Chris's Blog

Last night I set myself the challenge to Walk, Jog or Run a 5k at Glasgow Green.

My main targets prior to arrival were to win the race, and to finish in under 17 minutes. However, I soon spotted Chris Black, Russell Whittington, Euan Geddes and Greig Glendding warming up, so figured 4th of 5th might be a more likely finish.

Photo courtesy of Great Scott Photography

The race started with a mad sprint to a very sharp, almost 180°, left hand turn. I assumed I'd be first to this turn, but Chris Black set off even faster. I tracked Chris for about 400 metres to the next sharp left turn, before Russ and Euan both went by. I tucked in behind Russell and Euan, thinking I might be able to stay with them.

This plan of sitting in 4th place worked up until 2km when Greig Glendining suddenly caught me and powered straight past. I failed to match his pace and was quickly passed by Gary Hester as well.

The 180° turn at 2.7km marked the faraway point of the course before the run back to the finish. I struggled to get going again after the turn I was feeling a bit weary, so got caught by Bruce Carmichael and Derek Govan. I really felt like I was going backwards by this staqe, but I decided to speed up when we got to the 3km mark. Unfortunately I felt flat and empty, and couldn't respond, so resigned myself to 8th position.

However, once inside the last kilometre I finally got round to looking at my watch and realised that sub 17 minutes was going out the window unless I started some sort of insane sprint. My intention wasn't to catch anyone in particular, but as soon as I changed my pace I was suddenly closing on Bruce and Derek who I caught inside the last 100 metres, and almost closed down Greig on the line.

So in the end I finished 6th in 17:09, which was my fastest 5km since 2007.

Kirkintilloch 10k

2011-06-17T20:07:00.010+01:00

Results | Photos | Activity on Garmin Connect

A nice calm mild night at Kirkintilloch for the canalbank 10k.

I suspected I could run a bit quicker than my 37:57 from last year, and only noticed 2 runners definitely faster than me before the start. I had a vague plan to aim for sub 35 minutes, if I could somehow raise my game from the Polaroids.

I started as fast as possible and lead for 150 metres before Paul Sorrie went by. It took another couple of hundred metres before Robert Gilroy caught me, and I followed him down onto the canal towpath. 600 metres into the race and I figured I was now in for a long haul to hang on for 3rd spot. I could hear puffing and panting behind but wasn't sure who would be the first to challenge. I had one challenge from a guy in green vest, but he quickly faded, so I pressed on tying to imagine I was catching Robert Gilroy, rather than worrying about what was going on behind.

At about 7km I finally had my first serious challenge when Donald Cameron of Clydesdale reeled me in. Donald had recently beaten me at the Dumbarton and Vale of Leven Polaroids, so I was now resigned to finish 4th. However when Donald went by he didn't press on, so I just tracked him until the 9km marker and then drifted past again and opened up a 12 second gap.

So in the end I did finish 3rd in 35:19, which is my best placing in a 10k race for while.

Images courtesy of Great Scott Photography

Vale of Leven 10k

2011-06-12T19:52:00.013+01:00

Good conditions for the final race in the Polaroid 10k Series - dry, mild and no wind.

There was some confusion just before kick-off when somebody noticed the 2 Eritreans had forgotten to collect their timing chips. It looked like there might be some delay when suddenly a hooter sounded which caught everyone by surprise, and only after a few seconds was there a reaction and we realised that the race had started.

In the confusion, I actually got away quite quickly and was in around 10th position running through Balloch at the start chatting with Russ Whittington. Once into the Park I was caught by Paul Thompson. I tried to run with Paul, but once again he was too strong for me. I was also caught and passed by Nick Reid, Fiona Matheson and Steven Prentice.

The route this year was improved with the return leg along the cycle path beside the River Leven. Here I tracked Adam Taylor of Garscube (who strangely doesn't appear in the results), and eventually passed him with a mile to go. My only real aim was to get properly under 36 minutes, and I didn't expect to catch anyone else, but in the closing 100 metres I suddenly realised I could maybe get back to Steven Prentice of Bella Harriers, so gave it a bit of a full blown sprint and passed him at speed about 6 inches before the blue mats at the finish.

I finished 18th with a gun time of 35:37 and 4th M40, so was quite pleased that all 4 races were between 35:20 and 35:45.

Images courtesy of Great Scott Photography

Dumbarton 10k

2011-06-02T22:13:00.012+01:00

Results | Activity on Garmin Connect

I was feeling tired and groggy with a cold before starting, so wasn't expecting much from this run.

It's not a pleasant feeling when you get to 7km and realise there's nothing left. No fight. No last big effort. Just a plodding pace and waiting for it to be over. The local neds were making us look silly on the last km, by sprinting along past us just to demonstrate how slowly we were going.

At 9.5km I normally ramp it up to a big sprint finish, but tonight I was just feeling horribly washed out. I momentarily went past Nick Reid, in fact I think I passed him twice, but neither time with any conviction. There was a cluster of runners just in front as I crossed the line, including Nick, Scott Kennedy and Paul Thompson. As soon as I stopped if felt so wrecked and had to lie on the ground for about 5 minutes before I could move again.

I finished 24th in 35:45, which was a good bit slower than Clydebank and Helensburgh.

Clydebank 10k

2011-05-26T23:03:00.024+01:00

Results | Activity on Garmin Connect

The 2nd race in the Polaroid 10k Series.

I started reasonably well and in fact caught and passed Paul Thompson after about 2km. However this probably wasn't a good idea. It wasn't until about 3km that Stephen Mulrine of Garscube went by, and on the first lap I was still within sight of Russell Whittington.

At the start of the 2nd lap after crossing the bridge over the canal I could feel myself fading, and got caught by Steven Prentice of Bellahouston Harriers, which shouldn't have happened given that he ran Edinburgh Marathon on Sunday. I was then also caught by Nick Reid who asked if I wanted to flip a coin to see who would win after last week's close finish. I said I'd let him win, so long as he gave me a tow past Paul Thompson, who appeared to be a catchable distance in front. Nick said "no problem, we'll easily catch him", and then sped off and dropped me with 4km to go.

I tried not to panic and figured that with 14 minutes of running left, there was still a chance of catching them both. I caught and passed Steven Prentice again, plus Donald Cameron of Clydesdale, and at 8km I tried to ramp it up like last week at Helensburgh.

At 8km I could hear new footsteps on my heels, moving faster than my own and suddenly Liam Conway sped past to make up for last week, and he had Craig Ross in tow. I jumped back ahead of Craig as we climbed the bridge over the canal, but then felt horribly flat with a mile to go as we hit the edge of the business park.

This was suddenly the business end of things when I should have been chasing down Nick and Paul, but I felt rubbish, and had no response for getting back to Liam and Craig. Plus Steven and Donald came barreling past with less than a kilometre to go. I tried to hang on for the dip through the tunnel for the sharp right turn and final sprint.

A good shout from John Bell had me on my toes and working and suddenly I found some speed that leapt me past Donald and brought me alongside Steven. I saw Steven try to respond, but I was now finally in my stride and closing rapidly on Craig and Liam, but too late to catch them before hurtling across the line.

Similar to last week, I finished 3 places behind Paul, this week in 35:24 for 16th position, so just 4 seconds slower than Helensburgh. Perhaps if I don't race at the Kilpatricks next week, I might stand a chance of going sub 35 minutes at Dumbarton.

Glasgow Parkrun #123

2011-05-21T21:50:00.002+01:00

21st May 2011

My first Parkrun in a while, and my main aim was to beat my PB of 17:13, and to see if I could get sub 17 minutes. This would mean running 3:24 or better for each kilometre.

I couldn't see any known competition on the startline, so started with the intention of taking an immediate lead. I went through the first kilometre in 3:17, according to Garmin, although I don't fully trust the kilometre splits since the course takes sharp turns beneath tree cover.

I kept surging to try to drop the 2 young guys who were running right beside me, but after 2km they were still with me, and in fact had got just ahead as we closed the first loop.

The 2nd lap begins with a steady uphill drag, so I quickened my feet and went past Andrew Clark of Giffnock, and was closing on the leader Roger Naughton.

I should have tried harder at this point to close the gap, since once over the brow of the hill and into the descent, Roger pulled away again.

At the 4km point we turned left into a wall of tail end runners on their first lap. I lost sight of Roger as I tried to avoid slamming into the backs of runners veering across the path.

I did what I could on the final descent to the finish to reduce the gap to 8 seconds, and felt sure I'd worked hard enough for a decent time so was a bit surprised and disappointed to realise I'd only run 17:20 which was 7 seconds off my PB set last November. Must try harder next time!

Helensburgh 10k

2011-05-19T22:08:00.015+01:00

19th May 2011

A record turnout at Helensburgh 10k, the opening race of the Polaroid 10k Series now in its 25th Year. The conditions were pretty windy and blustery, but comfortably cold to prevent any overheating.

I hadn't run a 10k in ages, so wasn't really sure what to expect, but I was hoping for some residual fitness from all that marathon training when I ran every day from December to March.

My only plan was to keep Paul Thompson and Niall vaguely in my sites, whilst trying not to overcook and it fade away during the race.

My first 2 kilometres were 3:25 and 3:24, but already Paul and Niall were a good 5 or 6 places ahead. I ran with Dave Houston for a bit, but suddenly found myself pressing on until I was joined by Nick Reid of Bellahouston at around 3km. Nick and I ran together side by side for the next 2km, before the elastic broke and Nick pulled out a bit of lead.

The turn along the seafront just after 5km was into a battering headwind, and I felt like I was grinding to a halt. I was caught by Euan Geddes (Garscube) who helped maintain the pace along King Street, with 10 or so runners lined up ahead. I could clearly see Paul and Niall, but they were not within realistic catching distance. Instead I focussed on picking off the 5 or so runners directly ahead, but still feeling OK, and suddenly realising I could Nick Reid again with about 200 metres to go, and putting in a last ditch sprint to attack Niall who was coming back rapidly.

I crossed the line in 21st place in 35:20, with Niall one place ahead, and Paul Thompson 2 places ahead of Niall. So funnily enough my plan of chasing Niall and Paul more or less worked, and gave me my fastest 10k time in over 3 years.

Goatfell Race

2011-05-14T20:35:00.005+01:00

14th May 2011

Results | Activity on Garmin Connect | Photos

This was my first full length Goatfell Race since the glory days of 2004, when Westies took the team prize with 3 runners in the top 10. Ronnie, me and Manny. And I clocked a PB of 1:27:32. And my good friend Bish McAra was running only months after being almost killed in a car crash beside Dumgoyne.

Results from 2004

I'd completed a shorter version of the race in 2007 in truly awful weather on a modified course that missed out the road section, and instead included the descent at the end of Glen Rosa Horseshoe. So today I wasn't expecting to run as fast as 2004, but I was hoping to get close to 90 minutes.

The race begins with a lap of the sports field before trundling out onto the road. I set off with the intent of being first to the forest, and jogging down the road I soon couldn't hear any footsteps behind me. I had no intention of looking round to see the gap, so just kept a steady pace without over exerting myself until I'd turned onto the forest track just before 3 kilometres.

At this point I immediately slowed up to let Andy Fallas, Brian Marshall and Paul Faulkner past, shortly followed by Stewart Whitlie. At this point I thought I might be able to hang onto 5th spot for a while, so tried to maintain the gap with Stewart. However, it wasn't long before I was caught by the next runner who to my surprise turned out to be Paul Thompson.

