Moffat Gala 25th Anniversary 15k

I had a 9 mile in 75 minutes training run in my schedule for this week so the Moffat Gala 15k race seemed to be a suitable alternative.  I checked last year’s results to make sure that I wouldn’t be too embarrassed finishing in such a time and was surprised to see that Kirkintilloch Olympians Tom McChord and Gordon McDonald had completed the event in 74:11 and 74:51 respectively.  Both of them would be expected to run 15k quicker than that, so I presumed that they had also used it as a training run. 

Moffat is about 58 miles from Glasgow but it’s just off of the M74 so the journey would take approximately one hour.  I texted the organisers to finds out about time and place of registration and set off through Glasgow’s rush hour traffic shortly after 5pm.  I don’t think I’ve actually been in the 19^th century spa town before but first impressions were very good.  The kid’s races were already underway when I arrived and I parked my car and made my way up along the route of the kid’s races through the crowds to the Town Hall.  There was an impressive turnout from the local Dumfries Running Club as well as the claret and amber of Motherwell AC as some 316 runners assembled in the middle of the street for the start of the 7:15pm race.  I had been forewarned that it was a hilly course but hills no longer fret me in the way that they once did.  I had also had a pre-race drink of my new secret weapon: Your Sports Fuel, the sugar free nutritional drink for endurance and recovery that Mark Cooper had used to help him achieve his 50 marathons. 

We set off heading northwards out of the town and, from our start at 112 metres above sea level, we gradually ascended to 177m as we made our way along six kilometres of the Old Edinburgh Road to the farm at Ericstane.  I was pacing the race well and had averaged just under 5min/ks.  However here the route left the road and joined a farm trail heading up to the top of a proper hill.  Whose idea was it to include a hill walk as part of a road race?  Everyone in sight was walking, I initially ran but it wasn’t long until I had joined the ranks of the ramblers.  I was worried about hurting my ankle on the uneven surface and I was being careful.  I was also worried about my heart but I was still overtaking other walkers as we made our way up to a height of 345m at 7.5k.  Garmin had informed me that my 7^th k had taken 8:49!! I took a jelly baby and someone behind said “aha that’s your secret”.  I reached the half way point in 42:47 and knew that I would need to go some to reach my target of 75 minutes.  However the route joined the A701 here and I immediately felt great as I set off running downhill back towards Moffat.  I could see a long line of runners ahead descending, in single file down the open road.  As I chased after them I noticed a strong runner in a blue vest and decided then to focus on him.  I was overtaking runner after runner as I made my way down.  The 9^th kilometre took me 4:23 and the 10^th 4:20.  I had taken 53:52 to run 10k and I would need to run a 5k in less than 21 mins if I was to reach my target.  I continued to chase after blue vest and we both continued to overtake runners.  As we ran through the town past the cheering onlookers I managed to catch the last couple of runners between us.  However as we approached the finish line he managed to overtake a diminutive Dumfries runner and finished two places ahead of me.  I heard the announcer saying “Ian Goudie of Kilmarnock Harriers” as I crossed the line in a time of 74:15 in 119th place.  My last 5k had taken 20:23, splits: 4:17; 4:19; 4:09; 4:09 and 3:29!!  I had ran my third race in four days and I had ran my first ever 15k.

I congratulated the guy in the blue vest, who was Mike Mackay, a triathlete from Edinburgh who is used to running up hills as he trains on Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.  We collected our goody bags with their impressive 25^th anniversary coasters and t-shirts in them and refreshed ourselves with the coffee and orange juice provided.  I chatted with loads of runners including the two Dumfries Jos and a lot of Motherwell runners before doing my warm down back to the car and driving home under one of the most beautiful skies I’ve ever seen.  Don’t you just love Scotland?

Results

48 Parkruns and a Dozen HaMs

My training schedule had me down for a 5 mile run in 42 minutes on Saturday and 1 mile jog followed by a 10k or 5 mile race rounded off with another 1 mile jog on the Sunday.

Strathclyde parkrun 14
Instead I chose to drive to Motherwell in the wind and rain and to do a 2 mile warm up in Strathclyde Park and then run the Strathclyde parkrun in around 24:18. I had a wee chat with Claire McCracken, Billy Reid and Anthony Quinn before we set off in the dreich conditions. This was the fourteenth staging of the event and, perhaps surprisingly the first time it had rained. I had a blether with fellow Ayrshire man Jammy Jo (John Smith) as we ran along shoulder to shoulder during the 1st k, which we completed in 4:31. I decided to slow down a little and bid him farewell. I said hello to Jammy Mo (Moira Nicol) as she overtook me and I completed the 2nd k in 4:52. The 3rd k included the turn around and took me 5:03. I maintained a steady pace for the 4th (4:56) and then decided to increase the pace a little to overtake a couple of guys in front of me. As I did this another couple of guys decided to go with me and tailed behind me until we were approaching the finish line, where one of them, Jim Murphy, sprinted to a new PB of 23:53 before thanking me. Congratulations to Claire, Anthony, Jammy Jo and Jammy Mo, who all achieved course PBs.

