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I took part in the inaugural Edinburgh parkrun on Saturday, an event that was special in very many ways. The weather was absolutely perfect, the course was beautifully flat, it was exceptionally well organised, there was a huge turnout, I got a new 5k PB, and – best of all – it really felt like parkrun had properly arrived in Scotland, joining Glasgow parkrun, of which I’m one of the Event Directors.

It did require rather an early start to get over (never popular in our household), not least because I wanted to have a chat with the guys who were behind the event. I was also determined to keep my distance from them when things were getting under way, I know all too well how busy it can be being in charge of a parkrun event, and how much more stressful it can feel when it’s the first, and distractions don’t help.

Paul Sinton-Hewitt, the man who started parkrun five years ago, was along, so it was great to have an opportunity to have the first of many catch-up chats with him whilst we waited for the event to get underway. Sadly my warmup wasn’t quite as long as it should have been, but I was keen to join the start crowd for the announcements, and quite touched to get a mention in their acknowledgements.

I was feeling good for a PB, having been pushing myself in training recently, and am feeling increasingly comfortable running with the fastest group in my training set. The last 12-18 months have felt a bit ‘flat’ on PB’s. My 5k hasn’t improved at all, and my 10k has just settled into the low 44’s. Perhaps half-marathon and marathon training have taken a bit of the focus away, but mostly I think I’ve settled into a comfort zone and have been reluctant to push myself a bit harder, so I was feeling it was time to try that little bit harder, on a course that was conducive to a PB.

I set off and settled into what felt like a comfortable pace. It’s an out and back course, so great for being able to mentally break up the sections even without a GPS device giving me splits. There were also km markers at this first event, which was helpful to be able to lock on to targets. I was delighted to get a 3:57 split for the first km, but conscious that was perhaps a bit optimistic to maintain, so eased off slightly for the next km, which I managed in 4:10. A tough session on Wednesday ensured my mind was in the right place: I knew I could maintain this sort of pace for over 5k, all be it with recovery breaks, so it was all mind over body.

The half way point was naturally enough the turn back point, which is an immense boost; Really enables you to focus on the work ahead, and keep the effort up. My 3k split was 4:12, so pace was looking consistent, as I focused on what I find the toughest section of the race – the 3-4km where you’re really beginning to feel things, and need to dig in and battle those demons niggling away. 4km went by at 4:18, so slightly down, but easy now to focus on the end: It was in sight! A few supporters in the last stretch said I didn’t look like I was working too hard, but I knew I was, and somehow managed to find a tiny bit extra to cross the line with a 4:08 split, and a 20:43 overall time, a PB by 16 seconds from over a year ago, and the first PB of any sort for quite a while.

I’ve always felt it’s important not to push so hard that you’re sick at the end: I’m determined to enjoy my running first and foremost, times come after that! This time I pushed it a bit harder than I had done before, and kept my dignity (just!), and even remembered to take a token at the end of the funnel (the shame I’d have felt if I’d forgotten!).

Naturally chuffed to find myself with a spangly new PB, and feel there’s much more to come where that came from. I’ve a real sense of determination to push my times, particularly in the short-medium distance events, over the next six months, and a sub-20 5k and a low-40’s 10k time feels like it’s not all that ridiculous now.

The post-run parkrun chat went on for a long time – we finally headed back towards Glasgow around 2pm, having stayed for coffee and cake whilst the Edinburgh team did their results, and discussing various parkrun plans and ideas. The Edinburgh team did spectacularly well, and blew apart the first-event attendance record, with 204 participants. With Glasgow parkrun having 193 runners, that meant that almost 400 runners were taking part in parkrun events in Scotland on Saturday.

Huge congratulations to the Edinburgh team for staging a great event on Saturday, the first of many. And as the awareness of parkrun continues to grow in Scotland, we’ll surely see more events starting wherever there are determined individuals who fancy stepping up to make it happen. Sterling, Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness are surely only a matter of time. Perhaps even a second event in Glasgow before too long (largely we just need an event director who wants to drive it forward). With coverage such as this piece in the Sunday Herald featuring parkrun rather prominently, awareness is growing all the time

Last year I entered The Bellahouston Road Runners 5k, and it was my first encounter with what would become my running club. Little did I suspect last year that I’d be helping marshal the race this year! So a brief write-up…

I had been planning to run the race, thinking I needed to complete the race to fulfil the short race criteria for the club championship. It transpired a race back in February down in Greenock had counted, and given marshal volunteers were a bit thin on the ground, I decided I’d give up my race (and pursuade Frances to help out too). To be honest my focus is on the Glasgow half marathon at the moment, so was a bit tired from a long run I’d done yesterday, so no bad thing.

I was happy to help wherever it would have been useful, and that meant assisting with the timekeeping. And sandwich making. Frances and I made four platters of sandwiches (The club has a reputation to upkeep when it comes to home baking) on Saturday afternoon, almost all of which seemed to get demolished after the race.