I was slightly taken aback to have been caught by Paul so quickly, so redoubled my efforts and tried to match his pace, which worked until we were both caught by Charles Hutchinson (HBT), at which point I gave up to some extent and slumped back in 7th place.

I thought I might be safe in 7th spot for a while, but soon after the deer fence I could see Bruce Smith bounding up towards me, so I allowed him to go past in the hope that he would drag me back to Paul. Having Bruce to chase seemed to help a bit, but soon we were both caught by Alan Smith just before the shoulder.

Heading up the final steep slope of boulders and grass, I was trying to reel in Paul, Alan and Bruce, and was only a few metres behind at the summit trig.

Once plummeting back down, I got past Bruce on the steep stuff only for him to tear away from me lower down. I tried to chase but can't shift across rough ground like Bruce. I still thought I was descending OK, but obviously not fast enough since I got caught by Craig Stansfield (Rossendale), Gary Fraser and Adam Anderson lower down the trail.

I was fairly confident I'd catch Gary and Adam again on the road, and tried to pace my effort back to Brodick. My heart rate was close to 180bpm for the last kilometre, so I must have trying reasonably hard. I got past Adam with 1 km to go, but couldn't make any ground on Gary, so I finished 11th in 1:31:52.

Ben Lomond Hill Race

2011-05-07T21:42:00.007+01:00

7th May 2011

Route on Garmin Connect

This was my first Ben Lomond Race since 2009, the year of the freak snow storm when I ran 1:24:02. The 4 years before that I ran 1:21, 1:17, 1:17 and 1:21. So today I was kind of expecting to run around 1:20.

The race started quite slowly, so I lead the first 800 metres, as far as the new deer fence with Gala's Fergus Johnston right on my heels. I had no intention of trying to maintain the lead once through the gate, so immediately drifted to one side and allowed runners to pass.

Once Paul Thompson caught me up I decided to start trying again, and was also having a bit of a battle with Gregor Heron who was climbing strongly.

Halfway up the climb I seemed to be catching Andy McCall, but never quite closed the gap. Des Crowe caught me for a while but I managed to pull away with Gregor.

At the base of the final climb, I was caught by Sarah McCormack with Gregor and Graham Munro just ahead. I managed to nip in front of Gregor and Graham just as we hit the summit ridge, which was enshrouded in thick mist. I tried to move along this ridge as quickly as possible and reached the summit in a fairly disappointing 54 minutes, a full 5 minutes slower than my quickest climb.

Anyhow, I wasn't really that bothered, I was more interested in trying to descent quickly with about 20 metres of visibility. I knew that by opening a gap it would harder for folk to chase. I dropped off the summit slope almost on the heels of Alastair Robertson and Alan Smith, but they took off much faster than I could follow, although I did pass Lochaber's John Binnie.

But for most of the descent I saw nobody, until lower down I caught glimpses of Niall coming backwards rapidly. I could see that I would easily catch Niall so long as I did nothing stupid. Perhaps I should have attacked a bit harder, but I just pootled down through the forestry section until I could suddenly hear Des Crowe and James Jarvis chatting very close behind me. This was sufficient incentive to shift a bit and get through the lower deer fence as fast as possible, now just metres ahead of Niall.

Barreling down the gravel path towards the car park Niall, James Jarvis and myself were almost neck and neck. Niall and I jumped onto the road simultaneously where I planned to launch my final attack, but Niall preempted me and flew away in an instant. I thought he'd gone to soon and I'd still catch him, and tried to generate the pace necessary, but it was all getting a bit too painful. And my final effort was too little too late, so I hurtled across the line 5 seconds after Niall for 10th place in 1:22:14. Barring the snowy day, this is was my slowest time in 6 years, but was the fastest I could manage on the day, which is all you can do.

Linlithgow bike ride

2011-04-29T22:44:00.000+01:00

29th April 2011

To avoid the royal wedding, Ellie and I went on a 40-mile bike ride from Glasgow to Linlithgow. Unfortunately there was a relentless headwind the whole way. We passed through places I'd never heard of before, like Slamannan and Avonbridge.

Glenalmond bike ride

2011-04-25T20:39:00.004+01:00

25th April 2011

Route on Garmin Connect

Our first proper bike ride of the Spring, and a chance for Ellie to test out her new bike. Unfortunately Ellie was not feeling well, so we couldn't go that far or fast, but managed a scenic 33 mile circuit through lush green Perthshire landscapes.

London Marathon

2011-04-18T20:18:00.014+01:00

Result Splits | Route | Activity on Garmin Connect

Well that was a bit of a nightmare, but pretty much as expected. This was my first attempt at running after 3 weeks with a virus. And I'd been off work during the week with viral fatigue and painful sinuses.

The day before I'd managed a slow walk around Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens that wiped me out, so I wasn't really planning 100% on running the marathon. Or at least I couldn't see how I could possibly run 26 miles, when I was shattered after walking round a park.

But anyhow, I got up early on Sunday morning and walked up to Shepherd's Bush tube only to find that the station was helpfully shut. I thought this might an omen that I wasn't meant to go, but I spotted a No.49 bus pulling away onto Holland Park Roundabout and reckoned I could intercept it on Holland Road. The 50 metre dash across the road was my first run in 3 weeks and sent my heart into palpitations and left me in pools of sweat. I then felt quite ill on the bus and tube and train approaching Blackheath, feeling alienated from the buzz and excitement around me, and hoping I wouldn't see anyone I knew.

I arrived around 8.30am, in plenty of time to see the elite women's start and to generally mooch around, but finding the idea of running unthinkable.

At 9.20am I finally wandered into the Good for Age area at the Red Start where I bumped into Dave Henderson from my work. I told Dave that I felt awful and wasn't sure whether to run. He said he'd been off work with flu for 2 weeks, but was planning to run. I then saw Ellie who immediately assumed I was running, and the next thing I knew I was jammed into the starting area with my bag on the bus, and feeling slightly committed.

It didn't feel like a good idea to be starting the race, but I trundled off and used my Garmin to try to hold a pace around 4:00/km for as long as possible.

This worked fine up until about 20km, but once I hit Tower Bridge at mile 12 I suddenly felt dreadful and all I could think about was pulling out. I realised at this point there was no way I could run for another 14 miles.

The only saving grace was that I'd caught Dave Henderson and I thought perhaps we could pool resources and keep each other going. But it was getting so hot by this stage, neither of us were very chatty. I told Dave I felt awful and was thinking of dropping out. Dave seemed to be suffering just the same, so I felt I should carry on.

Normally from Mile 15 to 22 I have absolutely no idea where the race is heading, but this year I'd taken the trouble to plot the route in Gmap Pedometer, so I had a vague notion which direction we were heading as the route snakes through Canary Wharf.

I reached 20 miles in 2:15, and immediately knew I'd blown 3 hours, since none of my kilometre splits were now under 4:30, and I'd need to run a sub 45 minute 10k from here to the end which was not going to happen. I was more concerned with getting to the end before I collapsed with heat exhaustion and overwhelming fatigue.

Mile 21 to the end was a blur. I tried to taken water, lucozade and gels at every drinks station, but each time got closer and closer to stopping altogether, and then had to work harder to get going again. At Mile 22 I went for water and got clobbered from behind sending my right hamstring into excruciating cramp. I hobbled across to the other side of the road and stretched my hamstring until I could get running again.

Any thoughts of striding out along Thames Embankment were abandoned. By now it was just a waiting game for it all to be over. I assumed Ellie would be overtaking at any moment, so kept glancing each shoulder as the runners streamed past.

With less than a mile to go, as we turned onto Parliament Square the familiar figure of Kate Jenkins came beasting past. I made a half-baked effort to track her up Birdcage Walk, but didn't want to collapse or pull up with cramp at this stage. Passing in front of Buckingham Palace I heard the loud speakers announce the arrival of James Cracknell who I'd been running beside for a while, but he must have pulled away.

I also spotted a Metro Aberdeen vest of the guy I'd been chatting to at the start directly in front aiming for the far lefthand finishing gate, so I followed him as the clock was counting up from 3:04.

The end result was I finished in 3:04:20, but I found this race far, far tougher than any of my previous marathons completed 10 minutes faster.

Balloch to Clydebank Half Marathon

2011-03-14T20:49:00.000Z

This was my 4th attempt at the Balloch to Clydebank Half, having previously run 1:18:17, 1:20:04 and 1:19:30 in 2007 to 2009. I missed out last year through injury, and took these photos of the race instead. For 2011, I felt in reasonable shape, having run every day for the past 103 days.

I started fairly slowly and tried to resist running a ridiculously fast opening kilometre, which I managed with a 3:36 opener. I kept this pace going for the first 8km, running in a pack of 8 down the Renton backroad to Dumbarton, sitting right behind the Henderson brothers David and Alan.

As we dropped down the hill over the River Leven to Mile 5, the group was getting bunched so I jumped into the road to overtake. However this proved to be a mistake, since as soon as we went under the railway arch on to Bank End Road, I found myself dropped and struggling to catch any of this pack which was suddenly scattered.

I chased in vain, but never caught any of these 7 runners, however I did pass Toby Messenger (Garscube), Christopher Macdonald (Motherwell) and Scott Martin (Kilmarnock), who had all started too fast. As I reached Mile 11, I could hear heavy breathing and Damian McAuley appeared on my shoulder. This woke me up, and I realised I'd need to start making an effort. I realised I'd been coasting along for most of the route, and only now did it suddenly feel like a race.

I was fairly confident that I had enough left to hold off Damian, but I didn't want to blow up by hammering off too fast with 2 miles to go, so I slowly starting ramping the pace up, digging in for the little climb up Duntocher Road, before hitting the long almost final straight along Singer Road and North Avenue in the Clydebank Business Park. I realised I was now closing fairly quickly on Craig Ross and Bruce Carse of Bellahouston RR, but I couldn't quite find the impetus to close the gap fast enough.

Having gone through 10 miles in 59:33, I was thinking I must be close to going sub 1:18, and despite putting in a last ditch sprint down Seaforth Road I went just over, and clocked 1:18:15. However this was a course PB by 2 seconds, so I was reasonably pleased.

101 Not Out

2011-03-10T17:55:00.004Z

I've just managed my 101st day of running on the trot.

In other words, I've now run every day since 30th November 2010. Perhaps not an enormous achievement, however this forms my longest unbroken stint of running since 2007, when I set most of my road running PBs. So I'm hoping that in the coming weeks I might start seeing some benefit, not least at the impending London Marathon on 17th April, if the body holds together until then.

I had a bit of a nasty fright last night on my 100th day, when my left ankle decided to start spontaneously collapsing whilst I was running. This became quite annoying, especially seeing as it was freezing cold and pouring with rain, meaning I could only manage a slow hobble whilst battling with the onset of hypothermia.

Tonight with some trepidation I went for a ridiculously slow pootly run up to Loch 27 and back, just to test out the ankle, which seemed OK but I'll need to take it easy for the next few days to be in any sort of shape for Balloch to Clydebank Half Marathon, which has been a significant target in my mind over the past few weeks. I'm hoping to clock a half decent time if the body decides to behave itself, although of course it depends how windy it is on the day, etc. etc., but I'm thinking that 1:17 shouldn't be totally out of the question, if I play my cards right.

