Race with 7,725 others..................

As I sat down to watch the highlights of the Scotland v Macedonia football match, I decided that a glass of wine wouldn’t do me any harm. However with the game being so entertaining and the prospect of watching some football from the lower English leagues straight after the Scotland game I decided not to run in Sunday’s 10k race but to relax, let my hair down and drink the full bottle of vino rouge. However I woke up in plenty of time in the morning and after wrestling with the demons for a long time I decided that, as I had a 12 mile training run scheduled, I’d be as well participating in the 9:30 am race.

I got ready for the run, put my chip on and my race number and then donned an old race t-shirt which I could dispose off at the race start. I ran the two miles down to George Square and saw the other runners making their way to the start in cars and buses. After exchanging a few pre match greetings, I lined up with Maddie from Bella and told her that I would be happy running at 8 min/mile pace. However as we made our way along St Vincent Street, I discovered that there were loads of slower runners in front of me and I felt more comfortable making my way through them and running at my own pace. I ran the 1st kilometre in 4:30 (7:15 m/m pace) and was feeling quite good as I made my way over the Kingston Bridge and down into Tradeston where someone shouted “C’mon Bella.” Then it was up Shields Road and a right turn onto St Andrews Drive at 4k where Francis Thomson cried out “C’mon Ian, you’re doing great.” I know this part of the city well as I train on it often but I hadn’t done my homework, so I didn’t know the exact route that we would take. However we continued up St Andrews Drive and at the 5k mark we crossed Nithsdale Road, my half way time was 22:57 not too bad. We took a sharp left at Maxwell Park down Dalziel Drive where Jimmy, Sandra and Karen shouted words of encouragement. We reached Terregles Ave and turned left, I could see Nithsdale Road ahead but unfortunately the route took another left turn and headed over the hill on Leslie Road before reaching Nithsdale Road. Emma Grant supported me here and then Jethro Lennox; there were two water stations within a few hundred meters, one provided by the local Sikh community and the other by the Territorial Army. In between was Alistair Kell giving verbal encouragement. A quick left onto Darnley Road, then right onto Albert Drive and we were soon on Pollockshaws Road and the 8k marker. We took a right here and then a left and headed down Gorbals Street, where Francis had relocated to and again gave her support. Over the Clyde we ran, although this bridge was much less iconic than the Kingston one. Andy Birnie and other shouted me on and as I tuned right on to Clyde Street, I was met full on by a huge photographer who thought he owned the pavement. I bounced off of him and continued on my race. I don’t know what happened to him and care even less. I could see Glasgow Green ahead and was pleasantly surprised to see that the finish line was also within sight. The path was busy but I still managed to increase my pace a bit on the final sprint and crossed the line in 428th place with a time of 45:16, a rare negative split and all things considered an acceptable time.

I collected my medal and goody bag and waited for Maddie to finish, we were then joined by Karlyn Forsyth and a pregnant Rhona Moran. After the usual post race chatter and mutual congratulations I removed my number and warmed down as I headed homewards. I was surprised to see that there were still thousands of runners still on the streets as I reached home.

After a quick shower, change and cup of coffee I headed round the corner with my camera to lend my support to the 7260 rain soaked runners who were participating in the Half Marathon, including some 61 Bellahouston Road Runners.

Race With Richard Gough

My Marathon Training Plan had me scheduled to do 6 miles on Saturday but I must admit to suffering a little training fatigue. I've ran 50 races this year and that's enough for anyone. I don't need to do a marathon and I've already benefited from the training by getting a number of PBs. So I decided to go to the pub and let my hair down, I had a good night but paid for it in the morning when I woke up with a cross between still being drunk and the onset of a hangover. Of course as any runner knows the best way to sober up is to run and sweat the alcohol out of your system. So off to the Glasgow parkrun I heade. This was to be my 51st race of 2008 and my 22nd parkrun and there were a few differences to this one than the others:

Due to Sunday's Great Scottish Run, the numbers were down, although still a respectable 119;
It was raining, not heavy but still surpringly rare for a Glasgow Saturday morning;
Ex Scottish Football Internationalist, Richard Gough, who now lives in San Diego, was running.

I figured that I would run round at 8 min/mile pace and add a warm up and warm down, to cover my training. As it happens I did the 3.1 miles in 24:12. I also finished 60th so not bad all things considered. Richard Gough started slow, which meant that he overtook me as he ran on to finish in an impressive 21:39.

After the race I had a wee chat with Richard Gough for the Scottish Running Guide before heading into the Burell for a bacon roll, a soya latte and some good craic with the Kirkintilloch Olympians.

When I got back home I turned on the radio to listen to 'Off the Ball' whose special guest turned out to be a one Mr R Gough from San Diego.