I also got the dubious honour of starting the race. The megaphone was a bit of a disaster (it didn’t work very well at all), so club coach John took over by shouting with his far more impressive voice the various bits and pieces we needed to announce. Glasgow’s runners were spared my witty banter and planned motivational speeches ! But having 250 pairs of eyes staring at you as you start the race (with a lovely loud air horn) was something I’ll not be rushing to do again! Terrifying. The 15 minutes of peace and quiet after the start were soon over though when the lead runners returned (A winning time from Paul Sorrie of Shettleston Harriers, in 15.28 was impressively fast).

My job was to assist the time keepers and race-number recorders, and arrange for results to be shipped back to race HQ by hoodwinking club colleagues who’d completed the race to take results back (or do it myself). The 3-4 minutes between about 20-24 minutes was pure adrenalin, and only one nasty backlog, which my timekeeping colleagues did exceptionally well to get through. No major disasters ensued (Full results are available here), and I’m told it all went well.

My friend Keith (unattached at the moment, but mulling joining a club) recorded an impressive 18:56 time on what was his first ever 5k, and some excellent performances from many of the clubs members, including a sub-20 watch time (which is probably more accurate when you account for delays in crossing the start line!) by group-B coach Jonathan.

Back to the Palace of Arts (so named after the Empire Exhibition of 1938, and nothing whatsoever to do with sports) for prizes, food, de-stressing and a good natter.

A fun morning all said, time keeping stresses aside, and I think Frances even enjoyed herself marshalling out on the course, although not sure it quite made up for the lack of lie-in this weekend (a work related early start on Saturday didn’t help either)!

See also:

• Norman’s write-up
• Ian Goudie’s write-up
• bedlam-g
• Full results

Last week I took part in the Co-operative Jog Scotland 5k challenge on Glasgow Green. This was two weeks after my club ran it’s annual “Presidents Cup” handicap, over the Bella 5k course. So lots of 5k races to report on.

The Presidents Cup is a handicap, and this was my first experience of such an event. Runners are set off in reverse order of speed with a ‘handicap’ related to a recent 10k time. So we were all entirely consistent to that, all the entrants would finish together. I managed a time of 21:25, which I was really rather pleased with, considering my previous PB was 23:18 at Richmond Park Time Trial in November (write-up here). So in 7-8 months, I’d managed to take almost two minutes off my time (allowing for the fact that the RPTT isn’t as flat as the Bella 5k course).

The hardest part of the race was, as frequently is the case with running, the mindset. As well as all the usual battles that go on in your mind as you’re running, the additional complication was battling the desire I have to fall in with another runners pace. I’ve done it before in races, and benefited from a faster runner, almost as much as I’ve lost out to falling in with a slower runner. With the handicap, the people in front are (theoretically) slower, and so you’re aiming to catch up with them over the distance. Not fall in with them.

All said, it was a great race, and a lot of fun, and I was delighted to get a PB in the process. I find most sessions where the entire club is involved a lot of fun: It’s great to see how good the other runners are, and helps inspire us slower runners. Best of all though club regular Colin (aka Captain Caveman) won the men’s event, and he’s a fellow group B runner, giving us all hope! He quipped to me afterwards that he wouldn’t have come that night if he’d realised we’d be racing, and he went on to win! Marvellous stuff.

Anyway, last Wednesday saw the Co-operative Jog Scotland 5k on Glasgow green. This was a much bigger event – The results page shows close to 1,000 runners took part – and I had a hope I’d push my PB a bit more, even though the course was unfamiliar to me.

After a huge amount of walking about Edinburgh (for work) and all over Glasgow (to dump my laptop bag with my helpful brother in law, Paul!), I arrived thinking I’d done enough of a warmup already! After a quick few re-adjustments (In my hurry to get to the race I’d managed to get my running vest on the wrong way round, after pinning my number on! Doh!) and a short warmup, we lined up close to the People’s palace. Gun starts always give me a fright, but I managed to set off at a decent pace. Consistency was my goal, but pushing as hard as I could manage with that in mind.

I got into a good battle over the course with fellow Bella, John. I’d passed him around the 1k mark, but in a storming example of “digging deep”, John barrelled past me on the finish straight like something possessed. He’d been keeping pace with me all along, and did a stunning job to pull out a finish like that. That’s still “advanced running” for me: I feel great to just get to the finish line in a reasonable time!

In the end my watch time was 20:59, and my chip time 21:00, so I’m suspecting a rounding error is involved! A new PB either way, so I’m still absolutely delighted, and it’s given me some real hope I might just about to be able to think about mounting a challenge on the 20 minute barrier next year. Best of all, reasonably consistent splits (by my measure at least): 04:01, 04:13, 04:18, 04:26 and 04:01. As ever the 3k-4k split proves hard, not helped by a slight incline along the path.

The event itself had a reasonable turnout of fellow Bellas. 13 in total, with a stunning 16:12 and 16:18 by two of our leading club runners. It was won by the Glasgow racing scene regulars from Eritrea (a bit more about their story here, but ignore the bigotry in the comments!) in a truly stunning 14:07.

With a good goodie bag (I’ve got the chocolate stashed in my laptop bag ready to much!), and some great performances, it was a fun evening. Rounded off with a (I think) deserved beer and healthy(ish) noodles at Wagamama, it all made for a great evening.