I finished 32nd with a time of 24:01 (Splits: 4:31 4:52 5:03 4:56 4:33) and had completed my 48th parkrun. Only two to go to that elusive fifty!

 Results       (pic by Ross Goodman)




Girvan Half Marathon

Sunday was the annual Girvan Half Marathon and I had decided to do this as it is part of the Kilmarnock Harriers Championship. I had hoped to take the caravan down to Culzean and make my way to Girvan for the half marathon but the heavy rain showers forecast for the night were not conducive with a pre half-marathon good night’s sleep. Instead I filled myself with pasta, salad and meatballs, watched the footie and had an early night. I picked up Susan at her mum’s at 10am and we made our way down the wind swept and wet M77 to the Ayrshire coast. I hadn’t realised that Bellahouston Road Runners had also included the race in their Club Championship, until I saw a decent turnout of familiar faces. With them the Kilmarnock Harriers, a few Fetchies (including Girvan Ruth) and others that I have met at various races over the last few years, I knew a significant proportion of those taking part. Shame for local runner Kerry Wilson though as he was injured and couldn’t race, he did however cycle around the route taking photos and providing support as did Paula Wilson and Kenny Philips in their cars.



I had been warned about the course being somewhat hilly and susceptible to head winds, particularly in the second half, so I decided to start slower than usual and conserve some energy for the more demanding part. I wasn’t chasing a PB and decided that I would be happy with a time of around 1 hour and 42 minutes. As usual my 1st k was too quick at 4:30 and I then slowed things down a bit. I wondered at the time if I would catch up with those that were running ahead of me during the first few kilometres. For a wee while I ran along chatting with a group of Troon Tortoises and would have been delighted to run the whole race with them but at the first drink station, less than 3 miles in, we split up. The rain had stopped before the race had started at noon and had been replaced with hot and humid conditions. After last week when I suffered from dehydration, I decided that it was more important for me to stop and take water on board than try to save a few seconds. I did this at all the water stops and at the later ones took a couple of cups of water, drinking one and pouring the other one over me in an attempt to cool me down. At about 4 miles Paula encouraged me to speed up as their were a couple of Killie Harriers ahead before asking if I was saving myself for the second half, which of course I was. Nevertheless I did pick it up a bit when a tall Troon Tortoise (Ian) overtook me and I hung onto his tails as ran down through the village of Dailly and up towards the 6 mile point. I was struggling a bit up the hill when I saw Paula at the halfway point however my Garmin indicated 50:48, so I was still on course for 1:42. I ploughed on wondering why I was so tired after only 10k and took a jelly baby to give me a tiny wee bit of energy. Kerry gave me some support at the top of the hill and I started to overtake people as I ran along the flat and even more as I sped down hill and over the bridge to the 9 mile point.



I was now shattered, I had been warned that there was a long hill at the 10 mile stage so why was I struggling now? I had noticed that Brian Darroch was crossing the bridge when I was at the top of the hill, so I knew that he was a good bit in front of me. I thought about walking a few steps or stopping to recover a little but I could hear footsteps and breathing behind me and I didn’t want to be overtaken, so I kept going albeit slowly. My 4:24 k/min pace downhill had been followed by a 5:10 uphill pace. Not too bad I thought and managed to increase the pace again. At the 10 mile point there was no big hill. Instead it was at the junction of the road that we had run down at the start of the race however there was a strong head wind to contend with as well as the afternoon sunshine.

I could see loads of runners making their way, in single file, up the winding road towards Girvan. I could see Brian Darroch a good bit ahead running along behind a Bellahouston Road Runner. I knew there was only 5k to go and tried to work my way through the field. Although Brian was probably too far ahead of me to catch I did have the benefit of having something to aim for and I started making my way up through the field. My pace was slower than I would have liked at 4:53 and then 4:54 but I was making ground. I was more than a little surprised to overtake the Bellahouston Road Runner, who looked as if it might have been Alastair Kell who got a 19:42 at the jogscotland 5k and has a Half PB of 1:35. It didn’t matter to me who it was though as my focus was on Brian who I was now catching. I managed the 20th k in a slightly better time of 4:48. I knew that there was only one kilometre to go and dug in but I just didn’t have much left to give. However as we reached the roundabout approaching the stadium I was now within yards of him. Fellow Harriers Connell and Les, who had already finished, cheered us on and may have inadvertently let Brian know that I was just behind him. I decided it was now or never and sped past him as we ran towards the stadium entrance. He wasn’t for given in that easy though and chased after me. We both gave it our all as the crowds cheered us over the line with Brian just edging past me. We both collapsed on the grass before congratulating each other. Brian informed me that his PB on the course was 1:42:18 and he was seeking to better that, he did as we both crossed the line in a time of 1:42:01 in 49th and 50th place.  My final kilometre had taken 4:32 but was much, much harder than the first one.  I was more than happy to have completed my 12th Half Marathon in the desired time so soon after coming back from injury.