No Race but Hard Week of Training

After last week's Isle of Bute 10k, I started this week quite easily. I'm training for the Loch Ness Marathon on 4th October and I'm following one of Hal Higdon's Marathon Training plans, which included 4 miles on Sunday, 10 on Monday, 5 on Tuesday, 7 x hills on Wednesday, Thursday rest, 10 miles at Race Pace on Friday, followed by 20 miles long run on Saturday. I had to check the last two as it seemed a bit much but it was correct. However I did get Wednesday's session wrong as I thought it meant 7 miles of hills, which I did, rather than just 7 hills !! I planned to do the 20 miles at about 9 min/mile pace but unfortunately I got sucked into the pace that the 6 milers, 10 milers and faster marathon runners were setting and although I slowed it down after 5 miles, I struggled to complete the 20 miles. But I did get it done and my total time was about 1:55 so not far off of what I was looking for.

I went along to the Paisley 10k yesterday to take some photos and support the runners. I really enjoyed the event although I must admit to joining in, fully clothed, and running the last 2.5k of the race. However I did turn down the offer of a tee shirt and medal. It was great to get the chance to chat with running legend Haley Haining at the end of the race. See my report here.

It's a much easier week of training, with my long run only 12 miles and I'll run the Great Scottish 10k race and support the Half Marathon runners on the Sunday.

My 50th Race of 2009 - The Isle of Bute 10k Sat August 22

My 50th Race of 2009 and I wanted to make it a bit special so I took the opportunity to join with the small Bella posse that was sailing over to Rothesay to take part in the Isle of Bute Highland Games 10k. I had heard that parking at Weymess Bay was a bit problematic and although I thought about taken the train, when Katy and her kids agreed to come along for the ride, I decided to drive down and park at a railway station a couple of stops north.

The weather was glorious as we sailed across the Firth of Clyde in a jam packed Calmac Ro-Ro ferry. The Bellahouston Road Runners had all went for an earlier ferry but I met up with some Clydesdale Harriers, including Marina and they showed me the way to the Games, the Registration tent and the changing rooms.

I met up with my fellow Bellas and we made our way to the playing field for the start of the race and some team pics. After a brief description of the amended route we lined up and the Games Chieftain, Blyth Duff, of Taggart fame, sounded the Start.

Andy and Maddie Smillie said that they would be aiming to run the race in between 45 and 48 minutes. I had run a relatively fast 10 mile training run on the Friday “That will do me” I stated, whilst Norman Bolye said that he would run it at his marathon race pace. Whilst the massed cheers from the packed stand as we made our way around the Games’ stadium encouraged us to run a wee bit quicker than planned, the heavy underfoot conditions played their role in cooling our enthusiasm. After leaving the stadium the race ran down the High Street to the seafront and the 1km marker and then turned left and headed along the promenade. I was in front of most of the Bellas apart from Andrew Hardman who is a class above me and Joanna Lennox, who I could see in front of me. I decided then that my target for the day would be to beat Joanna and I started to increase the pace. I was overtaking a few other runners but there was a young lad from Motherwell AC who was running along with a female club mate and kept running on my shoulder, so close was he that he actually clipped my shoes on a couple of occasions. He did apologise though and I didn’t mind when he ran shoulder to shoulder with me as this encouraged me to dig deep. The sun was scorching and I was so happy to see that they had a number of water stations which allowed me to take a small drink and cool myself down by pouring the rest of the water over my head. In a reversal of Wednesday’s race with Paula Wilson, I overtook Joanna at about 3k and was aware that she was sticking close to me as we reached the turning point at just after 5k. I had noticed that Joanna’s brother Jethro and Robert Gilroy where running along together at the front of the race and that Andrew Hardman was doing well.

As we turned around and made our way back I could see that Joanna was just behind me and then Andy and Maddie, then Stephen Bell, Norman, Jackie O’Grady, Terry Brennan, Scott Telfer and finally Carla Deans. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the scenery was gorgeous, with the Firth of Clyde and the views over to the Ayrshire coast. Joanna had tried to overtake me a few times but I had been able to increase my speed and held her off. About 7k I was starting to tire and decided to let the Motherwell pair overtake me. I also think I might have eaten too late as I was feeing sick by the time I reached the 8k marker. I could hear the footsteps of a woman running quicker behind me and thought that Joanna had caught me and was therefore a little surprised but relieved when Greenock red haired runner Terri overtook me. Just after the 9k marker the route headed back up the hill and I worked hard to overtake a few runners on the final section. I noticed Jethro running down the hill and heard him shouting to Joanna to overtake me but I had spied Terri slowing in front of me and managed to overtake her just as I entered the cheering stadium. I saw and heard Katy and her kids in the stand and I gave it my all for a strong sprint to the finish line overtaking a few runners on the way. I was shattered and was still feeling sick but composed myself enough to congratulate Joanna on her great race, she had managed to take 2:45 off of her PB and was exhausted but also extremely happy. We collected our bottles of water and our smart looking medals and then made our way back to the finish line where we applauded the other runners, especially the Bella ones over the line. Before posing for some post race photos and heading back for a cold shower. I then met up with Katy and enjoyed watching some of the Games, including the Caber Tossing Final before heading back to the pier and homeward.