Lasswade 10-mile Road Race

2011-03-06T18:25:00.004Z

My 3rd race of the weekend.

By racing twice yesterday, I essentially blew my chance at getting under the hour since I was running with sore legs from the start. However, I thought it would still be useful marathon training by trying to maintain a constant level of effort when already tired.

I made a deliberate effort to start as slowly as possible, hoping that I might warm up during the race and catch a few folk later on.

From about 4 miles onwards I was closing down on Michael McGovern of Moorfoots, but it took until Mile 6 before I finally caught him, however he didn't give up, and we ran more or less together until Mile 8 when we were caught by the Portobello duo of Douglas Carstairs and Michael Fullarton. By Mile 9 things were hotting up as we all passed Darin Dougal of Moorfoots, and turned into the grounds of Whitehill House. With 800 metres to go, I managed to dig out enough of a finish to go past Michael McGovern (again) and Michael Fullarton, and opened out 15 seconds of gap, but not enough to close down Douglas Carstairs.

I finished in 61:07, which wasn't too bad and was still a PB on this course having previously run 61:39 and 61:41.

Nigel Barge 10k

2011-03-05T17:12:00.001Z

Having run the Glasgow Parkrun 5k a few hours earlier, I wasn't really planning on running the Nigel Barge 10k. My original plan had been to take a few photos, however seeing as the light was pretty dull and there didn't seem to be that many folk about, I thought I might as well run the 10k as a bit of extra marathon training, and figured I could jog round in 37 minutes or so.

I tried to start slowly, but went through the first kilometre in 3:23, which was a bit too fast. I dropped 7 or 8 places during the first lap, and coming into Lap 2 I was caught and passed by Michael Diver. I then followed Michael until the return into Garscube where I just caught him again before the line. I finished the race in 36:28.

Glasgow Parkrun #112

2011-03-05T16:32:00.000Z

I worked my way up to 5th place after the opening stampede, then spent the rest of the race chasing Bryan McLelland, but not quite managing to close him down at all, so I finished 5th in 17:41.

I ran kilometre 2 in 3:34, and kilometre 4 in 3:38, so not a huge falling off in pace, although if I ever wanted to run sub 17 minutes, I'd need to be averaging 3:24 pace for the whole race. So I'm well off that at the moment.

Scottish National Cross Country

2011-02-20T22:12:00.016Z

Results | Startlist | Activity on Garmin Connect

There is something quite disconcerting about standing on a startline with 450+ runners, and knowing what on earth sort of pace you should start with.

I tried to ease gently and not get too excited on the first lap. My pre-race plan had been to try for laps of just under 15 minutes each, and in fact the first lap was pretty much bang on 15:00. This seemed OK given that the course was pretty muddy and heavy. I don't remember much about the 2nd lap other than getting passed by Mark Johnston and trying to follow him around the golf course, but the gap getting bigger and bigger.

I think I must have been slowing up badly towards the end of the 2nd lap, since I suddenly had company at the start of the 3rd lap from David Wright and Greig Glendinning, shortly followed by Marco Consani. I tried to go with Marco but he was too strong, and instead I tagged along with Dave Eiser for the middle chunk of the final lap. I was probably running too slowly since I suddenly became aware of Paul Thompson right on my heels, which gave me enough of a fright to dash up the grassy slope 3/4 of the way around the loop, and then really start running the final kilometre.

I thought that once I started pressing the final 3.5 minutes, I could hold off any challenges, but I could sense attacks from behind, so had to keep surging and re-surging until the desperately slippery corner into the final straight and with shoes caked in mud you have to give it all you have left for the final 200 metres. This involved 32 seconds of acceleration with the fibres in my hamstrings popping one by one. I knew that Paul was right on my tail and would be doing everything to pip me on the line, so I couldn't be taking any chances, but my right hamstring was really not happy about this. With 20 metres to go I passed Sean Gaffney of Inverclyde and was barreling down on Ben Mitchell of Lasswade, but just pulled out of the challenge with my hamstring about to explode, which was enough to allow Will Hensman to edge me on the line by less than the width of a vest.

Looking at the results afterwards, I couldn't quite understand how Mark and Marco had ended up in positions 86 and 90 respectively. They must have torn through 20 places in the final lap.

I was a little disappointed to finish 111th and miss out on a Top 100 spot, but with Jeff Farqhuar 101st and Allan Fotheringham 102nd, this shows just how tough it is to make the top 100 at the Scottish Nationals.

Carnethy 5 Hill Race

2011-02-12T21:41:00.000Z

Results | Route on Garmin Connect

Not one of my better runs. My past 2 Carnethys had both been 56 minutes something, so I was kind of assuming I would get under the hour without trying too hard. However I think the routes up the first hill and off the last hill went through more heather than previously, plus the ground was pretty soft, plus I've done no hill running in ages, so in fact I missed the hour and did 1:00:57.

It probably didn't help much that I'd done a 14 mile tempo run the previous afternoon, and that I ran the 5km to the start of the race.

I started as slowly as possible and immediately found myself way down the field as folk sprinted off through the bog. I picked my way around the edge of the field over the opening 600 metres to the gate, and was probably in about 15th position as I went through the gate with Mark Harris and Al Hart. The pace seemed incredibly pedestrian compared with cross country, until I hit the climb up Scald Law, and suddenly remembered I hadn't done any hill racing in ages.

The climb was therefore a constant procession of people overtaking, until I topped out at the summit of Scald Law one place ahead of Steven Fallon. Steven promptly overtook me, and then I re-overtook on the way to South Black. On the way to West Kip I was caught by Des Crowe. And then coming off West Kip I was caught by Clare Whitehead. I rallied a bit on the descent to The Howe and caught and passed Steven Fallon and Clare before the climb to the gully.

I made my last effort to run into the gully before my legs gave up altogther. I then lost around 10 or 15 places on the climb to Carnethy as I realised my legs were powerless at running uphill.

By the time the descent arrived, I'd lost interest in the race, and just stumbled slowly through the rough unrunnable heather arriving back at the gate just as Adrian Davis and Adam Ward hurtled past. I looked at my watch knowing that a bare minute of 2 minutes would be needed to get to the end, and saw the time was 58:40, so I knew there was no possibility of breaking the hour.

I managed to nip back in front of Adam and Adrian before the finish, who both ran as badly as myself. It was a bit of a shock to the system to realise that my legs don't work on hills, but a useful reminder that I might need to incorporate some hill running into my training.

Greenock 5-mile Road Race

2011-02-06T19:50:00.005Z

I thought this Greenock 5-mile Road Race looked like the ideal opportunity to set a 5-mile PB and finally get under 28 minutes. The route is flat as a pancake, and there was virtually no trace of wind. The only the problem was my legs were still pretty sore from yesterday's cross country, so I wasn't sure if I could last the distance.

I tried to set out reasonably conservatively around the initial laps of Battery Park, and sat in behind the Bellahouston trio of Russell Whittington, Greig Glendinning and Nick Reid as we left the park for the esplanade. Once we hit the promenade I could never quite get back up to Russell and Greig, but still tried to keep pace with Nick. This worked until the halfway point, but on the run back I could see the Bella guys were winding it up, or else I was fading.

Just before returning to the park I caught up with an Inverclyde guy and 2 young runners from Giffnock, but once in the park they all took off and I had no response. I could sense my target time was slipping away and put in a good effort on the final half lap of the park, but it was too little too late and I clocked 28:07 for 20th position.

Fairly annoying to miss my PB by 4 seconds, but I guess I shouldn't have expected much more after racing yesterday.

Scottish Masters Cross Country

2011-02-05T21:45:00.003Z

A quite different type of course compared with Irvine Moor and Callendar Park. This was more like what you might call "real cross country", ie. seriously muddy and quite hilly.

My primary goal was to see if I could finish 3rd in the M45 category. I noticed before the race that Robert Quinn and Andy Little were both in attendance who are both M45, and way faster than me, so my only chance was to try to track the 3rd M45 whoever that might be.

I set off fast but not too fast and found myself in about 10th position on the first smaller lap. At this point I knew I was in 3rd place, and was also ahead of Jeff Farquhar, but wasn't sure how long I could keep this going. On the 2nd lap climbing the stony track I got passed by Raymond Jaffray of Teviotdale sporting a number "45" on his back, so I knew I had to start working now. But I also got caught by Alan Derrick, Jeff Farquhar, and as soon as we were into the muddy field John Bell went past as well, so I felt like I was going backwards. I tried to rally and go after John, but the footing was so slippery and muddy it was hard to generate any pace.

There was a tussocky field to cross, and short section of tree roots before hitting a dis-used railway line where at last you could start running properly. I made the mistake of glimpsing behind me and realised there were runners right on my heels, so I tried to keep pressing. Ian Johnston of Shettleston had several attempts at getting past before finally pulling ahead, but as soon as we hit as small descent dropping off the railway embankment I released the brakes and flew past Ian and also caught John Bell.

I couldn't believe it but John actually had enough breath to start chatting to me about what a good course it was, whilst I was struggling to breathe, and focussing on the possibility of catching Jeff Farqhar who was one place ahead.

I couldn't quite get back ahead of John despite him walking up the steep banking before the tussocky field. I felt a bit sick after running up the steep hill, and then had to keep surging again and again to stop Ian Johnston from getting past.

There was a confusing junction coming up, where I wasn't quite sure if we had to run down the field or blast down the road. I maybe hesitated a fraction waiting for some instruction, and at this point an unknown Perth Road Runner (David Knight) suddenly appeared on my shoulder and nipped in front. I managed to batter down the road slightly faster, but once we turned into the field for the final run in I felt wrecked, and David got back in front.

I didn't actually have any idea how far it was to the finish, but there was still a full 1.1km to go down a really soggy muddy track. I just about managed 3:30/km but it was hard work all the way, and I felt sure I would drop more places if anyone was chasing me down.

With about 200 metres to go Andrew Ronald of Falkirk eventually passed and I pretty much gave up, but suddenly with about 80 metres to go I thought I might as well muster a sprint finish through a complete quagmire. My right hamstring was getting tighter and tighter, but I just managed to jump back in front of Andrew before my hamstring packed up.

So the end result was 5th M45 and 17th place overall. I didn't manage to beat Jeff this time, but I was a good bit nearer to John Bell than I've been before, plus I managed to stay ahead of Ian Johnston for the first time.

Angela Mudge won the women's race after a close battle with Melissa Whyte.

Bellahouston 4k Cross Country

2011-01-30T20:22:00.018Z

My 5th outing at the Bellahouston 4k Cross Country, and the first time that another Westie has turned up, with a very welcome appearance from John Quinn (no relation to Robert Quinn as far as I know).

Paul Thompson of Helensburgh is normally my benchmark at this type of race, but unfortunately he wasn't here today. So instead I conjured up 3 main aims for the race:

To start smoothly without spiking my heart rate, and then slowly move up the field
To hang onto Jeff Farquhar of Pitreavie and maybe just pip him on the line
A third and slightly irrelevant goal was to see if I could match the fastest woman's time.

So, I deliberately didn't go right on the startline, but stood further back a bit behind Stuart Gibson and Michael Gillespie who I knew would be starting faster than me. When the gun fired I was immediately blocked and boxed in for a while, which helped to limit my pace to 3:07/km pace for the first 200 metres.

