The Other Side of 2010

After reviewing how I got along this year in terms of meeting the targets I set myself at the start of the year. I thought I’d do another post about the other side of my running in 2010. I’m talking long distance adventures/relays/cross countries and hill races.

I’ll start in order and really the first real experience of the year was the start of May where I headed to Tarbert for the Kintyre Way relay. To be honest before this I never had any interest in doing relays. I always thought the only the thing I would want to do with running was beat my PBs. But this day changed everything. I met some truly inspirational and enthusiastic people who I will never forget. When I look back at the buffet/ceidlilh at Tainyinloan Town Hall. The amount of talent in that hall that night was absolutely ridiculous. Looking back I don’t think a room anywhere in the world that night could match the amount of miles covered by the people in that room throughout their lives. Unless of course Scott Jurek was holding a party with his ultra friends!  But there was something magical about this event. 17 teams and 7 ultra runners.  I felt fortunate to be able to run 2 breathtaking legs and support all our teams and everybody else the rest of the way.  We really couldn’t believe that we came 3^rd and to get my name read out at the Cedlih was awesome and will go down as one of my best running achievements to date. I don’t care if I never get another podium position and really don’t expect to but it was nice and very special to get on that podium once. As well as opening my eyes to the world of relays and the comeradarry between all the teams; it was the first time I viewed ultra running up front and seeing them complete such a long journey was mindblowing.

I’d already commited myself to Clyde Stride at this time but I also wanted to help Stephen from my club achieve his goal of running 50 miles for his 50^th birthday. We went on training runs on the WHW which was my first time over 26 miles. I had an absolute blast! Then on the actual day I was only down to go from Fort William to Bridge of Orchy. But I knew right at the start that I didn’t need much persuasion to do the full thing. In the end we were just short of 50 stopping  just at the river crossing after Auchentyre so it was probably about 46 miles but Stephen had only ever planned to get to this point so his kids and family could finish with him. But that did not overshadow the sense of achievement – far from it. It was the furthest we had both ever run and until the last few miles where I got shin splints it went so well. But by that time it was in the bag. Then spent a great night in the Bunkhouse at Bridge of Orchy with other members of Giffnock North and I still don’t know how we managed to party into the night with what we had done during the day but we did!

I did 2 hill races this year. Kilpatricks was the first one. I just love this race and just generally doing training runs in these hills. There are bogs, burns, great ascents and kind descents. The second was Tinto where I absolutely destroyed my course best and had a great run. I have improved on my ascents this year but even more so the descents which has been most pleasing.

Now onto the other relays. First of all there was the McAndrew relays in Jordanhill. Just a simple course around Scotston on the roads.  Again I really enjoyed just being part of a team and really pushing myself. Even with the hills at the end I averaged 6.35 per mile and my 5k pb is 6.42 average miles and this course was just longer than 5k. It is amazing how I have that extra push when I’m part of a team because you really feel like you are contributing. Funny thing was we didn’t even have a full team for the team I was in but it just seemed irrelevant to me. For me it was all about wearing the vest and doing the best I could do. National Cross Country Relays were the same and I really enjoyed that course as I had been doing so much hill work that this would really suit me.  I don’t think I have ever been overtaken as much apart from on downhills in hill races. But because the guys on the first 2 legs for my team were so good that is just the way it panned out. I felt mentally I coped well with this and just ran my own race. There is especially no shame in getting overtaken by one of the guys in my club who just ran 2.44 in New York!

Park run is another aspect of my running this year. I have helped out quite a lot and really enjoy the chance to feel like I’m giving back to the sport.  I do enjoy the 5k but to be honest if it wasn’t free I probably still wouldn’t have done a 5k as I just prefer longer distances. I do just love the whole concept behind parkrun – the fact it’s free, open to everyone, it’s a distance anyone can cover in an hour and it’s on every week. You can see people improving and you make friends across the board who share the same passion of running. I have managed to run it quite a few times too whether it was going all out, with my brother or just for an easy training run.  I know a few people now who have reached 50 parkruns now and got the t-shirt including Ian, John and Martin from my club is almost there. When they got the t-shirt I thought to myself I would quite like one of them. But then afterwards, on reflection and looking at the big picture, I just don’t have any desire to run a 5k every week. I would rather go longer, into the hills and on the trails. I probably will eventually reach 50 but it will be over a long period of time. I would rather hit 50 volunteer days which I know you don’t get anything for but for me it would give me more satisfaction knowing I’ve helped a lot and to be honest it feels like I’ve been rewarded already! At the moment I’m at 28 and most of them were this year so next year hopefully I’ll reach 40 at least. It was nice to get recognition for my help this year being made Park runner of the week in the weekly newsletter and winning the Sweatshop monthly prize (pair of running shoes!).

So all in all a ridiculously good year!