Bella Results:
Andrew Hardman 38:34
Ian Goudie 45:28
Joanna Lennox 45:29
Norman Boyle 47:24
Stevie Bell 47:24
Maddie Smillie 47:27
Andrew Smillie 47:28
Jackie O'Grady 49:29
Terry Brennan 49:41
Scott Telfer 56:44
Carla Deans 60:14

Rain Soaked Irvine Doesn't Dampen my Delight at a New PB!

The Irvine Marymass 10k road race, held on Wednesday August 19, was my 49th race of 2009 and my first ever race in Irvine. It’s a town that I used to know well, I used to cycle there from Stewarton. I wasn’t sure if I would do this race. I wasn’t feeling great, I’d managed a 30 min nap at lunch time and again after work and reckoned that I might be ok by the time the race started. I made my way down the misty and rain kissed M77, I somehow managed to find the Irvine Sports Centre. There were cars parked everywhere and the rain was bucketing down, I spotted Chris and Ellen, abandoned, oops sorry parked, the car and quickly ran into the Race HQ. After registering, changing and what constituted as a warm up, I lined up with the other 123 runners at the start of the race.

I started behind Laura Cairns, Paula Wilson and Erica Christie and in front of Brian Darroch. The race is advertised as a flat and fast course, so I was surprised to find myself running slightly uphill on the road for the first kilometre. I was feeling good and had overtaken Paula but I was still pleasantly surprised to see that I had clocked the first kilometre in four minutes. At this point the route joined the cycle path on the edge of the Irvine Beach Park. I made my way steadily along the slightly rolling course keeping my eye on the runners in front, however Paula caught me at the start of a hill at around 3k. I followed her up the hill and managed to sit in behind her as we made away along the course. She was receiving a lot of encouragement from the poor marshals standing around in the pouring rain and I also took some support from this. The route turned around at 4.5 k and as we joined the higher up road to head back, I was surprised to see Brian Darroch not too far behind us. The road left the cycle track between 5.5 and 6.5k. Although I felt that I could overtake Paula along this section, I decided not to, instead settling to sit tightly behind her. At 8k we passed the junction for the start and Paula started to work hard, I dug deep to keep close to her. She seemed to know where she was going and we were passing a few runners, so I was happy enough with that. At about 8.7k the route turned onto the seafront and headed along the promenade. I had been told that the race finished outside the Magnum Leisure Centre and presumed that we would turn into the right at some point. Paula was starting to pull away as we overtook Irvine’s Jim White and started to catch a group of four or five other runners. I was anticipating a turn to our left towards the Magnum but it never happened and we continued to run in the mist and rain along the seafront. I could now see a crowd of people and soon realised that this was the Finish Line as Jim White shot past me and I made my way over the line.
I stopped my Garmin at 42:18:21 and was ecstatic at getting a new PB by such a large margin. This was only my fourth time below 44 mins, one was last week at Pollok Park when I clocked 43:59, the other was Run with the Wind in Strathaven in November 2008 and the first time was when I set my previous PB of 43:04 at the Jack Crawford in January 2008, some nineteen months ago.

I looked for Pauline to thank her for a great run but she wasn’t there, instead I congratulated Laura Cairns, Jim White and Brian Darroch who had managed to take more than one minute off of his PB. Loads of people had enjoyed a great run and we chatted briefly before making our way back to the Sports Centre for a warm shower and hot cup of tea. After thanking Paula and congratulating Alan, Connell, Kerry, Robert, David, Claire, Sarah, Alison and others on their great runs and PBs, I made my way back up through the heavy rain and mist of the Fenwick Moors to Glasgow where some hot food and red wine capped a successful night.

My published time was 42:19. This didn’t take any shine off of my delight at beating my PB by 45 seconds, although the lack of photographers to capture the moment may have. Instead I've had to settle for a diagram of the course provided by Chris Upson.