I then had the satisfying experience of passing a constant stream of runners during the first lap until at 1.4km I realised I had suddenly caught and passed Jeff Farqhuar. This wasn't really my plan, and as soon as I passed Jeff I wondered if that was a good move, but tried to focus on chasing after David Henderson of Greenock Glenpark who was only a couple of places ahead. I felt sure I would catch David, and I also thought that I'd done enough to get away from Jeff.

Neither of these turned out to be true since I faded in the 3rd kilometre dropping to 3:37 pace and getting passed by Jeff and caught by a young Shettleston runner, or perhaps I caught him and then he rallied, it was all a bit of a blur by this point. Anyhow I latched onto the young Shettleston guy stride for stride which was dragging me closer and closer back to Jeff. We both jumped by an Inverclyde runner who appeared to have nothing left, then with 400 metres to go I decided to go for it. At 250 metres to go there was sharp turn through a gate that killed my speed, and at that very moment the Inverclyde and Shettleston runners both came barreling past with an unbelievable turn of pace. I tried to follow suit realising this was exactly what I needed to catch Jeff, who was still a comfortable distance ahead.

With 60 metres to go, Jeff appeared to be coasting to the finish so I tried to go past with such pace that he'd have no response. Once I'd passed Jeff I still had 50 metres to go of sheer effort and panic. I wasn't prepared to take any chances that he'd found a sprint finish, so I lost all form and charged for the line with arms thrashing. The Inverclyde guy stopped dead on the line right in front of me, so I hurtled past him into the funnel.

I have no idea why runners stop before reaching the funnel, unless they specifically want to get the time of the person they've just beaten, which makes no sense to me!

So, the outcome was that I did indeed pip Jeff by 1 second, and finished the race in 58th position but as 2nd V40 (a long way) behind Robert Quinn. I also managed not to spike my heart rate at the start by deliberately getting boxed in. I clocked 13:49 which is miles faster than I've run the Bella 4k in the past, and my first time under 14 minutes. It was a different course today, but in fact it was more twisty than the other course.

Elspeth Curran of Kilbarchan successfully defended her title, which was no big surprise given her outstanding current form. I was expecting her to be at least 20 seconds faster than me, but checking the results at the end I noticed she ran 13:49, the exact same time as myself. I was therefore quite pleased to achieve targets 2 and 3 with precisely no seconds to spare!

Glasgow Parkrun #107

2011-01-29T14:02:00.002Z

A record turnout of 370 runners at this morning's Parkrun. The startline was therefore a bit of a scrum with quite a few unfamiliar faces.

I tried to rein in the start and went through the first 500 metres in 3:04/km pace with a bunch of 5 juniors belting off ahead of me. Once up the first climb I was sitting in 8th place behind the 5 juniors plus Ross Bark and Tommy Hearle who didn't look that far in front.

Given that I'm doing the Bellahouston 4k Cross Country tomorrow, I didn't want to totally gut myself, so instead concentrated on running smoothly and trying to speed up on the 2nd lap.

I passed 2 of the juniors at the end of the first lap, and then tried to press on and maybe catch someone else. I pushed hard up the final hill and suddenly realised I was more or less within catching distance of Tommy Hearle who didn't look like he was trying too hard. But once on the run downhill to the finish Tommy opened up and gap seemed uncloseable, however just as the ground levels out there is still a bit to do, so I put in a final effort and very nearly caught Tommy on the line, but not quite.

I felt like I was plodding round, so expected to do about 17:35, however my recorded time was 17:19 which is only 6 seconds off my PB, so with a bit more application my goal of sub 17 minutes does not look completely impossible. However with various other races coming up on Saturdays for the whole of Feb, I probably won't be able to do another Parkrun until early March.

Haute Randonnée Pyrénéenne

2011-01-28T20:37:00.009Z

A little idea for July 2011...

View Haute Randonnée Pyrénéenne in a larger map

Devil's Burdens Relay

2011-01-22T21:05:00.005Z

My 11th year in a row at the Devil's Burdens Relay, and possibly the last one in its continuous loop format.

We had 5 Westerlands teams out on the course, with the women and mixed team off at 9.30am. On the 10.30 start we had Tim Austin and Adam Gatens on Leg 1 for the A Team, and they did well to finish the 1st stage in 2nd position behind Jethro and Tom of Shettleston.

Cameron Burt ran Leg 2 and finished in a group with HBT, Bellahouston, Ochils and Carnethy all close by. I ran Leg 3 with Niall McAlinden and we finished in 61 minutes, handing over to Brian Bonnyman on Leg 4.

West District Cross Country

2011-01-16T21:47:00.001Z

Race details | Activity on Garmin Connect | Photos

The postponed West Districts, originally scheduled for last December.

Kilbarchan AAC took 1,2,3 in the senior ladies race.

I felt fairly washed out for the men's race, and just tried to hang on after the opening stampede. The only people I caught were Marc McColl and Greig Glendining, but other than that I was slowly dropping down the field the whole race, and really not feeling quite right.

Glasgow Parkrun #104

2011-01-08T20:35:00.001Z

Another Saturday morning. Another Parkrun.

Cold snowy conditions so once again the 5-lap off-road course.

I arrived a bit late after clearing piles of snow off the car, then horrible stomach problems meant I only just reached the start with no time for a warm up or to change into spikes.

After my hard 10km around the Kilpatricks Race Route yesterday afternoon and running with a sore stomach meant I was feeling pretty washed out straight away, and after the very first climb it was clear I had no chance of chasing Niall this week, so I spent the first 3 laps sitting in 3rd place behind Luke Traynor and Niall just waiting to get passed.

I tried to keep a steady pace after the initial cavalry charge and in fact ran 3:48, 3:59, 3:59, 3:59 and 3:59 for the 5 laps. At the start of the 4th lap I got caught and passed by Greig Glendinning and Craig Ross from Bellahouston RR. I rallied slightly in Lap 4 and got back in front, but at the start of Lap 5 Greig went past again and I couldn't quite respond so Greig finished in 19:41 to my 19:44, with Niall a good 32 seconds in front this week.

Greenmantle Dash

2011-01-03T23:23:00.002Z

Results | Race details

My 10th Greenmantle Dash in a row, and only 2 seconds off my best time of 18:03.

Given that conditions were pretty much perfect, my target time was to go sub 18 minutes for the first time, so I started as fast as possible and was first over the wall and fence, and reached the river level with Michael Reid of Moorfoots. After 2 minutes or so I was feeling pretty wrecked, so backed off a fraction going up the fields until Cameron Burt caught me, at which point I sped up a fraction and climbed alongside Craig Mattocks, with Grant Stewart trotting away up the steep hill just in front.

The climb always goes on a little longer than I remember, and I lost concentration at the turn when I should really have been focussed on the descent. So I just dawdled down waiting for people to pass, when I should have been attempting to accelerate at every footstep.

Strangely nobody passed me until just before the fields when Cameron Burt nipped past in his ladies Westies vest. I thought I could easily just track Cameron and pass him on the road.

What I hadn't expected though was a runner in red catching me. I thought this was Michael McGovern at first, but on closer inspection when I turned my head I realised it was Bruce Smith, so I quickly responded and pulled away, but then Bruce drew close again, so I responded again, and then Bruce pulled right alongside at which point my resolve suddenly broke and I stupidly backed off, thus missing out on a PB and first M40.

It was a bit disappointing to give up like that at the end, but encouraging that I was so close to my best time for the course (18:03) by running 18:05.

Summary of 2010

2011-01-02T23:11:00.009Z

All race results | Hill race results

I've just totted up my races for 2010, and discovered I completed 51 timed events (including club handicaps). The early part of the year was scuppered by illness and injury, so I missed a lot of key events like Carnethy 5, National Cross Country, Ben Lomond, etc.

I didn't manage a single marathon or half marathon, but did complete 9 hill races lasting more than 1hr50, getting horrendous cramp in most of them due to lack of conditioning. Apart from these 9 races, plus Leg 3 at the UK Hill Relays, the other 41 races were all under the hour.

I only raced once outside of Scotland, and that was at the Dublin Masters Cross Country in November, although I did hike 800km across the Pyrenees in July on the GR11, and ran up Mount Teide on Tenerife in November.

I managed 4 PBs: Ayr 5-mile Trail Race in August, National Cross Country Relays at Cumbernauld in October, and Glasgow Parkrun and King's Seat Grudge Match in November.

In December I ran every day as part of the 2010 Marcothon devised by Debbie Consani, and during December I only raced 3 times at Strathclyde and Glasgow Parkruns, each time on snow or ice, so the times are a bit meaningless, but I finished 5th, 1st and 2nd.

Going into 2011, I'm hoping to consolidate some better performances on the road and cross country. I will take part in a few hill races, but more for the social aspect than being competitive since I have little or no natural ability at hill running.

As mentioned previously, my main goals for the coming year are to stay uninjured, run more regularly, and get a decent marathon time like something around 2:45.

Glasgow Parkrun #103

2011-01-01T23:27:00.034Z

My first race of 2011.

101 runners completed the course on a cold, dreich morning.

As for Parkrun #101, the route consisted of 5 laps of 1 kilometre giving 10 climbs up to the wooden gazebo in the corner of the field diagonally across from the Burrell.

I did my usual setting off as fast as possible, and lead up to the gazebo trying to open a gap straight way, but I could feel someone sticking to my shoulder and saw that Ross Milne of Central was not going to be easy to shake off.

I ran the first 3 laps in the lead with Ross right on my shoulder. I was half imagining it going to a battle on the final lap, but Ross took me by surprise by surging on the 4th lap and opening a small gap. This was enough that I couldn't respond, so I just coasted round the last lap, but working hard enough to hold 2nd place.

I felt a bit disappointed afterwards that I didn't put up a proper fight, but at the time I was feeling extremely jaded from a poor night's sleep and drinking the night before.

Goals for 2011

2010-12-26T15:01:00.016Z

Now that all the races and big runs are finished for 2010, it's time to think up a few goals for next year.

My main goal for 2011 is to achieve some consistency by running regularly, and to try out a few new events.

In terms of road speed over the standard distances, my goals would be to run sub 17 minutes at Glasgow or Strathclyde Parkrun, sub 28 minutes at 5 miles, and another sub 35min at 10k.

At the longer road distances, I'd like to clock another half decent Half Marathon time, like sub 1:17, but ideally something more like 75 minutes to enter new territory. For the London Marathon I'm hoping to break 2:50 at last, having run 2:53, 2:54 and 2:54 my previous 3 times.

On the Scottish hill running scene I don't have any goals other than to plod around a few races, and possibly to photograph as many as I race.

On the longer distance side of things, I have a half-baked plan to head back to the Pyrenees in late June or early July to have a bash at the Pyrenean Haute Route. This 800km trek is described in 45 stages from west to east, but I would attempt it in the opposite direction, aiming for the Atlantic, to avoid it feeling like a re-run of my GR11 in 23 days. I would also try to complete it in 21 days to make it a bit of a challenge.

In the nearer term, I've got a 35 mile hill run planned in the Lake District that has been at the back of my mind for about 40 years, and I hope to attempt this in late Feb or early March.

Glasgow Parkrun #101

2010-12-18T22:01:00.000Z

Photos courtesy of Paul Roberts

Arctic conditions for the 101st Glasgow Parkrun with another off-road course.

