Devil's Burdens Relay

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My 13th year in a row at the Devil's Burdens Relay.

For 2013, the race was being run in an anticlockwise direction, and with a new changeover location at Kinnesswood.

My route on Leg 3 had a steep opening kilometre to reach the summit of White Craigs, followed by 4km of steady downhill on tracks largely covered with snow. I was quite pleased to maintain around 3:40 per km pace for the last 3km, having done virtually no running so far this year.  I finished the Leg in an official time of 27:21, but it took a few moments to hand over the paper baton to Luke and Cameron, since I was so focused on keeping up the pace to the line, I'd completely forgotten I was in a relay and needed to hand anything over.

Devil's Burdens - Leg 3

Scottish National Indoor Track Championships

Results

Glasgow Emirates Arena

This event covered a number of firsts for me:

• The first time I've visited the Glasgow Emirates Arena
• The first time I've run an event as short as 1500 metres (i.e. less than 5 minutes)
• My first attempt at running in over 3 weeks due to ongoing sinus and chest problems
• And my first race where 95% of athletes were less than half my age

I've also never seen so many race officials. Quite literally hundreds of them.

The protocol for reaching the startline felt quite gladitorial, with calling rooms, special individual chairs, sticky lane number for your shorts, and somebody measuring your track spike lengths. Although I think I was the only person not wearing track spikes. Anyhow, after much build up, I was on the startline in Lane 1 for heat 4 of 7. I deliberately held back on the sprint to the first bend, to avoid getting trampled, and then held back in last position for the first 3 laps or so.

I was worried that my chest was not at all happy about the sudden exertion after a horrible painful infection, antibiotics, and weeks of inactivity. After about 4 laps, I thought I ought to start making a bit of an effort, so jumped past a couple runners and was closing on another. It was all getting a bit of blur by this stage. The only thing keeping me going was the clock at the finish line indicating how much longer the suffering would last, assuming I'd finish somewhere between 4:30 and 4:45.

The laps were rattling away quickly enough but I had no sense of what pace I could sustain, with my mind a complete fog by this stage. It was a relief to hear the bell, and charge around the final lap. My predicted time was 4:44, although I had hoped to be nearer to 4:30. Given that I wasn't sure whether to turn up at all, I was pleased enough to cross the line in 4:44.62, and contrary to expectations, I didn't finish last in my heat.

Review of 2012

Races during 2012

The arrival of Benjamin in January was the major event of 2012, however I still managed a few races.

Benjamin on Day 1

Benjamin on Day 2

Benjamin on Day 2

Benjamin learning survival skills

Benjamin on the beach

Benjamin at the Burrell Collection

During 2012, I ran 60 races and completed one 600km hike across the Alps.

The 60 races consisted of 25 hill races, 18 road races, 5 cross countrys, 5 trail, 5 Parkruns and 2 indoor track races.

The 600km hike was from St Gingolph on Lake Geneva to Menton on the Mediterranean Coast in July, via the GR5, GR55 and GR52, over 15 days. See http://gr5blog.blogspot.co.uk/

Day 14, on the GR52 in the Mercantour National Park

Road races
The longest road race was London Marathon which I pottered round in 2:59-dead, after very little training, and trying to expend as little energy as possible over the 26 miles.

I also managed 4 half marathons: Alloa (1:22), Heaven and Hell (1:27), Balloch to Clydebank (1:19) and Lancaster (1:17) , plus two 10-mile road races: Lasswade (61:43) and Millport (58:54).  I was pleased with the Lancaster Half and Millport 10-mile, which were both the quickest I'd run in 5 years.

I was also pleased and surprised to run 2 of the Polaroid 10k's (Helensburgh and Dumbarton) both in 35 minutes something.

Hill races
I managed 3 races down in the Lakes: Kentmere Horseshoe, Borrowdale and Three Shires.  Borrowdale was my longest race time-wise of the year in 3:52:50, a full 21 minutes slower than I ran in 2003, but I was still happy to jog round in under 4 hours against a super-competitive English championship field.