Results

Achilles Heel Bella 5k – Sunday August 16

This popular race is organised by my very own Bella RRs. Changing and prize giving is at the prestigious Palace of Arts and the course starts and finishes on the cycle track in Bellahouston Park. The event is also a club championship race and attracts a healthy turnout from the purple posse. Unfortunately I was feeling very poorly and wasn’t really up to running a race. However, as Al McLachlan had recently said to me: “It’s only three miles!” So, of course I decided to run it and lined up at the start behind Shona Donnelly and Norman Boyle, I was pleased to see that the third Titan Tom McMillan wasn’t competing. I had mislaid my Garmin and decided not to burst a gut but to finish around the same time and hence the same points as Norman. It was a windy morning and someone commented that there wouldn’t be many PBs ran today.

I stuck to my game plan and followed Norman around the track out into the park, along past the Palace of Arts, down behind the House for an Art Lover and along to Paisley Road West, where we had to struggle against the wind blowing into our faces. I noticed that the pace dropped a little but I maintained my position and tried to shelter myself from the wind. As we turned left back into the park at the 2k marker, I noticed Norman looking at his watch and increasing his pace, so I did likewise. We overtook a few other runners as we made our way back towards the cycle track and up the hill to our left. I was aware that Graeme Wylie was behind me and with him pushing me and Norman pulling me around I felt that we were making good time. Out of the park, along Mosspark Boulevard and back into the park we ran, Norman was a good bit in front but he was still in my sights. We could see the cycle track ahead but the course takes a right and as we ran along here, Graeme pushed hard to overtake me just before the route turned left and up another small hill. Another left turn and we were on the flat before a slight downhill section took us to the entrance of the cycle track. I was making up ground on Norman and was feeling quite pleased as I made my way along the track to the finish just a few seconds behind him. However at this point I was overtaken by Alan Fitzsimmons who sprinted past me like a dog out of a trap.

Norman’s time was 20:57 and although I hoped that I had just dipped below the 21 minute marker, I wasn’t too surprised to learn that my time was 21:04. I finished 75th out of 171

72 158 Graeme Aitken Lomond ACC M MV40+ 20.55
73 67 Norman Boyle BRR M MV50+ 20.57
74 127 Alan Fitzsimmons Jog Scotland M MV40+ 21.01
75 95 Ian Goudie BRR M MV50+ 21.04
79 65 Keith Gibb BRR M MV40+ 21.29
81 72 Caroline Brownlie Springburn Harriers F FV35+ 21.34
82 114 Richard Leyton BRR M SM 21.36
91 44 Scott Johnson BRR M MV40+ 22.08
92 19 Gordon McDonald Kirkintilloch Olympians M MV50 22.09

Helensburgh Half Marathon – Sunday August 9

Although this is a Bella Club Championship Race I had decided to run it as a training run and also to pace Roslyn Ghareh who had never ran a Half Marathon before. Neither had John Hagemeister but he has been doing a lot more training and was happy to run the race on his own. Katy volunteered to drive and we arrived at Helensburgh Pier about 15 minutes before the race, which was sufficient time for Roslyn to register although I tend to get to try to get to races a good bit before they are scheduled to start.

The sun was shining and it looked liked being a warm race as we lined up with the other runners, including Bellahouston Road Runners. I explained the course to Roslyn and advised her that we would be aiming to run at a 9 min/mile pace. I gave her some of my Jelly Babies and advised her to take on water or energy drinks at the refreshment stations along the course. The race started and we headed along the promenade towards Rhu. I enjoyed myself chatting with Roslyn and the other runners and marshals too. As we approached the turning point I noticed the race leader, Jethro Lennox, making his way back towards us. However it was about four minutes later when the next leader, his Shettleston team mate Paul Sorrie was in sight. After that the runners were much more frequent and I shouted encouragement to the Bella Road Runners and the other racers that I knew. “You must know at least half the people running” commented Roslyn.

We continued at our steady pace working our way up through the field as we overtook those racers who had started too quickly. As well as Bella’s Moira Mcphedran, who had fell, and Louis Gray, who had been physically sick. Roslyn did excellent but she, hardly surprisingly, started to fade at about the 10 mile stage. She was happy for me to run on my own and to leave her but I told her that we would finish the race together. Although she wanted to stop a couple of times I encouraged her to keep going and soon I was advising her that the Finish Line was approaching. Along the road back to the pier we ran and then turned left and towards the end. Katy had informed the commentator that this was Roslyn’s first Half Marathon and I could hear him announcing that as we both crossed the line in a time of 1:55:32. An excellent time for a her first Half, especially in such a warm day.

After receiving our medals and exchanging congratulations I made my way back along the pier to get another couple of miles under my belt. After this I had the pleasure of a free swim in the local pool before getting changed and heading for the nearest café to enjoy a full Scottish brunch.