There was a reasonable turnout of 104 runners, given the Baltic temperatures and onset of snow just as we were about to start.

The route this time consisted of 5 laps each of 1 kilometre giving 10 climbs up to the wooden gazebo in the corner of the field diagonally across from the Burrell.

I set out hard trying to shake off Niall McAlinden from the start, but he caught me on the first climb and ran away on the first descent. I caught and passed again on the 2nd climb, but on each descent from then on Niall seemed to gain a few more yards, especially through the trees as we were lapping slower runners. After Lap 2, I could see I wasn't going to catch Niall again but kept on working to minimise the gap.

Niall finished first in 18:31 and I was 2nd in 18:47, after which there was a 3½ minute gap to Al MacLachlan with Ellie just 3 seconds adrift from 3rd spot finishing 4th overall in 22:12, so very nearly a Westies 1-2-3. Other Westies running were John Quinn and Peter Grassl (both for the first time), and Pauline. Cat arrived late enough to miss the race, so ran the course on her own whilst the rest of us had cappuccinos and scones in the Burrell café.

Strathclyde Parkrun #35

2010-12-12T16:46:00.006Z

Results | Photos | Activity on Garmin Connect

Glasgow Parkrun was cancelled due to the snow and ice, so we headed down to Strathclyde Loch.

There were only 37 runners, and we were warned at the start that the course was covered with snow and ice, but I didn't anticipate quite how tricky it was going to be, and I'm not sure the Adidas Adizeros were the best footwear.

I set out as fast as possible, and went through the first kilometre in 3:17, forcing the pace until I could hear no more breathing behind. At 1.5km I reached a slight bend when suddenly my foot shot sideways on ice, and I crashed to the ground hard onto my knee and elbow. I got up quickly and tried to re-gain momentum, but had now lost confidence in my footing. The middle third of race was on a complete mixture of snow, ice, slush, wet grass and gravel, and required extreme concentration to stay on your feet.

I reached kilometre 4 without falling again, and then forced the pace back to the finish, running the final kilometre at 3:18 pace. My official time was 18:07, and I was pleased to win my first Parkrun, albeit with a depleted field. Ellie did well to finish 6th overall and first woman in 20:34.

Snowy Helvellyn

2010-12-05T20:41:00.001Z

Photos

A stunning run up Helvellyn with Ellie. We made an earlier start and set off from Glenridding just after 8am. We took the precaution of not taking a map, compass, whistle, rucksack, food, drink or any spare clothes. All I carried was a camera, mobile phone and car key.

I couldn't remember exactly how to get to Greenside Lead Mine, but we found the way in the end, then made our way up to Keppel Cove for a more gradual climb over Whiteside and Helvellyn Lower Man. We saw nobody on the hill until we were descending towards Grisedale Tarn. The descent down Grisedale was not as runnable as I'd hoped due to tricky underfoot conditions, but we made it back to the car in just under 3½ hours.

Slide show:

Glasgow Parkrun #100

2010-12-04T21:00:00.015Z

Results | Photos | Activity on Garmin Connect

The 100th Glasgow Parkrun at Pollok Park, and the 2nd anniversary of the event. So I thought I should make a special effort to attend. Heavy snowfall and ice meant there was no way we could run the usual course, so instead the route was more like a cross country course following three twisting laps around the games fields in ankle deep powder snow.

I wasn't quite sure where we were going, or which shoes to wear, but selected the Inov8 Oroc 280s, since it was easier to run to the start in these. But as soon as I started running, I wished I'd worn cross country spikes, since it was pretty tough trying to generate any pace ploughing through the soft snow.

Eyeing up the competition on the start line, it wasn't that obvious who was running, and who was jogging around watching since most runners appeared strangely fully clad in leggings and some jackets on display. I would have worn a vest if I'd remembered one, but instead had to make do with a T-shirt. It was a bit cool, but there was bright sunshine and no wind, so it didn't feel at all cold once you were running.

I hammered off as fast as possible as usual, and held 2nd spot behind Luke Traynor for about 100 metres before to my surprise Niall McAlinden was the first to pass, quickly followed by Eritrean duo Amanuel Zerezighi and Tewoldeberhan Mengisteab. Tewolde powered on to win the race comfortably, despite not having a bar code.

Meanwhile I was sitting in 5th place hoping that Niall would fade after his rash move to overtake so early. I thought that I could just sit and wait for my moment, expecting him to come back on the 3rd lap. However, each time I ramped it up to close the gap, Niall was doing exactly the same, so despite working harder and harder on each lap, I never actually closed the gap at all and Niall came in a full 9 seconds ahead of me in 19:46 to my 19:55 on a course measuring 5.10km on my Garmin. Ellie finished soon after in 23:39 for 29th place overall and 1st lady by well over a minute.

King's Seat Grudge Match

2010-11-21T23:30:00.001Z

Tidied up Results highlighting Scottish runners

I forgot my camera, so I'm afraid there are no photos, however for the 3rd running of the King's Seat Grudge Match we had 19 runners, with 7 from Westies, which is probably the nearest we've ever got to matching HBT numbers-wise.

We had good running conditions - cold and fresh, and clear on the tops. Not surprisingly Murray Strain powered off into the distance with myself and Mark Shankey chasing. Mark eventually pulled away from me and Dave Eiser joined me to shelter from the wind. I ran with Dave as far as the summit plateau before I pushed the pace and managed open a small gap which I held to the finish by experimenting with my new secret descending technique.

Ellie was first lady by some margin after a storming ascent, but narrowly missed setting a new record by electing to thrash through bracken to the finish rather than following the obvious path.

A social afternoon was spent in the Woolpack ploughing through mountains of sandwiches, and discussing various options for an all-new Grudge Match for Spring 2011.

Glasgow Parkrun #98

2010-11-20T23:17:00.006Z

Results | Photos | Activity on Garmin Connect

After Dublin and the recent cross country relays, I decided I might be in shape to challenge my PB at the Glasgow Parkrun.

It was cold and dry with no wind, and a fairly sparse field, so I hammered off as fast as possible at the start purely trying to time trial myself with no interest in what the other runners were doing. I hit the first avenue of trees after 400 metres well clear in the lead, with no footsteps behind, but also with my heart rate hitting 188 bpm. I knew this wasn't sustainable and backed off slightly, but then accelerated up the hill and the first long uphill drag. I was still well clear and couldn't work out why Bella Harrier Amanuel Zerezighi wasn't closing me down.

At this point I had no idea whether to keep pressing on, or whether to wait for Amanuel and hope he could pull me along. I had half a notion that I could win the race, but then lost confidence and waited for the inevitable. Amanuel caught me on the first uphill zig-zags and I tried to respond and latch onto him, but my feet wouldn't move quickly enough. I rallied a bit on the second lap, and tried to force myself to keep working to ensure the PB, but also half-thinking I might go sub 17 minutes.

Just before the final uphill climb I couldn't generate enough pace to catch Amanuel but kept working all the way to the line and recorded 17:13 for 2nd place, and a new PB, so I was pleased enough with that.

Reflections on Dublin Masters

2010-11-19T23:35:00.002Z

This was my first outing for Scottish Vets and a great experience, although my selection for the M45 team was far from straightforward since I spent most of last winter side-lined with a persistent adductor problem.

To re-gain some fitness I hiked 500 miles across the Pyrenees in July, and then only started running again in August with some ridiculously slow times.

Not surprisingly, I wasn’t initially selected. But in October at the West District Relays I found some form, and asked Alastair Macfarlane if there was any chance of getting a run at Dublin. I wasn’t hopeful, but in the end I was squeezed into the M45 team.

Race day at Santry Park dawned bright and sunny, but just as the M35 race was about to start the rain came on to nicely soften up the already muddy course. I started slowly and smoothly, sploshing though the wet muddy ground with mud and elbows flying.

After 600 metres the race was settling down. John Bell, Alan Derrick and Matt Ward all drifted by before I closed the back door and started moving up the field clawing back three Scottish places as I jumped Scott Martin, Tony Devlin and Louis O’Hare, with Denis Williams on my shoulder. I pressed on, and was caught by nobody else apart from Ian Johnston of Shettleston near the end Lap 2.

I stepped up the pace to go with Ian, and got dragged along in a bit of daze, concentrating on the 5-lap course to gather all my resolve for the final lap. As we hit the bell, things were really hotting up. The commentator was screaming with excitement as first 5 runners were all exchanging the lead, battling it into the finish.

In my own private hell I had 3 runners champing at my heels, all M45 category, two Northern Irish and one Welshman. Each time they pulled alongside I would jump back in front, feeling increasingly unsure I could fend them off for much longer.

With 600 metres to go I suddenly made a move, dropping these 3 runners as I charged up the hill towards Ian Johnston. I was closing him down fast, but then panicked and decided life would be simpler if I just held this gap.

I was now in the last couple of bends assuming any threat from behind had been dropped, when suddenly Northern Ireland’s Declan McCarthy came barrelling past at unbelievable speed. I was completely taken by surprise and had no response. But as we turned into the final 70-metre finishing straight, I decided there was still half a chance.

I sent my heart rate off the scale in a death or glory attempt to close that gap, but the finish line arrived just too soon and as we hurtled into the finishing funnel, and I was pipped by 1 second.

I don’t know why, but I find it incredibly frustrating to lose a place right at the end after working so hard to hold position, but of course all’s fair and all that, and this might be just the lesson I needed to learn to sharpen up my act for next time.

Overall, I was enormously pleased my run and delighted to make the team, and really enjoyed the whole weekend. I found it inspirational seeing all these older athletes still running at such a high standard. I certainly hope to get some more mileage out of my Scottish Vets vest in future!

British & Irish Masters Cross Country

2010-11-15T00:31:00.009Z

Results on Power of 10 | Activity on Garmin Connect

I ran my first ever British & Irish Masters Cross Country at Santry Park in Dublin on Saturday.

I was pleased to finish 2nd M45 counter for the Scotland team. I completed the muddy 8.15km 5-lap course in 30:45, and finished 3 seconds behind Ian Johnston of Shettleston. The only fly in the ointment was getting pipped by Northern Ireland's Declan McCarthy by 1 second right at the end. This was the only place I lost in the last 4 laps after Ian Johnston passed near the end of Lap 1.

British & Irish Masters Cross Country

Tenerife

2010-11-05T16:21:00.000Z

I'm just back from a brief trip to Tenerife.

I was hoping that the island would provide scope for some interesting trail running on a par with last year's trip to La Palma. However the contrast couldn't have been much greater. La Palma was tranquil and scenic, whereas Tenerife is grim and heavily built up around the coast. Inland, there is pretty much just the one big hill in the centre of the island, Mount Teide. At 3718 metres, Teide is the highest mountain in Spain, despite not being in Spain.

I arrived late on Saturday 30th October, had 4 days of hiking/running, and returned back to Edinburgh on Thursday 4th Nov, four days early having run out of things to do.

Tenerife Day 2 - Mount Teide

2010-11-01T22:29:00.000Z

Tenerife - Day 2

Chamorga Circuit on Garmin Connect | Hill above San Ingueste on Garmin Connect

Day 2 began with a long and tedious drive to Santa Cruz in search of the elusive Mount Teide permit. I duly followed the elaborate instructions posted here, however when I'd finally found the underground car park and the Office Parc Nacional de Teide tucked away on the 4th floor in a deserted block of offices the whole scam had been a hoax and there is no such office, or at least it is permanently closed and the only way to get the permit is via the internet, but there were no internet cafes in Santa Cruz.

