3k on the Green

27th April 2012

Event website | Results

I was looking for a Whizzy race and with no Whangie to Whizz around then this one was an obvious replacement. It’s now got its own website (see link above) and seems to have found a regular slot on the last Friday of the month rather than arriving in batches of 3 as a short series. I’ve run it once before (in May 2011) and it’s been frequented by JD2, with Niall taking 3rd spot in the January event. No other Westies today but good support from Russell and Beryl from the ‘Glasgow Lunchrunners’ training crew.

This is a hard race. Note, hard race as distinct from inherently hard course. It’s fast and flat, and to be in the game you’ve really got to motor all the way. In good weather, I set off behind 1980’s Westies captain Dave Thom but was happy to let his leading group power on at a rate I wouldn’t have been able to sustain. Ciaran Dougherty of Bellahouston Road Runners claimed victory in 9.55 with Dave taking 4th and first V50 in 10.04. I spent most of the race swapping 8th and 9th places with Raymond Farrell of BRR before his finishing burst took him 3 seconds clear.

I was delighted to lower my PB from 11.11 at this time last year to 10.28. There’s certainly room for improvement but I felt there wasn’t anything more to give today. Once over the line I was reduced to my knees, gasping, after what seemed a very long drag to the finish with a stitch creeping up on me and having to fight hard to maintain my running form. Post-match analysis showed a heart rate peak of 181 – a very rough guide to max is 220-age, so that would suggest 184 for me and it’s not often I can push as hard as that.

After being away on holiday and not having run since Sunday, this was certainly a brutal reintroduction to racing.

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