Borrowdale Fell Race

Towards the end of the season my hill running started picking up after recording a personal worst at Ben Nevis with 1:56:09, I started improving at Three Shires in mid-September by not trying too hard. And managed to hold off Jasmin Paris by a few seconds at the end, partly helped by Jasmin going the wrong way and taking a fall just before we hit the final track.

At Two Breweries, a week after Three Shires, I made my slowest ever start, and drank and ate more than ever before during the race. The net result being that I missed out on a PB by less than 90 seconds for my 11th year in a row at this classic journey across the Scottish Borders.

Three weeks later I ran the Pentland Skyline also for the 11th year in a row, and once again had Jasmin Paris right on my heels the whole way round. I was pleased to finish in 2:54:18, having made up about 10 places in the second half of the race.

Parkruns
I ran 2 Parkruns at the beginning of January just before Benjamin was born, then another one in mid August, the morning after the Tour of Clydeside Bella Belter 10k, then in September I surprised myself with a PB of 17:11, just a week after my personal worst at Ben Nevis. I put this Parkrun PB down to a week's steady training with the Baby Jogger.

Indoor Track
We had 2 unofficial Westies indoor track races at the Kelvinhall over the classic mile distance. I was interested to see if I could go sub 5-minutes.  The first attempt was the night after running a half marathon in Pollok Park, and I only managed 5:13. Two months later I was just recovering from gastroenteritis, but managed a slight improvement with 5:03.

The tail end of the year fizzled out due to illness.  I was selected to run for the Scottish Vets team at the British and Irish Masters Cross Country at Belfast in November, but had to withdraw due to gastroenteritis, and since mid-December I've had sinusitis and chest infections which have scuppered any running for the past 4 weeks.

Looking ahead
Looking further ahead, I have no specific plans for 2013, other than to feel better again at some point, and to hopefully get back to some running. I would like to try a few new races, and maybe to branch out with some slightly longer events.

Lancaster 4k

Results | Garmin track

After the horrible experience of running Leyland 10k yesterday with a cold, I thought I might just about be able to survive this shorter distance today.

It was a fast, flat course.  Danny Parkinson of Kendal developed an ever increasing lead to win by almost a minute in 12:34. I hung onto 5th place in 13:45, for my final race of 2012.

Leyland 10k

Results | Garmin track

Being ill for the past 12 days with a heavy cold, injected sinuses, and generally feeling pretty washed out was not the best preparation for running a 10k.

The course was a bit different to the last time I ran it in 2007.  The trails were a bit muddy with standing water, and the starting area was quite narrow and congested. There was a slight delay at the start when the timing mats had to be moved back about 30 metres.

Once underway, I tried not to go out too fast, but found myself leading for the first 200 metres or so, before 4 or 5 runners came past.  After a while I dropped more places until I was sitting around 10th place at around halfway.

I just about held things together until 8km, but then fell apart in the last 2km and dropped 7 places, from the combined effect of getting a painful stitch and just feeling completely washed out with this lingering cold virus.

The timing clock at the end showed 37:12 as I crossed the line, but when I checked my watch later I discovered I'd actually run 36:38.  Ellie came in soon after in 42:24.

Glasgow Parkrun #198

Results | Activity on Garmin Connect

Having completed precisely 1-mile of training in the past 2 weeks, and crocked my back carrying the baby buggy, I lined up in front of the Burrell with lower back in spasm and feeling quite weary from the aftermath of gastroenteritis.

I was surprised to see British Fell Running Champ Joe Symonds on the startline, sporting his boggin' brown HBT vest, and had a brief chat before the run was underway.

I started much more slowly than normal, partly because I couldn't run properly with my lower back locked. Once the road levelled out by the carved woodpecker, I passed George Taylor to move into 4th place, with Joe Symonds rapidly disappearing from view.

I got a shout from Jethro at the first junction, and then aimed at closing down Michael Sweeney on the first little uphill section. I caught Michael just as the path levels off again, and then starting trying to close down Stuart MacDougall. I appeared to be catching Stuart for a brief while, but then the gap never came down, so I just kept a constant gap and finished 8 seconds adrift in a fairly average 17:25.

Joe Symonds was a full 2 minutes ahead with 15:27 for the 7th fastest time ever on the course.

