Back Home to Three Races

It’s a long journey from Jomtien to Glasgow but it’s one that went as smoothly as possible for me. I’d booked a ‘limousine’ taxi for the 120k journey to Bangkok, which took about 90 minutes and cost 1200 Bhat, or about £24. I thought that I’d got my flight times mixed up when I arrived at the KLM Check-in Desk at 21:30 to discover that there was no queue. Once relieved of my luggage, I made my way to the appropriate Departure Gate, just in time to board the aeroplane. I was pleased to hear that the plane wasn’t full and even more so when I discovered that the adjoining two seats to mine where unoccupied and that I would be able to lie down, after a fashion, and get some shut eye. The process was just as efficient when I reached Amsterdam airport. I made my way to the appropriate Departure Gate, just in time for boarding and a smooth flight to a dark and wet Glasgow, where my brother was waiting at 7:35 to take me home.


The flight had taken its toll though and I was shattered for the rest of the day, I ventured out to Sammie’s, for a wee while, in the evening to see Independence and their regular Thursday night Jam Session. Although the welcome I received was as warm as ever, it was nothing like the “Welcome” that you get when you approach any bar in Thailand.


3K on the Green

I headed down to Glasgow Green on Friday for the second of the 3k Run on the Green Series of Races. It was a beautiful, sunny day, albeit a little cooler than what I was used to recently. It was good to see so many running buddies, many of whom had kept in touch during my holidays through Facebook. My warm up only helped to confirm that I was still shattered and jet lagged but nevertheless I still lined up, with the other 30 runners, under the McLellan Arch for the 12:30 start.

I started near the back of the field and stayed there as my initial pace of 3:44, slipped to 4:08 and then settled into a pace of 4:18, increasing it slightly to 3:54 for the last 0.5k. My time being 12:21, 22 seconds slower than my last outing in February, but I was still happy enough with my performance. I could have worked harder and I could have increased the pace a bit more in the final strait but it wouldn’t have made too much difference. I enjoyed the run and meeting up with so many running buddies, it was also good to meet ex Kilmarnock Harrier, Allison Simpson nee Higgins. The former Commonwealth Game’s athlete was making her return to racing, after retiring through injury three years ago.

After my warm down, I bumped into another Killie Harrier Harald Bartl as I headed to the Winter Gardens with Tom Keenan to sort out the world’s economic woes, over a cup of coffee and slice of carrot cake.

Results

parkrun 84

On Saturday morning I made my way along to Pollok Park for my 72nd outing at the Glasgow event and my 84th parkrun. It seemed a lot quieter than usual. I knew that the Big Fun Run was on at 11am and that many club runners would be competing at the Allan Scally Road Relays, later in the day, but it still seemed very quiet. However there was no need for concern as, with around ten minutes to go, the numbers swelled to a healthy 264 runners, including at least four who had raced the previous day’s 3k on the Green.

After my warm up and pre race catch ups I joined the assembled ranks in time for the 9:30am Start. I was right about the lack of some of the regular club runners but despite the attraction of earning some decent points, I decided that I would be taking it relatively easy. I knew that Tom Keenan was looking for a decent run and I noticed that he set off quickly as I trundled down the first part of the course. I kept my eye on him for much of the race and he was looking very determined as he battled it out with Watson Jones around the two lap 5k course. I was content to settle for getting another race under my belt, although I did step it up a bit for the final kilometre and gained a few places to finish 62nd with a time of 22:50. Tom had placed 52nd in 22:31, with Watson two places behind in 22:34. I didn’t realise that Jennifer Clark had used me as a target and had taking 55 seconds off of her previous PB to finish one place and one second behind me, earning runner up spot in the women’s race, with a new PB of 22:51.

As for me, again considering everything, I was happy enough with my run and, as usual, enjoyed the post race coffee and chat.

Results



Southside Six



Andrew Wright

With its close proximity to my holidays, I had decided not to enter the inaugural Southside Six 16 mile undulating race around six parks in Glasgow’s Sou’side. However I did want to get a decent cycle in before the end of October. I was amazed at the lack of bicycles in Thailand, and I hadn’t been on a bike since 28 September. My initial intention was to do a few miles, get a Sunday newspaper and watch the Great South Run as I enjoyed my brunch before supporting the finishers of the 16 mile race. However I decided to cycle to Queens Park and follow any arrows indicating the route of the race. When I reached Stewarton Road, I looked at my watch and worked out that I could get back to Queens Park just about in time for the Start. I cycled along with the 220 runners to Linn Park and then made my way back to Stewarton Road to provide some more support as the runners exited Rouken Glen Park.

