Results | Route on Garmin Connect
Having absolutely decided not to run this race, I somehow strangely found myself on the 17:20 train from Hyndland to Craigendoran heading in the general direction of Helensburgh.
I hadn't managed a single training run this year, and the only 2 bits of road running I'd done were a PW for 5k at the Parkrun in March, and a PW for 10k at the Jack Crawford in February, so not exactly ideal preparation. I have of course managed several hundred miles on the bike the past few months, but that in no way prepares you for running a road 10k.
I have just finished reading Jamie Andrew's book Life and Limb, where he had to start again from scratch after having both hands and feet amputated, so I thought that missing 7 months of training and having persistent groin and hip pain isn't quite as bad as having all your extremities chopped off, so I decided to just blummin well run the race, no matter how slowly.
I started slowly, hoping for some oomph to emerge after a few kilometres, but instead I just got slower, with a steady stream of runners drifting past for most of the race, until at 8km when I finally made the effort to stop anyone else from passing. My finishing time was 38:19, which is my slowest ever road 10k, but I was pleased enough to finish given how rusty my legs, body and mind were all feeling.
It was good to see all the old familiar faces again, and meet a few new folk as well. In particular Ben Melby of Garscube had a great run to finish 2nd overall, assisted by the fact that 2 runners in front both took a wrong turn and ended up taking a completely different route back to the finish. I think the 2 runners who went wrong were sitting in 2nd and 3rd place at the time, behind 3-times race winner Amanuel Hagos of Shettleston/Eritrea. The errant athletes were Mike Deason of Shettleston/Glasgow Uni, and another Eritrean(?) athlete (Robel Negash) running in a Bellahouston Harriers vest.
In the women's race, I suspect that Alison Docherty of Central AC was a clear winner, followed by either Jill Knowles or Lesley Chisholm.
5 comments:
Hi Chris
Goods to see you back racing, although I thought you might have cycled to Helensburgh. I'll try my first 10k for months and months down at Ayr next week. The Bellahouston Harrier that you mentioned would have been Robel NEGASH. He's a regular at Glasgow parkrun now and beat Jethro Lennox there on Sat with a new PB of 15:57.
Hasta
Ian
Thanks Ian. Yes, it was a bit lazy not to cycle to Helensburgh. Perhaps I'll bike to Clydebank next week, although there's not much point with a door to door train service. Thanks also for pointer on Robel NEGASH. I saw his name in Athletics Weekly against the Parkrun, but hadn't heard of him before. Good luck with your Ayr 10k next week!
Just for the record Robel Nagash is a fully paid up member for several months,he also is registered with SAF as same,Cheers Iain
Iain, do you know the nationality of Robel Negash? I assumed he was Eritrean...
He is from Eritrea but has been in UK for some time,he has been running with the Harriers for some months and is providing some good competition for the members,hopefully he wont get lost this week,we also have another friend of his running at the club Emanuel, another very fast 10k,er who is coming back from injury. Cheers Iain
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