Lancaster Half Marathon

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I hadn't run a half marathon since Balloch to Clydebank back in April, when I pottered round in 1:19:54 as a warm up for London, and Ellie hadn't run this sort of distance since London 2011, whilst she was expecting Benjamin.

Anyhow, the weather couldn't have been much more perfect for running. Cool, clear, sunny and only a slight wind. We were in a bit of flap trying to get registered in time, but just after 11am the race was underway.

I was fairly sure I could measure my pace to around mid 1:17, but half thought 1:16 might be possible. The opening 100 metres shook out the field, and I was soon jogging along in about 5th or 6th position. Despite feeling fairly pedestrian, I didn't want to go any faster at this stage, and went through the first couple of miles in just over 5:30 pace. The first 4 runners were rapidly disappearing from view, so I worked with next 3 guys to share the pace. A guy in the Pudsey vest (James Titmuss) looked the strongest, so I tucked in behind him for a while on the narrow muddy cyclepath heading south into a bit of breeze.

We went through 5 miles in about 28:50, at which point I decided to back off for a few miles before pressing the pace again. This was perhaps a slight mistake, since it allowed a gap of a few metres to open up which I never closed again. At 6 miles the route turned sharp left onto tarmac and followed narrow undulating roads for the next 3 miles, before dropping back onto the cyclepath just after Aldcliffe.

We hit the 10-mile mark at just over 59 minutes, so I knew we would definitely be under 1:18, but still wasn't quite sure if 1:16 was possible. At mile 11, I dropped Phil Robertson of Lancaster Uni, who had been right on my heels for the past 6 or 7 miles, and attempted to reel in the Pudsey vest of James Titmuss over the remaining 2 miles. I pushed reasonably hard just in case he started coming back, but the gap wasn't closing fast enough, and my heart wasn't really into making any sort of super-human effort to charge him down on the line, so I just kept a steady jog going around the Salt Ayre track to finish 6th in 1:17:28.

Ellie soon appeared and crossed the line in a chip time of 1:34:38 for 2nd FV35, which was a gutsy performance given her crocked back and lack of sleep for the past 9 months.

Lancaster Half Marathon Race Route

Scottish National Cross Country Relays

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Working hard at Cumbernauld

This was my 6th attempt at the Scottish National Cross Country Relays at Cumbernauld Park, and having run sub 15 minutes in 2009 and 2010, I was hoping to do the same again today.

Tom Smith ran Leg 1 in 14:45 to finish in 42nd, followed by Gregor Stewart on Leg 2 in 15:02 who made up 8 places to finish in 34th place. I was hovering around the start area with Ross Milne of Central who set off 3 seconds ahead of me.

The first hill out of the starting straight

I didn't want to kill myself in the first 3 minutes, so worked myself in gradually and reeled in Ross after a kilometre or so. I then set about the task of pressing the pace, and aiming for distant runners and bringing them back.  I managed to catch 6 more, to bring us up to 27th place with a time of 14:50, which is the 2nd fastest I'd run the course.  Niall then took the final leg and made 2 more places to bring the team home in 25th place in a total time of 59:40, which is the first time we've ever got under the hour.

The 4.1km race route

Pentland Skyline

Results

My 11^th Skyline in a row started in sobering mood with a minute’s silence to reflect on the passing of Darren Holloway at last Sunday’s Ian Hodgson Relay. John Blair-Fish spoke a few words, and emphasised the importance of stopping to help fellow runners in difficulty.

Once underway, the race followed a slightly new route to gain the gateway and path above the ski slope.  I’d already constructed a plan in my head that involved setting off ridiculously slowly, and putting in no effort until after Turnhouse, and even then saving myself until Bell’s Hill when I hoped to have a strong run to the finish.

I’d also decided to eat and drink more than before, and to start eating and drinking earlier. Therefore I’d decided beforehand exactly when and where I would take my 4 gels.

I arrived at the top of Castlelaw pretty much with Jasmin Paris and Iain Walker, and caught Jon Gay on the descent.  After Flotterstone, I took it pretty easy on the climb up Turnhouse watching Stuart Smith of Cosmics disappearing off into the distance and wondering if I’d catch him later.