Jenny MacLean

At this stage the main places for the first runners were already settled, with Carnegie’s Andrew Wright having established a significant lead over his closest rival, Grant Baillie of East Kilbride, with Bellahouston Road Runner Bruce Carse in third place. Likewise in the women’s race Edinburgh’s Jennifer MacLean was well ahead of Bellahouston Road Runner, Deborah Gray although at this stage there was a bit of a battle for third spot, with little to choose from between Deb’s club mate Katie Padgham and the evential victor, Giffnock’s Mary McCutcheon. 

I then cycled down to Nithsdale Street and guided the runners onto Pollockshaws Road towards the Finish back at Queens Park before peddling to the Finish and enjoying in the post race banter, soup and cakes.

By the time I had stopped off for a paper and reached my home, I had cycled a total of 39.71k, not too bad for my first cycle of the month. My total for the year now stands at 1560k, with a target of 2011. My other targets of swimming 10k, has been achieved (12k to date) and I’m well on course to reach my running target of 2011k, having already run 1920k.

Results

Thanks

In summary, three great races , which all relied, almost exclusively, on people volunteering their services and doing a heck of a lot of hard work in the background to ensure that the races run smoothly and incident free.  My thanks to each and everyone of you!


Work

It was back to work today, after being on annual leave since 28th September, a bit of a shock to the system but all good things etc

Atkins 3k Run on the Green Series

In the absence of Mel, who is on maternity leave, Kilmarnock Harrier, Alasdair Murray has kindly stepped foward to organise the Atkins 3k charirty race series.

The first event will be held on Friday 30 Sept @ 12:30
The second on Friday 28 Oct @12:30
and the third and final on Friday 25th Nov @12:30

Location: McLennans Arch, Saltmarket, Glasgow Green, Glasgow, United Kingdom  Map



Each race costs £2, which can be paid on the day.
If you are free but can't race then think about helping Al out.

He can be contacted at Alasdair.Murray@eu.nabgroup.com

Tired Legs and the Scottish Election

Winter Gardens
Originally uploaded by Heilster Hieroglyphics

My legs were heavy and my muscles tired from my exertions at Troon on Wednesday night and, as I struggled to do my ‘recovery’ run on Thursday, I knew that I was not up to running the third Atkins 3k race on Friday. I still popped along to provide my support and take a few snaps of the runners.... oh and one of the Winter Gardens too.


Photos



Scottish Election - my tuppence worth
Having made the decision not to run on Friday, meant that I could stay up until the wee sma’ hours watching the election coverage. As far as the Scottish Parliament election is concerned I had decided to cast my Constituency Vote for Stephen Curran of the Labour Party. A decent enough candidate, who had worked hard during the campaign and supports The Morning Star. As far as my Regional Vote is concerned, even if I had known that the Labour Party would do so badly in the constituencies, I still wouldn’t have voted for a Labour Party List topped by Hanzala Malik, who hasn’t got a socialist bone in his extremely excessive body. My options appeared to be between George Galloway and Patrick Harvie of the Scottish Green Party. I received a letter from the ‘left’ indicating why they weren’t supporting Galloway, including his support of the Roman Catholic line on a number of issues. I sent George asking him why I should vote for him rather than the Greens and got no reply. One vote lost! I tweeted Patrick asking him to confirm that he was an atheist, which he did. One vote won!

Atheist Patrick Harvie MSP

As far as the election result is concerned I was surprised as the next person at the scale of the SNP victory. A short review would appear to suggest that the Labour Party support was done slightly, the Greens up ever so slightly, the Tory vote down and the Lib Dem vote collapsed and transferred to SNP. It was clear throughout the campaign that the Lib Dem vote would crash and I don’t know why the parties didn’t target their vote more overtly.

There is a lot of talk that the political landscape in Scotland has fundamentally changed. I think not. The SNP and the Greens, for that matter, hardly mentioned Home Rule during the campaign, despite it being the raison d’etre of the SNP. A point I put to both Alex Salmond and Patrick via the STV Party Leaders Interviews with Bernard Ponsonby. The reality is that Scotland didn’t vote for independence, that will be the subject of a referendum, but the Scottish people maintained their support for left of centre, social democratic policies. Tony Blair moved Labour to the centre ground in order to win votes from middle England. Scottish Labour has failed to respond adequately to that shift and the SNP has filled the void. Whilst Labour’s Class of 99 lost their seats, the policies first espoused by the SNP’s 79 Group has steered the party to the centre left and to victory at the Scottish Elections. The good news for me is that over 87% of votes cast went to social democratic parties.  The bad news is once again there was a very low turn out, especially in Glasgow.

With regards to the AV vote, I always felt that there was little enthusiasm for a change in the electoral process from First Past the Post to a misreable little compromise.  However it was the only show in town, so I voted for change but wasn't at all surprised at the result.