There were some excellent results on the day including Susan who had been in the toilet when the race set off a minute or so early and had to work her way up through the field to earn a new PB.

My splits 4:30 4:50 4:57 4:56 5:03 4:52 5:05 4:38 4:48 4:29 5:09 5:18 4:40 5:03 4:24 5:10 4:42 4:53 4:54 4:48 4:32

Route

Results

Pics by Kerry Liam Wilson and Kenny Philips

Save the Last Dance for Me

It's adios from Kate.

In late April I blogged about Kate E Deeming, who had been getting a fair bit of publicity for dancing along the Clyde side at the Broomielaw most mornings, today was her last dance there and I joined her.

She had been dancing there for four months and just felt it was time to move on. I promised in April that I would join her sometime but until today I had failed to deliver on that. As I cycled along the Clyde I had no idea how many people would be there for the last dance. Would there be a hundred yellow ribbons round that old oak tree? Sadly not, there was just Kate. She was chatting with a ‘suit’ but by the time that I had got off my bike and joined her we were all alone. She usually dances along to random songs on her ipod but today I took the lead. For some reason I had the song ‘Out of Time’ in my head. Not surprisingly she hadn’t heard of it before but I explained that it was a Rolling Stones song, which had been covered by Chris Farlowe and had topped the UK charts in 1966. More important though it’s a good song to dance to as you can see in this video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNyAzuB1-rE

After our dance, we said our goodbyes, in Spanish, and I headed off to work, having boogied down the Broomielaw and had the last dance with Kate.

To Kill a Mockingbird at 50

This summer marks the 50th anniversary of the publication on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee tells the tale of how the children of a widowed lawyer become embroiled in a racist prejudice as he defends an innocent black man accused of raping a white woman, in Alabama in the 1930s.


Although the novel did not go down too well in the deep-south state at the time, it was however an instant success elsewhere and has become a classic of modern American literature.  It remains popular to this day with youngsters and adults on both sides of the pond.  The movie of the same name was released in 1962 and starred Gregory Peck as the lawyer (Atticus Finch), Mary Badham as his daughter, Jean Louise "Scout" Finch and Phillip Alford as his son, Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch.

The film was also an instant hit, winning an award at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival; three Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards.

The BBC has marked the 50th anniversary of the book with a showing of the influential film and a special program To Kill a Mockingbird at 50, which sees writer Andrew Smith visiting Monroeville in Alabama, the setting of the book, to see how life there has changed in half a century.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching both although I couldn’t help wondering if Scout had grown up to become Kiki Dee.

Long Run takes it's Toll

Last week’s marathon training consisted of: a four mile recovery run on Sunday; one mile reps on Monday; a steady five mile run on Tuesday; a 5k SB at the SVHC Clydebank race on Wednesday; a seven mile general run on Thursday and a fifteen mile long run on Saturday. Nothing too strenuous but the long run took its toll on me and I was shattered for the rest of the weekend. It was a step up on distance and speed on last weeks 13.1 mile run @ 8:30 min/miles.

I set off from the Burrell at 7:50 am and ran along the national cycle route to Paisley, at a steady 8:20 pace. I turned right and headed down past what used to be the Silver Threads (punk) Disco towards Morrisons, around the roundabout, over the quaint bridge and then retraced my footsteps back to Pollok Park, meeting a group of Bella Road Runners on the way and arriving back just before 9:30. I ran around the paths, loosing some time, until the parkrun started and joined in to complete the remainder of my15 miles. I had decided to wear my sensible hat and not to sprint the last part of my run. I did however overtake a runner, William Gillespie, on the last hill and he chased after me, overtaking me on the final strait to finish with a new PB of 25:21. I refused to take the bait and placed 130th out of 251 runners with a time of 25:24. I therefore only received 1 point for the run and slipped to 22nd place in the Men’s Points Table, however I’ve now finished 47 parkruns and only have a further 3 to do to reach that elusive 50 mark.

