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.
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.
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.
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.
Photos courtesy of Paul Roberts
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.
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.
I wandered down to Pollok Park this morning to take a few photos of the Parkrun. The race was won by Jethro Lennox in 16:19, just ahead of Martin Fishwick in 16:37. First female was Toni McIntosh in 19:14.
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| Glasgow Parkrun No.62 |
Jethro Lennox clocked up his first win at the Glasgow Parkrun, with a PB of 15:31, finishing just 5 seconds ahead of Parkrun regular Robert Gilroy who ran 1 second slower than his own PB. Tommy Hearle (42) of Kilbarchan finished in 3rd place, just ahead of Scott Hawkins (19) also of Kilbarchan. Ellie was 2nd woman in a new PB of 20:03, but was awarded 1st place since the 1st woman didn't have a barcode.
Here are some photos from this morning's Pollok Parkrun. The race was won by Andrew Wright of Carnegie Harriers in 15:49, closely followed by Kevin Kane in 16:00.
This was my second Glasgow Park Run in 2 weeks, and I was feeling pretty sluggish and only half awake. Not surprisingly I clocked a PW, finishing 6th in 17:45. Patrick Duffy of Greenock Glenpark caught me on the 2nd lap and held onto a 2 second lead. I was feeling jaded, and knew I had a long drive to Newtonmore for the highland games Creag Dhubh Hill Race in the afternoon.
I reckon on fresher legs and a more determined approach I can get sub 17:30 at the Pollok Park Run. My January time of 17:23 doesn't really count, since this was on the earlier shorter course.
I took part in my first Pollok Park Run since January, and it was Ellie's first Park Run and her first ever 5km race. There was a pretty good turn out with 243 runners. I decided to conserve my energies at the start and tried to avoid getting swept up in the cavalry charge, but starting fast enough not to get trampled.
After the first 500 metres the wind quickly went out of the sails of most of the runners around me so I skipped forwards through the field and launched into the first little climb at 800 metres on a right bend and nipped past Rob Soutar and George Taylor to move up to 3rd position with the first 2 runners way out ahead by now.
For some strange reason I thought Rob was George and we battled along shoulder to shoulder until 2km at which point Rob opened a slight gap and George came past. At 2.7km where you link from Lap 1 to Lap 2 I had to shout Rob back as he was taking a wrong turn which allowed George to get a slight advantage. And from that point on I could never quite reel them back in, and Rob was always slightly behind George. So the 3 of us came in with George 17:22, Rob 17:25(ish) and me 17:30 for 3rd, 4th and 5th.
Ellie finished just ahead of Hamilton in 20:21 to Hamilton's 20:39.
Photos courtesy of Gill Williamson, Eastwood Photographic Society
A great sunny morning and a record turnout for Pollok Park Run no.9 with 107 runners. Due to re-measuring the course the route was slightly longer than previously, but despite the extra 50 metres or so, Robert Turner still set a new course record of 16:21, and beat Robert Gilroy in the process! I had my own personal battle with fellow V45 George Taylor of Giffnock who I had never raced against before, but noticed that George had run 2:41:50 at London Marathon 2007, so I was determined to give him a run for his money. We swapped places several times, but in the end George clocked 17:30, and I finished just behind him in 17:31 for 7th place.
Results | Glasgow Pollok Park Run at EveryTrail