I jogged over the 5 Carnethy hills pretty much together with Iain Walker, and was with Iain more or less to the climb up Bell’s Hill.  I had a chat with Stephen Winter who was sheltering in the gully, took my last gel and some more drink and tried to get organised to run from the of Bell’s Hill to the finish in under 40 minutes.

I passed 2 runners more or less straightaway, but then there was a big gap in front.  Strangely I suddenly caught Stuart Smith, but it looked like he’d taken a route diversion, since he then took off again, and I had to chase him all the way to Allermuir before I finally caught him again as he hesitated in the mist, not knowing which path to take towards Caerketton.  I made my move and jumped back, and tried to finish strongly down the super muddy slippery descent to hit the track running above the ski slope.  I wasn’t 100% sure of the final section, but forced the pace to the gate and then put in one last effort to the new finish, which gives a much nicer run in.

I was pleased to finish in 13^th position in 2:54:18, having made up 6 places in the second half of the race, although in less soft and muddy conditions I’m sure I could have run sub 2:50 again.  Perhaps next year...

Three Shires Fell Race

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Having the northbound M6 closed from Lancaster to Junction 36 didn't help much with stress levels prior to arrival at Hodge Close, about 10 minutes before the race was supposed to start. Luckily the race was postponed by 30 minutes, otherwise I envisaged chasing around after an already departed field of runners.

This was my 7th running at the Three Shires. Based on previous results, I was expecting to run around 2:18.

Summary of previous times:
2002 - 2:19:32
2004 - 2:17:07
2005 - 2:16:36
2008 - 2:11:32
2009 - 2:11:49
2011 - 2:23:46

When we finally got away at 11:30am, it was glorious sunshine and pretty much perfect running conditions.

Race Start - Photos: Pauline Charters

I set off medium hard along the track to Wetherlam, and reached the fell gate just inside 14 minutes. After crossing the gate, I decided this time, rather than following the crowds in front, to take a steeper more direct line, and was immediately followed by Gary Thorpe and Dan Duxbury both of Ambleside AC, which gave me some confidence I'd made a reasonable decision. As I climbed higher, at every opportunity I worked my way leftwards onto to higher ground which eventually brought me out onto a path of sorts, that lead to the summit of Wetherlam.  This definitely felt faster than the routes I'd taken in previous years, and brought me out right behind a group containing John Hunt, Jon Deegan and Chris Robinson who had all been well ahead at the start of the climb.

I chased this group to Swirl Hawse, but on the climb up Prison Band was caught by quite a few runners including Gary Thorpe, Mike Robinson and Richard Mellon. I reached the summit of Swirl How with Chris Reade but he pulled away on the descent. Just before the final drop to Three Shire Stone I was also caught by Dan Duxbury and James Archbold.

The climb up Pike o' Blisco was spent chasing Dan and James. Halfway up the climb I was reeled in by Jasmin Paris. I managed to stay just ahead of her, and we slapped the summit simultaneously before she turned and legged it across the summit rocks far faster than me.

On the fast technical descent to Blea Tarn I was caught by Ross Litherland and Adrian Davis just before the intake wall, and nasty descent through bracken and rocks. I jumped past Ross on this section, but then we ran up to the start of the final climb up Lingmoor together.  After faffing around for gels and dropping the contents of my bumbag, and Ross helping me get my act together, he took off in hot pursuit to catch Jasmin.

I was impressed how quickly he opened a gap, and I tried to catch James and Jasmin before the Lingmoor summit cairn. I was couple of paces behind Jasmin, so just relaxed and thought I'd follow her route off, but halfway down she veered off course into bracken, allowing me back in front, so I now had her right on my heels.  At the top of the zig-zags I told her it was quicker to batter straight down through the rocks and bracken. Once through the intake gate, I said she might as well go in front since I could tell I was holding her back, but unfortunately she promptly fell straight into the mud and lost a few metre, so I was no back in front as we hit the final track. I knew that after my 1-mile track race on Thursday, I could hammer out a pretty good pace from here to the end. So managed to reach the finish holding position in 2:16:08 for 23rd place.