After chatting and handing in my token I headed for a warm down with Jim Buik and Suzanne McMahon before changing and heading to the Burrell Café, where the staff informed me that they thought it was so funny a couple of weeks ago when they had seen me run past them twice with the Men’s Health 10k. After a while I headed home for a cold bath and hot brunch before heading back to bed.

I had been up at 6:30 am to have some porridge to give me slow releasing energy and had taken a jelly babies and some Lucozade every 5k or so. However within a few minutes of starting my run, I was sweating profusely and must have been dehydrated by the time I completed my 15 miles, 2 hours and 5 minutes later.  This is the furthest that I've run since 15 march this year.  I’ve been in touch with Your Sports Fuel, who provided Mark Cooper's energy drink for his 50 marathons and they’ve offered me a 15% discount. In the meantime I’ll keep on drinking loads of water.


This week’s schedule:
Sun: 4 Mile recovery run - stiff, sore and tired but enjoyed the refreshing run in the wind and rain.
Mon: 5 Mile, 42 mins
Tue: Intervals - 1M jog, 7 x 800 metres with 200m recoveries, 1M jog
Wed: 8 Mile, 66 mins
Thur: Tempo - 1M jog, then 3M brisk, then 1M jog
Fri: Rest
Sat: 5 Miles Easy
Sun: Girvan Half Marathon

Run in the Sun .... and the Evening News

You might recognise the photo above, which I took of Mark Cooper when we reached the French village of Champagne.  The photo was used in the newspaper reports of Mark's great achievement, of running 50 marathons in 56 days, by both the Sun and Edinburgh Evening News.  Although there was no credit for me as the photographer, I'm glad to have helped out.  Unlike some other amateur photographers that I could mention.

Final Kilometre Seals SB at Clydebank in Race #25

My 25th race of 2010 was one of the most un-aesthetic races in the country, the Scottish Veteran Harriers Club (SVHC) 5k. It’s three and a half times around the Clydebank Business Estate and whist it has some advantages in that: the roads are quiet, apart from one or two learner drivers and a solitary dog walker; it requires minimal marshalling; and it is close to the Playdome Leisure Centre, with it’s free showers, toilets and registration facilities. However in a country as beautiful as Scotland, it must be possible to deliver a more scenic and interesting course close to appropriate facilities.
That said, the race itself is a good one. I first ran it last year and joined the SVHC on the night to become eligible. It was held on 10th June, the day after my birthday, and I ran it in a PB of 21:01. (Marie McChord reminded me last night that it was one of the rare occasions where I had beaten her). Two weeks later I managed to dip below the 21 minute mark, completing the jogscotland 5k in 20:59. This year the race is part of the Run and Become Series and the date had been changed to 30 June, one week after the jogscotland 5k, where I had managed to complete in a clock time of 20:43, chip time 20:42.

After some pre-race chat, a warm up and a drink of Lucozade I lined up near the back of the pack. I should have remembered, from last year, that there was a bit of shuffling for places as the race got underway, however I didn’t and found myself being boxed out and having to run slower than my desired pace. This is not necessarily a bad thing as I and many other runners have a habit of starting too quick. By the time we had completed the first half lap of the estate I had already fell behind the group in front and found myself running alone. I wondered if I had managed to stick with the pack the race would have been easier. However after a lap and a half the ‘pack’ had all but split up and I was concentrating on Susan Addison and Marina McCallum who were a good bit in front of me. There was a guy in a white t-shirt that I was making up ground on and with one lap to go someone shouted to him “C’mon Eddie, catch those two in front of you!” I overtook him then and continued to focus on Susan, I lapped a couple of runners as I dug in deep for the final lap. Someone was chasing after me, I could hear them breathing and knew that it wasn’t Marie. Perhaps it was Eddie?  I kept my focus and worked hard, nevertheless with the finish line in sight, I was overtaken by the familiar figure of Kenny McVey (pic) as he sprinted for the finish line a few seconds in front of me. I know Kenny from years ago, when I had one night training with him at Victoria Park AC, I couldn’t keep up with him then and never went back to their training after that, so it was quite pleasing to finish just three seconds behind him. Garmin revealed that I had completed the 5k in a time of 20:41, one second faster than my jogscotland time of the week before and twenty seconds faster than last year! Marie finished some ten seconds later, I had beaten her for only the fifth time but hadn’t even seen her during the run. She and Kenny both commented that they thought I was slowing but had increased my pace in the last lap. This was indeed the case as Garmin revealed that my splits were: 4:01; 4:16; 4:18; 4:19 and 3:47, this compares to: 3:59; 4:12; 4:14; 4:12 and 4:06 the week before.

My official time was a second slower at 20:42, which is still one second faster than last week’s clock time, a Seasonal Best and the third fastest 5k that I have recorded.

Full Results