The only other way to get to the summit without a permit, apart from the method I eventually chose, is ostensibly to stay at the Altavista Refugio at 3260 metres, however of course when I phoned the refugio there was no response.

The only solution I was left with was to stuff the lot of them and just run up the hill anyway.

It was just after mid-day when I finally reached the foot of the hill and set off. There was no space to park at the trailhead, so I abandoned the car about 600 metres up the road in a viewing point. I then ran back and all the way the Montana Blanca trail past the Huevos del Teide, giant egg-shaped lumps of lava.

At 2700 metres the angle suddenly becomes much steeper to the Refugio at 3260m. I could see why nobody had answered my phonecalls since the whole place was shuttered up.

It was now easier angled and more runnable again, but at over 3,000 metres I was slightly nervous about conking out with lack of oxygen.

Things became more interesting just before the top cablecar station. For one thing the trail was suddenly crowded with tourists shuffling along the path and getting in the way, and for another I spotted the dreaded rangers post, where a tiny metal gate was barring the route to the summit. I quickly turned around, hoping not to have been seen, and to plot my next move. I back-tracked around 50 metres until just out of sight of the rangers, and then with a deep breath I battered across some rough scree to jump back on the main path above the rangers. My shortcut was only around 100 metres, but meant for a minute or so I was at risk of being spotted and cautioned.

At first I was out of sight of the rangers hut, but the ensuing barrage of shouts and whistles made me suspect they must have spotted me. I jumped back onto the path, ignoring their attempts at attracting my attention and walked as quickly as possible up the path to the summit. For the final few metres there was an overwhelming stench of sulphur making me feel slightly ill, not helped by the altitude and stress of how I was going to get down again.

I slowly walked back down the path, but the rangers were too lazy to come up and give me any grief. I wasn't that keen to have to repeat my shortcut, but after sitting and contemplating my move for around 5 minutes I decided I had no option, so as soon as the rangers looked distracted I snuck across the scree, keeping a low profile, and once on the main path casually merged back in with the tourists.

The adrenaline rush gave me a fast descent back to the car with a good 1200 metres drop.

It was a relief to get the big Mount T in the bag, and once relaxing at the Parador Visitor Centre cafe I realised that nothing else on the island would live up to this outing, so I started to plan an early return home.

Tenerife Day 1 - North East Corner

2010-10-31T22:37:00.002Z

Tenerife - Day 1

On Day 1, I went right up into the far north east corner thinking it might be interesting. In fact it was pretty grim with scruffy little shanty towns, twisting roads, thick mist and rain.

I drove down to the north coast at Taganana and Benijo, but these places were awful. Complete bandit country, so I just turned the car around and headed for the end of the road at Chamorga. This place wasn't much better, but at least there was a small bar where I could get a coffee and sit down for a few minutes.

The scenery didn't look too inspiring, but it had more or less stopped raining so I decided to go for a short run around the north eastern most tip of land, down to El Draguillo past the Roque de Dentro to Faro de Anaga to Roque Bermejo and back to Chamorga. This was actually a fairly pleasant run. And about the only person I saw was some scumbag bandit with a shotgun and hunting dogs who was blasting away at what little remaining wildlife there might be.

There was nothing to hang around in Chamorga for, so I drove to Igueste de San Andres to go up a small 426m hill with quite a fine outlook. There was no real path along the summit ridge, so I ended up thrashing through the jaggy undergrowth. I didn't see anyone else on the hill apart from another scumbag bandit with a shotgun and hunting dogs, blasting away indiscriminately at wildlife and bits of tree. I didn't feel entirely safe descending the hill to Lomo Bermejo where more scumbag bandits were blasting away with their guns. It felt all a bit too spaghetti western for my liking.

Run of the Mill Hill Race

2010-10-24T21:57:00.004+01:00

Race video by Steffen Gorgas

My photos

Photos by Bill Fairmaner

Photos by John Donnelly

This was my first attempt at organising a proper race, and it pretty much beat all my expectations.

The weather couldn't have been better. Bright sunshine with a smattering of snow on the tops.

Ellie and I went to Tillicoultry first to mark the route from the Woodland Park track to the Maddy Moss approach path, and then went to Alva Glen to mark that section. Unfortunately our marking was not sufficient, and a few runners went wrong here on the descent, probably missing the left turn under the waterpipe to drop down the steps.

At 10am we set up registration at the Johnstone Centre and helped Ian White of Run-4-It to settle in with his stand of sports gear.

By mid-day 128 runners were on the startline and more or less ready to go. I sprinted off ahead in order to get some photos, but got trapped holding open a metal gate for the entire field as they caught me sooner than expected.

After the field had departed in the direction of Tillicoultry I sauntered up Ben Ever where I met Charlie Campbell and his folks braving the chill wind. I didn't get far in the direction of Ben Cleuch before Al Anthony came into view. He had a massive lead over the Carnethy duo of Sam Hesling and Andy Fallas, with Tim Austin in Westie colours chasing hard in 4th position.

In the women's race, Natalie White made the trip from the Lakes to finish in first position, followed only 2 minutes later by Ellie, with Louise Burt in 3rd place.

I think that all things considered, the race worked out pretty well, and most folks seemed to enjoy it. The great weather certainly helped. And having a huge car park, and natural good route also made life easier.

I'm toying with the idea of another new race early in 2011, but I'll need to do a bit of reccying first to see if the route I have in mind would work as a race.

National Cross Country Relays

2010-10-23T21:12:00.000+01:00

Results | Activity on Garmin Connect | Photos Senior Men | Photos Senior Women

Scottish National Cross Country Relay, Cumbernauld Park

I set off as fast as possible with much jostling and elbows flying. The first hill starts bringing people back, so I was immediately overtaking. In fact I seemed to spend most of the race overtaking folk, until I got up with Jeff Farquhar and Andy McCall. I wasn't sure whether to pass them or not, but just pressed on all the same. But as soon as I passed my doubts crept in and they got past again. We swapped positions a couple of times before they both got away from me again. I tried to visualise the run into the finish from after the last climb, and with 500 metres to go threw everything at it, and did enough to get past Damian McAuley. I couldn't see that I had any chance of catching Jeff, but with 100 metres to go I thought it was worth a shot. I closed him down just enough to cross the line simultaneously, but my additional momentum threw me in front in the finishing funnel, so we both finished on equal time of 14:45.

Senior women's race:

Senior men's race:

Inov-8 Oroc 280

2010-10-14T21:16:00.012+01:00

Oroc 280 product page

My latest running shoes are Inov-8 Oroc 280s courtesy of Run4It.

I used these for both the Mugdock trail race and Pentland Skyline, and although marketed for orienteering, they are equally suitable for trail and hill running. At first glance they look a bit like the X-Talons, but on closer inspection they are a good bit more robust with more substantial midsole, and have an interesting widely spaced tread with tiny metal studs designed to grip on wet rock and in snow and ice conditions. So you get an interesting clattering sound when running on hard surfaces, making it tricky to creep up quietly behind someone on tarmac.

The Oroc 280s were instantly comfortable and gave no blisters or burning heels at the Pentland Skyline. I should be giving them another outing at the British Hill Relays in Fife on Sunday.

Pentland Skyline

2010-10-13T22:21:00.003+01:00

Women's results | Men's results | Activity on Garmin Connect

My 9th Pentland Skyline in a row, and very much a case of making up the numbers. The weather was cold, grey, windy and thick clag sat over all the hills the whole day.

I set off as slowly as possible, trying to inflict minimal damage to my legs on the first climb up Caerketton. Once on the ridge towards Allermuir I sped up a bit, but in the thick mist I couldn't see any runners in front to chase. After Castlelaw I found myself with Jonny Knox and Steven Best, both doing their first Skyline, so I acted as tour guide and paced them round to Black Hill. They both got slightly ahead of my going up Bell's Hill, and I almost gave up chasing until I realised at Capelaw that I was dangerously close to going over 3 hours. So suddenly I needed to increase the effort.

I gutted myself climbing the last bit of Allermuir to pass Steven Best, and ran along the ridge to Caerketton as fast as I could, now completely panicking that my leisurely dawdle round had tripped me over the 3 hour mark. I caught and passed Konrad Rawlik and Gareth Marshall at the summit of Caerketton, but then dithered slightly over the descent and they got back in front. I could have passed them both just before the stile, but thought I could outrun them down the steep grass. However on the grass I was also caught and passed by Steven Best, and then all 4 of us hurtled towards the finishing funnel passing Johnny Lawson of Portobello en masse.

To my considerable relief my time was 2:59:09, but this was too close for comfort, so next time I'll need to treat it more like a race, and perhaps not stay up until 2pm the night before, if I want to get to 10 sub 3 hour times in a row.

West District Cross Country Relays

2010-10-09T17:57:00.020+01:00

Rouken Glen Park

Opening race of the 2010/11 Cross Country Season.

For the senior men's race, I ran Leg 1 and was surprised at not being able to match the pace for the opening 500 metres. The ground was heavy, and John Bell of Garscube had a gap on me cresting the first hill. I didn't panic, and thought I might catch John later. During the second lap I made a move to get past Denis Williams and Damian McAuley, and drew level with Adam Peters of Kirkintilloch with about 400 metres to go. I knew it was pretty much totally flat from here to the finish and figured I should be able to find one last effort. We both pulled each other along, until I made a move at 100 metres to go, and opened a small gap. But I didn't get anywhere near catching John Bell.

I was pleased to get under my target time of 15 minutes, with splits of 7:28 and 7:31 on the 2-lap course, to record 14:59. The only runner older than me who ran faster was Paul Thompson of Helensburgh, who clocked 14:53. And the only V45 to run faster was Alan Derrick of Calderglen with 14:34.

Lock 27 Time Trial

2010-10-04T20:38:00.000+01:00

My first Lock 27 Time Trial in ages, and possibly the biggest ever turn out.

The rain came on just in time for the start of the race. I went off last with a slightly duff handicap that saw me catch only one person. I caught Johnston on Cleveden Road just before the pair of mini roundabouts. It was fairly risky running in the dark on wet surfaces, cutting straight through traffic and hoping not to get mown down.

Once on Great Western Road I couldn't see anyone ahead to chase. Likewise on Dorchester Avenue. It was only as I turned back onto the canal that I caught sight of Neil Adams and Scott Mitchell. I figured I would catch Neil as I wound my heart rate to 176 bpm, but the gap wasn't closing fast enough, so when I reached Lock 26 with 100 metres to go I switched to 181 bpm, but Neil put in a spirited response and held me off by a metre or so.

My time on the night was 16:39 for the 4.6 km (2.9 mile) course.

Mugdock Trail Race

2010-10-03T22:39:00.002+01:00

Westies vs Glasgow Uni Hares & Hounds trail race at Mugdock Country Park. Ellie, John Hutch and myself marked out the course last night after Ben Venue. The route is 10.8 km, and follows scenic trails through woodland and along part of the West Highland Way.

16 runners are recorded, however Ana Talbot also ran, but setting off well in advance, plus Johannes pushed Beatrice around the course in a baby buggy, and Tim Austin managed to cajole his dog Valentino around the route, albeit with a reluctant start that cost Tim the fastest time.