Three Shires Race Route

Millport 10-mile Road Race

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This was my 4th attempt at the Millport 10-miler. My first race was in 2007 when I clocked 56:25 in reasonably windy conditions, and for last year's race I staggered round in 60:56 in storm force winds, where you could hardly stand up on the far side of the island.

I had hoped for calm conditions today, but it turned out pretty breezy, with heavy rain forecast for later.

Being chased by George Taylor at the start

The race started with a hooter almost before everyone was ready, and trundled out of Millport at a fairly pedestrian pace. I was surprised after a mile or so that there were only 4 runners in front, running as 2 pairs, and vaugely thought about trying to catch runners 3 and 4, who were Steven Reid of Ayr Seaforth and Billy Richardson of Irvine AC. But I also knew that after mile 5 we would turn into the wind, and I needed to keep something for the 2nd half.

In fact I didn't need to worry about sitting in 5th place for long since Stuart MacDougall reeled me in and passed me quicker than I could latch on. I was then just waiting for Crispin Walsh to catch me as well, which happened around the 3 -mile mark, as Cris, Colin Thomas and George Taylor all caught me at once.  I tried to slot in behind Cris and Colin, to match their pace, which was faster than I was comfortable with. I knew that Crispin had run 1:14:57 at the Glasgow Half last Sunday, so this felt like race suicide trying to stick with him from Mile 3 to 4, knowing that we weren't even half way.

After Mile 4 I backed off a fraction, since I didn't have the confidence to keep battering out 5:48 miles, plus as you turn around the top of the island you are then heading back into the wind, which just gets stronger and stronger as you run down the west side of the island. From mile 8 to 9, the headwind was getting pretty strong, combined with cyclists meandering around in the middle of the road, made this a tough section.

Turning onto Millport High Street for the final 400 metres

Just before Mile 9 I was suddenly caught by James Wales of Dumbarton. It was far too windy to have heard him coming, and also too windy to attempt to drop him again. So I ran along just behind for a few hundred metres, before with about a kilometre to go I made my move. I wondered if I'd gone too soon, but knew the run in from here, and thought it would be good training to push myself hard over this distance.

Millport 10-mile Road Race - the finishing straight

Over the slight crest, and relax and stride out down to the high street. Then it's just 400 metres to the finish, where if you put in the effort, there's no chance of being caught. So the end result was 58:54 for 8th position.

Ellie, Benjamin and I then jogged back to the ferry slip and arrived back at Largs just before the heavens opened.

Glasgow Parkrun #189

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Having just jogged the Ben Nevis Race last weekend in a personal worst of 1:56:09, and 3 weeks ago running my slowest ever time on the Glasgow Parkrun course with 18:02, I decided today to make a bit more of an effort.

The weather at Pollok Park was pretty much perfect for running. Dry, mild and no wind. Scanning the startline I saw that my main challenge would come from the ever-improving Stuart MacDougall. I knew that he'd finished first 3 weeks ago, but I still thought he might be beatable if I played my cards right.

Head to heads with Stuart

My main plan was not to overcook it at the start and then hopefully still have some strength left for the second lap. So we launched off at the start with Stuart taking an immediate lead. I started fast, but tried to hold back a fraction. After the first kilometre I still had Ross Mackenzie more or less alongside, so I surged a few times to open a gap.

Once over the hill at the end of the first lap, I tried to concentrate on catching Stuart, who appeared to be coming back a fraction, but I didn't quite have the resolve to fully commit to closing the gap. I tried to keep up the pressure, just in case Stuart slowed on the final hill, but as we caught our way through the crowds of tail-enders I lost sight of him, so for a few moments there was nobody to chase. It is quite stressful trying to get past the slower runners when they show no signs of keeping to the left, so I tend to find this section takes all my concentration just to avoid barreling into the back of people.

Once we were at the right turn down to the finish, Stuart was too far ahead to catch, but I thought I might as well keep the effort going to the line, especially seeing as Benjamin and his Grandmother Jennifer were waiting for us. I hadn't bothered looking at my watch once during the run, so was pretty surprised to find out I'd run a course PB of 17:11, finishing 6 seconds behind Stuart who had also recorded a PB.