Atkins 3k on the Green 1 of 3, 2011

Numbers 1 and 2......Claire and I

I’d been struggling with a cold since hanging about after the Kirkintilloch 12.5k race last Sunday.  However I filled up with orange juice and Lem Sip and made my way along to Glasgow Green at lunch time on Friday 25 February for the first Atkins 3k race of the year.  There was a decent turn out of some thirty-two runners assembled including: Claire Thompson, Keith Gibb, Angela Campbell, Tom Keenan, John Gilhooly and fellow Kilmarnock Harrier Al Murray.  

At 12:30 Race Director, Melanie Eynon set us off from under McLennan’s Arch and we ran, slightly downhill, into the wind.  I started off strongly but was worried that I wouldn’t be able to sustain it.  I watched as first John Gilhooly and then Claire Thompson left me in their trail.  The first kilometre had taken me 3:50 and Al Murray commented on how quick it was as he passed me.   I tucked in behind Al and we both overtook Keith Gibb.  I couldn’t keep up with Al but I managed to build a gap between Keith and myself.  I glanced over at the turn to see that there was a sizeable gap between us but there was someone else in front of him.  I was disappointed when Garmin bleeped after the second kilometre and advised me that my pace had dropped to 4:14.  I would need to dig deep if I was to get an acceptable time.  There was only one kilometre to go but how long it seemed as I ran back along the path, up the hill and past the first boat house.  There was still a bit to go but I was thinking positively and had convinced myself that the longer there was to the end, the more chance I had of making up my time.  Claire gave me a shout of encouragement and I managed to increase my pace in the final strait to cross the line in a time of 11:50.  A final kilometre of 3:46 and an acceptable performance in my 13th race of the year.

I managed to get my breath back and exchanged congratulations with the other runners before cheering home those behind me.   

Killie pair - me with Al Murray

Craig Cassidy, Mark Johnston and Marco Consani placed 1, 2 and 3 in the men’s race with Claire Thompson, Lorraine Brown (who finished just behind me) and Angela Campbell doing likewise in the women’s race.

Thanks to the volunteers Iain, Rachel and Michelle for making the event such a success.  The second of the three part series of charity races will be held on Friday 25 March at 12:30 and as usual will cost £2, hope to see you then.   Full details. 

Full Results to follow.

The Rescheduled Atkins 3k on the Green - my first 3k race!

There was a feeling of déjà vu as I finally got to run my first ever 3k race today, the rescheduled Atkins 3k on the Green. After running it as a time trial last week, the initial excitement and anticipation had somewhat faded but I was still looking forward to it as I made my way along the river cycle path from my work at Atlantic Quay to Glasgow Green. I had worn my Scottish Vets vest last week but chose my Kilmarnock Harriers one today. There were a lot more runners this week, including many familiar faces, including Al Maclachlan, Clare Barr, Tom Keenan, John Gilhooly and Graeme Aitken. After paying my £2 entry fee, I pinned No.14 on to my vest and lined up under the arch way with the other runners.

Clare Barr

At 12:30 we set off down to our right and headed east with the wind behind us. It didn’t take long for the ‘elites’ to forge a significant gap in front of the rest of us. John Gilhooly passed me and I made a half hearted attempt to stay with him before letting him go. I know that he’s faster than me, so my tactic was to keep him in my sights and let him pull me around the course. By the time we got to the turn, there were two other runners between John and myself and I continued my task of trying to close the gap on him as we headed west ward into the wind. A watching Brian O’donnell shouted encouragement to me and I had a quick glance to see who was behind me. I saw Tom and Graeme and others. However there was no Claire Barr to be seen, I figured that she must be right behind me and decided that as well as closing the gap on John, I would also try to keep her at bay. I’m sure that I was closing the gap slightly and had one of the other two in my sights, Cammy Ferguson.  I pushed in as much as I could in the final strait but he was just too far in front and crossed the line three seconds ahead of me. I finished in 18th place out of 34, with a time of just under 11:49 and was followed two seconds later by Claire, who won the women's race a with a huge PB, for the second time in the three race series (Erica Christie winning the other one). 

As we recovered and congratulated each other Claire queried her time, telling me that the organiser had shouted 12:02 as she passed the line. The error was the same twelve second error as last week and we and others pointed this out to the organisers, who accepted the error but couldn’t explain it. 

Claire kindly shared some of her goodies from her prize with me, the ones she didn't want of course,  before we all left the Green.  I used my jog back to work as my warm down.

The results were emailed to runners shortly after the event and revealed that Craig Cassidy, who ran the recent Dublin Marathon in 2:46:14, had a winning time of 9.44, which incidentally was Andrew Joyce’s winning time in the first race of the series.  Andrew settled for the runners up slot with a time of 9:53, whilst Russell Whittington placed third in 9:60.

My splits: 3:53; 4:05; 3:51 (My target is to run all three as sub 4min kilometres).