Neah Evans (daughter of 7 times Ben Nevis winner Ros Coates) won the handicap, and I posted the fastest time with 44:39. I predicted a time of 43 minutes, but the duck boards were super slippery, so that must have cost a few seconds.

We will hopefully run this route again during the Spring 2011.

Ben Venue Hill Race

2010-10-02T22:12:00.000+01:00

Race details | Results | Photos

Torrential rain in the Trossachs for the second running of Bellahouston's Ben Venue Hill Race.

I started slowly with a sore knee and little optimism for completing the course. The first 4km follows forest track before launching steeply up Ben Venue through rough heather. The burning pain behind my right kneecap was making this quite unenjoyable so I decided to pack it in and jog back to take photos instead. I reached the finish line after precisely 1 hour. About ten minutes later the first runner emerged into view with Matt Sullivan winning the race.

Stirling 10k

2010-09-19T16:59:00.008+01:00

Results | Photos | Route map

Cool, rainy, wind-less conditions in Stirling made for fast running times, but tricky for taking photos, with a wet camera and slippery road surfaces.

The first 4 runners all dipped under 30 minutes. The Shettleston Eritreans took positions 1, 2 and 3, followed by Caithness runner Andrew Douglas (now running for Inverclyde) in 29:46.

Tsegezab Woldemichael won the race in 29:28, followed by Tewoldeberhan Mengisteab and Tsegai Tewelde in the equal time of 29:37.

First lady was Sarah Inglis in 34:31, closely followed by Jennifer MacLean in 34:40.

Cashel Trail Race

2010-09-18T20:55:00.006+01:00

Activity on Garmin Connect | Photos

Today I went to Loch Lomond to take a few photos at the Cashel Trail Race. The 7km route follows a figure-of-8 on scenic forest trails.

I've been out of action all week with a crocked back and floored by a virus, so I just hung around near the start of the race. There were only 15 runners. Peter Devenport was first, followed by Paul Thompson, David Dickson and Ellie as 1st lady. I'm pretty sure that Helensburgh and Westies made up more than half the field.

Millport 10-mile Road Race

2010-09-12T22:30:00.022+01:00

This was my 8th 10-mile road race, and turned out to be my 2nd fastest ever.

The previous 10-milers I've done are the old Tom Scott route from Law to Motherwell Strathclyde Loch, round Derwentwater (twice), Llandudno, Lasswade (twice) and one previous attempt at the Millport race.

The old Tom Scott route was early days, so I stood no chance of getting under the hour. I close to the hour with 60:30 at the hilly Derwentwater course. I've missed the hour both times at Lasswade with the big climb out of Roslin Glen. Llandudno was my first sub-60 minutes 10-miler back in 2004 with a time of 59:56. This was far too close to be happy with, so in 2007 I managed 56:25 at Millport.

I'm sure I will never beat this 10-mile PB, but I was still keen to clock another proper sub-60 time, so was aiming for around the mid 58-minute mark, which I thought should be comfortable and achievable.

At lunchtime it was far too warm for running, but luckily by 2pm it had clouded over, with a breeze picking up.

I set out with the front runners, but soon David Simpson, Keith Hood, Grant Wilkie (all Corstorphine) plus Stuart Gibson of Cambuslang had all pulled away. So I was left chasing Alex Allardyce and Tommy Lawrence, sitting in 7th place. After less than 2 miles I was caught by Kevin Hutchinson, and we ran together until about mile 9 when I suddenly upped the pace and managed to pull away by 7 seconds in the last 200 metres.

I was pleased to record 58:28, which pretty much matched my target time. And Ellie did well to finish as first lady in 66:37, which was almost a minute faster than she ran in 2007.

Strathclyde Parkrun - Event 23

2010-09-11T12:01:00.003+01:00

My first attempt at the Strathclyde Parkrun down at Strathclyde Loch.

The field was much smaller that at the Pollok Parkruns, and the course is quite different. Where Pollok is a hilly, 2-lap course, sheltered in the trees, Strathclyde Loch is a totally flat, out and back course, exposed to the elements.

There was a noticeable headwind as I set off with Daniel Bradford and Bryan McLelland from Glasgow Uni. I probably started too fast, clocking 3:15 for the first kilometre. Fatigue, the headwind and a sore right knee all kicked in during the 2nd kilometre, so I started drifting backwards and was caught by David Gardiner and David McElhinney. I tried to hang on, but never got near them again.

The final couple of kilometres drag on a bit since you can see the finishing tent from a mile away. However the dog walkers and cyclists keep you on your toes by repeatedly blocking your path, and stepping in front if you.

I was hoping for around 17 minutes, but timed myself as 17:27, which puts me currently on 3rd place in the MV45-49 league table.

Glasgow Half Marathon

2010-09-05T23:59:00.000+01:00

Results | Photos from Glasgow Half Marathon

Glasgow 10k

2010-09-05T23:06:00.000+01:00

Results | Photos of Glasgow 10k

Won by Matthew Gillespie in 31:12.

Ben Nevis Race

2010-09-04T23:02:00.002+01:00

My 6th shot at the Ben Nevis Race and a new PW of 1:55:49.

The race started 3 minutes early at 12:57. We were all gathered on the start line, and I was wondering what we were going to do for the next 3 minutes, when suddenly and without warning a hooter sounded. I was jolted into action, not knowing if this was a false start, but it seemed that the race had begun so I tried to scramble clear of the masses by running around the outside of the field and then realised that the only runners in front were Ian Holmes and Robbie Simpson, who were just jogging along chatting. I could easily have passed them to lead the field out onto the road, but thought I would look a bit of a prat, so eased back and starting letting people overtake.

Once on the climb above Achintee my legs felt pretty rusty at this kind of thing, and I was struggling to run much, and losing dozens of places. Eventually above the aluminium bridges I got back into it and started catching people again, and above Red Burn it was the usual grunt to the summit, with Paul MacLean and Steven Fallon for close company.

The first woman, Italian Cecilia Mora powered past just before the summit, but I guessed I catch her on the way down. On the descent I tried to follow Bruce Smith and Bruce Poll, and was doing OK for a while pretty much tracking Bruce Smith, but just before the Green Wall I could feel my heels on fire and my right knee burning, so I could only hobble down slowly, catching Cecilia Mora just before Red Burn whilst tripping and almost going headfirst down the last steep bit.

Once on the tourist path, my descending lacked any commitment. I just pottered down and gave no chase to Dave Murray as he sped past.

Hitting the road I was surprised to see Steven Fallon just standing there having a drink, looking for all the world like he'd dropped out of the race. I took a drink and tried to galvanise myself into action. I already knew I wouldn't do sub 1:55, and could hardly be bothered to make any additional effort, but just by increasing my foot speed I went past 3 runners on the road and jumped in front of John MacDonald in the last 100 metres.

The race was won by Finlay Wild in 1:35:39, beating both Robbie Simpson and Ian Holmes.

Glasgow to Edinburgh Bike Ride

2010-08-29T23:16:00.009+01:00

Ellie and I couldn't think of anything to do today, so after visiting Bagel Mania on Queen Margaret Drive, we cycled to along the Forth & Clyde Canal to the Falkirk Wheel with the idea of getting some lunch and returning the same way. However the visitors centre looked too crowded, so we continued up the hill behind the wheel to join the Union Canal.

We had never cycled on the Union Canal before, so this was a step into the unknown. The route along the Union Canal to Edinburgh is much tougher than Glasgow to Falkirk for several reasons:

It is much longer
There is one very long challenging tunnel to negotiate (YouTube video)
It is generally more overgrown and on rougher surface
There are several high and exciting aqueducts you need to cross on sloping slippery cobblestones, with great scope for ending up in the canal

Once in Edinburgh, we wondered around Princes Street Gardens and watched some fire jugglers before catching the train back to Glasgow.

Ochil 2000s Hill Race

2010-08-28T22:46:00.000+01:00

My first hill race since dropping out of Glenshee, 3 weeks ago.

The first half of the race went pretty well. I started OK and ran behind Oleg, Stewart Whitlie and Andy Fallas up the forest track, chatting with Mark Harris as he went past.

I remained in 5th place until the stile above the forest, where in my haste to cross with Peter Simpson bearing down on me I skidded and twanged my right knee, which then hurt for the rest of the race. Peter of course went by and disappeared off in the distance with Mark Harris.

Next to pass was Craig Mattocks, and looking back Claire Gordon was getting extremely close as I reached the summit of Innerdownie. The ground then flattens out with fast running all the way to Tarmangie. I held position here, although Adrian Davis, Dave Godfree and Will Hensman were all closing me down. Then all went past as I hobbled off Tarmangie with a burning sensation behind my right kneecap, and I was thinking about dropping out at this point.

Climbing up King's Seat I got a second wind and pulled ahead again, and stayed ahead over Andrew Gannel and The Law. At this point I was 3 minutes ahead of last year's time.

Climbing Ben Cleuch, a few squally showers came through. I ran to Ben Buck and Ben Ever with Will Hensamn and with Dave Godfree starting to pull away. I then made my first big mistake.

When we reached the peat hags I should have just taken the line I took in 2009, but out of interest I followed Dave and Will on some huge flanking manoeuvre on a rough quad-bike track that avoids the peat hags to the south, but also adds on at least 400 metres of distance and some extra re-ascent. This route was not only 2 minutes slower than taking the direct line along the northen edge of the hags, it also required faster running to cover the extra distance so trashed my legs more, and this gifted 2 minutes to anyone chasing me down. So I was a bit annoyed and frazzled when I reached Blairdenon that I hadn't just stuck to the more direct route.

I was also conscious that the extra effort at trying to speed up to cover the extra ground had suddenly completely wasted me. I then made my second but less significant mistake, and that was to hack straight across the bowl south of Blairdenon. Again, I should have followed by route from last year where I avoided dropping right into the bowl by skirting slightly to the left whilst descending.

I could feel now that these 2 mistakes had totally trashed my legs, and there was nothing in the tank as Bruce Poll came lolloping past through the tussocky boggy section before descending towards Jerah. I knew I was in trouble now, as I tripped on tussocks and my legs shot into cramp. I felt like everything was slowing down and the ground was barely moving, a sensation confirmed as Andrea Priestley, Adrian Davis, Craig Love and Graham Nash all came bounding past.

This suddenly awoke me from my torpor and I tried to kick start the dead horse.

I flogged my body to keep moving to get to the climb towards Dumyat, where I then consumed my entire drink - which I should probably have been drinking earlier - and took a gel. This gave me enough oomph to get up the hill and pass Adrian, Craig and Graham, but I couldn't get back to Andrea who was finishing very strongly.

The effort of climbing Dumyat had finished off my legs altogether, so I could only manage a slow shuffle down the hill. Adrian, Craig and Graham all flew past again as I repeatedly pulled up with my legs twanging into cramp. I couldn't compete on the descent, but was astonished when I saw they all chose to ignore the track heading down towards the finish, and they were too far away to shout back (unlike Iona Robertson last year).

This was just the fillip I needed to galvanise myself back into action. I was pretty sure I had every chance of getting to the finish before them, with their self-imposed detour.

I was still ridiculously slow on tottery legs down through the bluebell woods, and after the steep slappy tarmac road I was reduced to a walk up the back lane, until I saw Graham Nash barrelling down on me again.

