King's Seat Grudge Match

Results | Activity on Garmin Connect

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

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

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

Results on Power of 10 | Activity on Garmin Connect

Tidied up Results highlighting Scottish runners

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

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

Tenerife - Day 2

Activity 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

Tenerife - Day 1

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

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

Results | Activity on Garmin Connect

My photos

Photos by Bill Fairmaner

Photos by John Donnelly

Race video by Steffen Gorgas

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

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

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

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

Rouken Glen Park

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

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.