmas Day. I decided just to run through the puddles and to try to stick as close to Rodger MCELENEY as possible. Rodger's in the same age category as me and should really be a target, that said there's no doubt that he's faster than me and seems to get faster as the race progresses. I noticed Mary Senior over taking me but there was little I could do, I know that she's been having a great race season. I was feeling a little bit worse for wear, due to the Hogmanay excesses which continued into the wee sma' hours and my legs were sore from my recent running, however my legs also felt fast and I was confident of having a good race. I managed to catch Mary and I also held off a strong challenge from Giffnock North's Hilary MILLAR before catching Henry MERRIWEATHER as we approached the hills for the third and final time.

Pic by Iain Burke

I couldn't break him though and he left me behind as he sprinted down the final hill but I was delighted with my performance and I crossed the line just two places behind Rodger, in 54th spot.

I was even more delighted to discover that I had completed the difficult course in a time of 22:02. I had worked hard, very hard and was almost sick as I made my way to the bar code scanners. Although the course was different, this was 38 seconds off of my Christmas Day time, which I had been more than happy with. This was my fastest Glasgow parkrun time since November 2012 and my highest wava since May 2011.

After recovering, and a quick change out of my wet vest, I exchanged more season's greetings and post run anecdotes with running buddies as we tucked into a splendid selection of cakes and mince pies, washed down with hot coffee. Many thanks to all of those volunteers that gave up their time to ensure that we had a New Year's Day parkrun and of course, to those that provide the post race refreshments.

An excellent start to 2014 and parkrun 132 in the bag!