There was no way I was going to drop a place with 1 kilometre to go, so I forced my legs to start moving through a curtain of pain, with stupid cramps firing off in every muscle.

I finished the race in 3:12:25, more than 6 minutes slower than last year, which was a bit frustrating given that I was 3 minutes ahead of last year's time at Ben Cleuch.

Oleg Chepelin knocked a minute off the course record to win in 2:46:36.

Ellie knocked 27 minutes off her time from 2007 to finish in 3:33:24.

Ayr 5-mile Trail Race

2010-08-25T22:08:00.005+01:00

This was the 2nd running of the Ayr Seaforth 5-mile Trail Race.

Tonight the race organisers took no chances, and the route was very clearly marked and marshalled throughout.

The route follows scenic trails alongside the River Ayr with a detour into Dam Park to loop around the playing fields on freshly mown grass.

I kept the leading trio of Stephen Wylie, Jeff Farqhuar and Brian McEwan in my sights for as long as possible, but after 2 miles they had all disappeared into the distance. With nobody chasing me down it would have been easy to give up and coast along, but I decided to keep working and treat the race like a time trial.

By pressing right until the end I squeezed under 29 minutes, to record 28:57 on my watch, which was about 10 seconds faster than last year, making it my first PB of 2010!

Thanks to Kenny Phillips for the photos

Irvine Marymass 10k

2010-08-20T15:02:00.007+01:00

There were several reasons for going to the Marymass 10k tonight:

To test out my shiny new Adidas Adios Racing Shoes that I got from Achilles Heel
To check that the re-measured course really is 10k, after all the hoo-hah from last year with the course being 200 metres short
To stop the rot of dropping out of races and only taking photos
To see if I could post a slightly better 10k time that might count in my favour towards selection towards the British and Irish Masters Cross Country in Dublin
To get out of the house and see a few familiar faces including Ian Goudie and John Kynaston

The race was a bit late starting, but once underway conditions were pretty much perfect apart from a slight headwind after the turn.

I went through the first km in 3:25, which was fast but not ridiculously fast. As the field started to spread during kilometre 2, I was trying to decide whether to put in the effort to close the gap to Andy Campbell (Bella Harriers) and Mayeul Ducrot (Ayr Seaforth), thinking it might help to sit in behind them. But for fear of blowing up I just sat off them at a distance of 20 or 30 metres, and essentially ran the race on my own.

At the turn I was aware of bunch ready to pounce if I faded. But on the return I actually felt quite strong and was pretty sure I would catch Andy and Mayeul, however the only person I caught was Stephen Daye of North Ayrshire, and the only person to pass me after the first half kilometre was Mike McQuaid of Falkirk, who took the first V40 prize.

I was pleased to finish in 36:20, which is a massive season's best for 2010, and perhaps a step in the right direction.

Lomonds of Fife

2010-08-15T22:51:00.000+01:00

Still feeling wrecked from the drive to Aberfeldy yesterday, I had no intention of running this race, so instead mucked around on the route with my camera. There is plenty of scope for seeing running more than once, with some well-timed corner cutting and doubling back.

Weem Hill Race

2010-08-14T22:39:00.007+01:00

I was not feeling at all well today, but ended up driving to the Aberfeldy Highland Games to take photos at the Weem Hill Race.

The race was won by Jamie Stevenson with Bob Wiseman 2nd, and Alan Smith 3rd. Ellie was 1st lady, followed by Sarah Wiseman. The route is more of a trail race, and doesn't actually go to the top of any sort of hill. Rather it climbs through some woodland, then crosses a few fields at the highpoint, before battering down a stony landrover track to hit the road. After which some local knowledge is required for crossing the golf course and to work out how to get back into the games field.

Caerketton Hill Race

2010-08-11T22:24:00.025+01:00

Results

I went over to Edinburgh for Caerketton Hill Race, the final event of the Bog and Burn series.

I had no intention of running, and I hoped instead to get some half-decent photos up on the ridge leading to Caerketton, but the light was pretty dull and grey. The first 3 runners to appear were Paul Faulkner, Al Anthony and Andy Fallas, followed at a distance by Ted Bartlett from Barrow and Sam Hesling.

On the return, Al Anthony was firmly in charge with Andy in 2nd place, but Sam moved through on the descent to clinch 2nd place.

After the race we had soup and drinks at The Steading for the Bog and Burn prize-giving. Al Anthony was overall winner, with Adam Gatens of Westerlands in 2nd place. In the women's competition Emma O'Shea was first and Christina Rankin second, but neither of them made it along tonight.

Not the Glenshee 9

2010-08-08T21:03:00.015+01:00

Race details | Photos

To celebrate my 47th birthday and reinforce the feeling of being over the hill, I got up at 6.30 this morning to drive to Glenshee 9 and record my first ever DNF in a long hill race.

It was good to see all the familiar faces at the race, but several things contributed to my retiral. The main ones were hiking 825km across the Pyrenees and then racing every night last week, and the other ones were having persistent hip and groin pain, and making the mistake of eating a Power Bar just before the race. I was more or less OK over the first 2 summits: Creag Leacach and Glas Maol, and was only a minute down on last year at Glas Maol, but on the approach to Cairn of Claise I realised I was flogging a dead horse, and the horrible stomach pains weren't helping much.

Before Tom Buidhe, I suddenly I realised I was sitting on the ground wondering how I going to get back to the car. I slowly made my way back to Cairn of Claise to retire from the race, and then sat at the summit for a while, without the energy to move.

I was getting cold so I shuffled back along past Glas Maol to descend through the ugly scars of the ski area, trying to get back before 3 hours race time. I went to the car for the camera hoping to get photos of the winning runner, but once I'd returned to the finish line Tom Owens was already standing there casually with his cup of water, having just knocked 13 minutes off his own course record!

I found it incomprehensible Tom could have completed the course in 3:07, taking a full 7 minutes out of Robbie Simpson over the last 3 hills. In fact when Tom had finished, Robbie hadn't even begun his descent from The Cairnwell.

To follow a bit of the action I headed up The Cairnwell with my camera, although the light and backdrop didn't make it easy to get any decent shots. Dan Gay was 3rd in, closely followed by Mark Harris, with Oleg Chepelin and Brian Marshall the next to appear, and then Tom Brunt.

First lady to come through was Claire Gordon who knocked something like 17 minutes off her course record to finish in 3:56 I think.

It was good to chat with folk after the race. And I was so relieved that I packed the race in when I did.

Red line - Last year. Blue line - This year.

Tour of Clydeside: Bellahouston Belter 10k

2010-08-06T23:21:00.017+01:00

The 4th and final event of the Tour of Clydeside series, and my first 10k since Kirkintilloch back in June. The race follows 2 anti-clockwise laps of Pollok Park and is organised by Bellahouston Harriers.

Thankfully Ellie and I made the start of the race this time, and began with all the other runners. My main aims of the race were (1) to have a half decent run and perhaps get sub 37 minutes, and (2) to see if I could pace myself around the first lap behind Robert Rogerson and then take 12 seconds out of him in the last mile or so, since Robert was leading me by 12 seconds going into the final race. As it happens I got close to both of these targets, but couldn't quite dig out any sort of special performance.

Robert went off fast at the start and ran alongside Gerry Montgomery for the first lap and a half, whilst I paced myself with Jim Breen about 20 or 30 metres behind.

Once we went past the heilun coos for the 2nd time I thought it was about time to start making an effort. But as we left Pollok Park onto Haggs Road for the 2nd time, Gerry looked back and warned Robert that I was closing them down, and Robert had the displine never to look over his shoulder. As we hit the final kilometre I thought it's now or never and ran away from Brian Douglas of Bellahouston Harriers and started to really close down Robert properly, but I had left it too late and Robert crossed the line 2 seconds before me in 37:04.

It was a good close finish and 37:06 was a much better performance than any of the Polaroid 10k races earlier this year. I finished 8th on the night, and 5th overall in the series behind Adam Lee (Shettleston), Alan Derrick (Calderglen), Gerry Montgomery (Clydesdale) and Robert Rogerson (Kirkintilloch).

Ellie had a good run to finish as 3rd lady in the series behind Eilis McKechanie (HBT) and Pamela McCrossan (Clydesdale).

Tour of Clydeside: Garscube Gallop

2010-08-05T22:11:00.014+01:00

The third and penultimate race in the Tour of Clydeside series is a tough little 3-mile trail race around Dawsholm Park organised by Garscube Harriers.

Ellie and I arrived in plenty of time for the advertised 7:30pm start, so we faffed around the park until with 5 minutes to go we headed over to the starting area. We were slightly bemused to discover that there were no runners in the vicinity, and were told to start chasing after the now departed field. This was the first time in my 500+ races that I had ever missed the start of a race due to it starting 5 minutes early!

I decided not to panic and sauntered over to the start line, informed the organisers that I would take my own time, and then set off with my own personal 3-2-1 Go!

It was like running a club handicap race, hurtling past the tail enders at first, then becoming harder and harder to catch and pass each runner.

After crossing the line I spent a good 15 seconds fighting with my Garmin 405, trying to make it stop, before realising I was hitting the wrong button and recording extra lap times. Once I'd deleted these spurious extra laps, my watch gave a time of 20:04 for the 4.8km course.

Speaking to Robert Rogerson at the finish, I think he said he ran 20:05, so I had a reasonable run, but it was a pity to miss out on the race. I still have no idea why the organisers started the race 5 minutes early!

Narnain Boulder Dash

2010-08-04T22:39:00.021+01:00

The fifth running of the Narnain Boulder Dash saw a small elite field of 9 Westies, plus the ever faithful Drew Turnbull on time keeping duties.

Thankfully the midge situation was not too horrific, and the rain held off for a fine dry evening.

Muffy was away first, and I set off last on 12 minutes. I took the climb pretty steady and passed JD, Steffen, Don and John Hamer before the Narnain Boulders.

Once on the descent I was caught by Don on the steep hard stony track, but I followed him down at a reasonably constant distance, thinking I might have a go at him right near the bottom where the angle eases. However Don scuppered my plan by taking a nosedive into the dirt 2 or 3 minutes from the end of the race. It was just as he was passing Dom that Don went crashing to the ground. I stopped for a moment to check that Don could get back to his feet, and then continued the final 2 minutes, but without enthusiasm knowing that Don was badly shaken up and hobbling off the hill.

It was several minutes before Don reached the finish line where he was escorted back to the cars to get washed down and to clean up the cuts and scrapes.

A bit of a sorry end to what was shaping up for an exciting sprint finish.

Tour of Clydeside: Canal Canter

2010-08-03T22:53:00.014+01:00

The 2nd event of the Tour of Clydeside series was a 4.8-mile out and back race along the canal towpath at Clydebank.

I decided to set off a bit more conservatively than last night, and didn't bother attempting to run with the lead group, but settled in behind Robert Rogerson and ran alongside Lesley Chisholm for the first mile. Robert made several attempts to break away before the turn, but I covered each of his surges and turned just behind him. On the return leg, Michael Freshour of Bellahouston Harriers put in a big effort to pass myself and Robert, so I tried to chase down Michael which pulled me past Robert with about a mile to go. I then increased my lead on Robert to 13 seconds but couldn't quite catch Michael.

I felt much stronger in this run than last night at Kilbarchan, where I faded in the second half.

Tour of Clydeside: Kilbarchan Cyclepath Race

2010-08-02T22:48:00.001+01:00