PBs @ Victoria parkrun

Lap 1

I noticed, a while ago, that I was averaging every second parkrun so it was no surprise that my 149th one should co-incide with the 300th staging of the original Scottish parkrun being held in Pollok Park.  However I decided to give the tri centeneral parkrun a miss and instead chose to race in the 54th Victoria parkrun in an attempt to get a fast time.

This was my my ninth outing at the west of Glasgow event and my Course PB was an acceptable 21:07.  I'd worked extremely hard to get that time but I was confident that my running had improved and I was hoping to beat that today.  If truth be known, I was actually hoping for a sub 21 minute 5k.

There were some good runners today with Elaine Omand travelling down from Dundee, for the second week in succession, on her tour of Scottish parkruns, being my tip in the women's 5k. With fellow Bellahouston Harriers, Jack Arnold and Cris Walsh favourites for first and second place in the Men's race.

Although there were some 227 runners participating, there weren't that many that I usually 'race' against, apart from the new slimmed down version of Graeme Aitken, who wasn't feeling 100% this morning.  My training's been good and I was confident enough, not only to be wearing my club vest but to tell a few friends that I was going for a course PB.

Lap 2

Lap 3

I positioned myself nearer the front than usual and worked hard right from the off.  I ignored the beeps from Garmin and never checked my pace at any stage, deciding instead to give my all and hope that it would be good enough to get a PB.

Encouragement from Marina McCallum, on marshalling duties, Donald Petrie and Gavin Harvie helped me to focus on the job at hand.  I sprinted down the final strait knowing that every second would count and I was delighted to cross the Finish line in 39th position, with a time of 20:53, some 14 seconds off of my course PB, under my 21minute target, and my fastest 5k since January 2011!

Results

My pre-race predictions had been correct, as Jack Arnold stormed to victory with a PB of 16:27, Chris Walsh earned Silver with a time of 17:02 and Elaine Omand won the Women's Race (14th overall) with a PB of 19:05.

Maggie Reid McKeith, continued her great improvement, which saw her taken 28 seconds off of her PB in her last outing, by taking a further 13 seconds off to win the Women's 50+ race in a time of 24:30!

Unlucky for Some?
Congratulations to Hamish Barbour, who ran to a great PB of 18:48 in his 13th parkrun.

Thanks

Once again, many thanks to the organisers and volunteers for giving up their time and putting on such a great event and to my fellow runners for the race and pre and post race chat.

Pics taken by Donald Petrie and edited by Ian Goudie Photography.

Full Results here