GlenAlmond run

We have an annual pre Christmas run and todays run was to recce a route.
4 of us and Lucy the dog went up to GlenAlmond on a lovely but cold and windy day.
The route was just under 9m and quite hilly. However it is all on landrover tracks after the 1st mile or so and I really liked the area. The last 3m or so are downhill and v enjoyable to run.
We did the route in 1h 37m but that was with quite a few stops.
I have 1842m under my belt with 32 days to go to the end of the year so 2000m is still on I think

East Kilbride 10K

Yesterday 5 Harriers went over for this low key race at the end of the road racing season.
It was an out and back course with a road bridge to cross and several underpasses to negotiate. It was flat otherwise and a good field.
I headed off quite fast and feeling good. The 1st 400m was on the track which was a great surface to run on. We also finished on the track. My 1st mile was 5.55 which was prob too fast. Then we had the road bridge to climb and cross which slows a runner dowm quite a bit. As I headed down to halfway Robert Gilroy was powering his way back up well in the lead and obviously in v good shape.
The 2nd half was a case of managing discomfort and pushing on. My aim was sub 40 with an eye on sub 39 if all went well. I probably wouldnt have made sub 39 if I hadnt had such a good nip and tuck finish with another runner.
I finished in 38.53 and 31st out of 131 finishers
I was v happy with that result and now its 6 weeks before the next race.
Well done to the other Harriers who made the trip.

A few runs remembered

I have just got back from a long weekend in Liverpool where my Mother recently moved back to.
Back in 1982 I trained for the Mersey Marathon with my father. Sadly I got glandular fever the day before (honest) and couldnt do it. However I did establish a few favourite routes and this weekend I retraced a few old footsteps.
Thursday evening I did 2 loops of Sefton Park, Sat am I did a bit of a tour of Aigburth taking in Otterspool Prom and Mossley Hill and yesterday I ran round Calderstones Park and took the Prom and Sefton Park in again.
Its certainly easy running being v flat. Also lots of runners out and about. I saw more runners this weekend than I would in a month up here.
Liverpool is on the up. Its generally smarter and the town centre is v impressive.

Glen Clove half marathon

1 Hour 29min 03 sec 20th place

Overall I am delighted with the run I did on Saturday.
The weather was pretty foul. V wet but not too cold.
About 250 runners assembled at mid-day none looking that keen and we were off
The course is v simple. Down the glen on the west side and back up the east. However there was a stiff wing coming up the glen and I am of the opinion that it is a tougher 1st half beacuse it undulates almost constantly.
I ran the 1st 5m pretty hard and went well until 9m when I ran out of steam quite significantly. I was alone for the last 3m and it was quite an effort to keep running up the last hill just before 12m.
I finished however feeling OK.
I have also recovered well with no apparent injuries.
I plan to run tomorrow and I think the rest will have done me good.
Thanks to Phil and Dom for the support and congratulations to all the harriers that braved the conditions.

Too much too soon

I c ouldnt believe how completely knackered i was after Thursday nights session. I did have both flu jags on Fri as well so prob a combination of a few things. I did struggle around a 7m run Fri evening but have a hamstring strain on the right. I also did the timetrial yesterday in a slow 34,20 and could feel tightness the whol eway in my hamstring. So I will rest a couple of days and ease up to the half next Saturday.
I fact I plan to do some turbotraining as I have the bike all set up.

New Boy

Last night I went along to the Central AC training session which is held in the grounds of Stirling Uni. I could have picked a better night as there were big queues going thro Bridge of Allan it being bonfire night.
It was strange going to a club where I didnt know what was happening or the characters involved.
I wanted to see how the training sessions are organised as there are no real opportunities for structured training at Strathearn and I suspect a weekly speed session might prove beneficial.
It was an odd start as we did some warm up exercises to begin with which felt more like football training. I did wonder what I had come to. Then we did the main session which was shuttle runs. We split into groups of 3 and simply ran about 150m to hand over to one of the 3 who ran back to hand over to the 3rd who ran back to me. A doddle I thought as i ran flat out for a few of these but I was soon struggling and blowing hard. By the end of the session I was knackered. Its so different to a tempo run. I did know a couple of the guys from WHW so that was good.
So will I go again. Yes, I think so. Anything that is that unpleasant must be good for me ???
We could easily do something similar at the Harriers but there doesnt seem to be the will amongst the membership at the moment. Maybe that will change.

A v wet King Kenneth's Cairn

Yesterday a good number of Harrierrs ascended the above hill in memory of Simon who sadly passed away a year ago. It was about as wet as it can get and prettty windy on top. Not a place to linger. We came down the sane way we went up making it 10m. My thoughts on runs like that are that they are always better done than the contrary but blimey it was wet!!
Today I did a fairly swift 7m down to Braco and back in 50.34. A sl niggle in the L calf but otherwise feeling pretty good.