Redcar 5k: We're in the money..

If it really is the 22nd of October already, my smoked salmon in the fridge is out of date and the next episode of the harrier league cross country is only a week away. Thankfully the black pudding keeps for longer. Full of iron that stuff. 

We gave the previous xc race at Druridge Bay a body swerve in favour of that lesser known carnival, the Redcar Running Festival. Ant was keen to do the 5k and Speedy Joe the half marathon. Linds was also up for the five while Mrs Mac preferred to get more miles under her belt and opted for the 10k. It was a warm morning and the esplanade road had been closed as we rocked up to get our numbers.  A wee running posse. 

The 5k was first and after a delay caused by gremlins in the super tech chip gazmotron, around 80 of us were off along the pan flat course. Within the first half mile, I realised I wasn't feeling the love and dialed down my expectations as I slumped to a 6:02 first mile. I was still clipping along and slowly dispatched the mature north shields poly runner who was present next to me early on. I was happy ploughing my own furrow, my mind lost in the gentle north sea breeze. We executed a dead turn at the half way point which gave all of us a gander at who was where in the field. I trolled on and perked up as I began to catch a diminutive runner in a pink vest around 3k I spent the remaining 2k trying to run him down. He looked about 12 from behind but maybe it was the distance. The shame of being beaten by a junior drove me on. His pacey pertinacious run helped me to a 5:46 toward the final mile. However, I was aware that the finish line wasn't coming as soon as I had anticipated, but come it did with the youngster still a few metres ahead. I was happy to cross the tape in 19:30. I congratulated the young runner and then went all mystic meg, telling him he had a bright future. As I accepted my medal, t shirt and mars bar, I caught sight of Ant, who had finished around a minute ahead. He was exasperated and berating the organisers for the extra 250 metres that the course appeared to be. He wasn't alone. It was too long. There was little that the course director could do, even if he wanted to, at this late hour, to remedy the cock-up, and the 10k and half marathoners just had to dig in and get on with it. 

As we waited and cheered on those who were running the longer races, I took my place and the queue for the coffees and teas and 25 minutes later was rewarded with 2 teas and a coffee. One would have thought that, having recently held the National Road relays, there would have been something more than the one cafe to serve the throngs of gasping and parched athletes, their adoring supporters and bored on-lookers. Linds finished 2nd and Speedy Joe won the half.  

Sometime later we wandered up the prom for an ice cream and fish supper which was truly the highlight of the day. Even later, some vouchers arrived in the post. The value of the various prizes totalled £225 so it turned out quite well and we can forgive New Markse Harriers on their course distance oversight.  Strangely, my time on the results have been reduced by 8 seconds. If they think that it would take me only 8 seconds to run the extra 200 or so metres, maybe they should stick me on the programme and enter me for the Worlds. I'd show them a thing or two with my black pudding. 

On another tack, I overdid it in the gym last Sunday with the squats and have, as a result, had most of the week off running, so I'm looking forward to an energizing, if drizzly, run around the woods at lunchtime. I've signed up for the Scottish Short Course XC early next month so a bit of off-road is what's required. Mrs Mac has been glossing yesterday, so I'll be pleased to get out of the volatile ridden house for a while.  

 

Giffordtown & the 'Autumn' Training Week 2021

It’s the penultimate day of the Aberfoyle training week. It’s been pouring these last 2 days. The bizarre heat of the Wrekenton Cross Country in Gateshead a fortnight ago is a long gone memory. All that dust and heat haze. There is something re-assuring about the cool west coast rain and misty clag that clings to the hills and forest at this time of year. We walked Conic Hill on Monday and Ben Lomond on Wednesday in bright sunshine. It was busy. Some folk had stripped down to their t-shirts. Several were in their trainers. On Lomond, as if trying to make a point, I ploughed on regardless wearing my camouflage goretex smock until we were almost back in Rowardennan when I submitted to the warmth of the lower slopes. The last time I was up Lomond was in 2009 when I was up and back in 1:27.  It snowed on the top if my recall is correct.  We had a tea in the garden of the Hotel. Wasn't too inspiring, I must admit. 

The plan today was to walk up the Corbett Ben Ledi, but this morning I settled instead for a 9 mile plod through the rain. Very wet I was when I finished. 

At the start of our week last Sunday, we mooched across to the old Kingdom to do the Giffordtown 5k. I don’t think it was a full field, but it was, nevertheless, a pretty decent field that gathered in deepest Fife for this out and back affair. Starting at 11am, I was raring to go and at the 1km mark, which came very quickly, I thought I’d better get a shifty on otherwise I might run out of road. The first mile was a 5:49 and I was still galloping forward at that pace into the second mile with purpose. Speedy Joe and Ant were running as was Mrs Mac, and I wasn’t too far behind Ant at the turn. I was aware that toward the end of the race I had to work harder when a Lothian runner crept up on my flank. I caught a glimpse of his grey hair and thought ‘M50’.  We ran the last 400m together before I dug into my reserves (which I had thanks to my weights work) in the last 50m to reclaim my lead. It was a well earned 18:32, 3^rd M50 and an 8 second improvement on July’s Sunderland 5k. Definitely worth the trip.  I warmed down with Ant and Speedy Joe who had finished second to Rebecca Burns of Edinburgh AC. We were joined by an affable young man with red hair who introduced himself as Noah Lambert. A Gloucester lad, he was running for St Andrews Uni. He had beaten the best Fife AC had to offer, crossing the line in 15:05 and only a handful of seconds off the record. We chatted a little before getting back to the car and after getting changed, we took off for tea and soup at the Pillars of Hercules café in Falkland. Organic, trendy perhaps, but not that cheap. Is anything anymore?

Back to today and this afternoon after getting dried out from this mornings run, It was a 5 mile slog in the mist and rain halfway up Ben Venue. There was no one else around but no shortage of interesting fungi. On this holiday I’ve finished Joe Haldemans Classic 'The Forever War' and moved on with Rankins novel 'The Black Book'.(not sure if I've read this before or not?). I've bought a wooden chess set and a set of old dominoes from an antique centre in Doune. I have also discovered the panorama tool on my phone. I haven’t managed to stick to the diet or weights regime, so I reckon my time for Sundays Redcar 5k might well creep into 19 minutes. However, it’s the price of a weeks holiday that has been one and a half years in coming, so I’m not too bothered. It was almost a sesh in the nearby hotel tonight before coming back with a fish supper to share. I’ve just changed the newspaper packing in several pairs of sodden shoes lined up and trying to dry out beside the door and tomorrow its goodbye to the cracking trails around Aberfoyle (until the next time).