Bella 5k (2008)

August 17, 2008 – 9:23 pm

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:

By Richard | Posted in Running | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

The Genius of Charles Darwin

August 5, 2008 – 8:55 am

I settled down to watch Richard Dawkins’ new series “The Genius of Charles Darwin” last night with high hopes. Unfortunately, it fell somewhat short of my expectations.

The subject matter certainly demands coverage in this, the 150th anniversary of the publication of his ground breaking work ‘The Origin of Species’. What it didn’t need, in my view, was to be turned into another atheist argument. Channel 4 has done an admirable job over the last few years of representing various world views, it’s the only channel to devote any serious time to the specific subject of atheism. I’m also quite curious about the series “make me a Christian” which starts this Sunday, but - I should add - more for the comedic value I see in the prospect. That said, I fear I’ll get wound up by it in no time.

In my view, the subject of evolution by natural selection could have been dealt with - and been the better for it - if the subject of religion had been left on the side lines. Leave it as an exercise for the viewer to draw what (to me) are solid conclusions. But accept that there are many biologists and geologists who do find a way to allow evolution to sit side by side with their beliefs (Don’t expect me to explain the mental gymnastics that requires). I simply take Occam’s razor - the simplest explanation is most likely true - quite seriously, and evolution to me does a more than adequate job at explaining our place in the world. Gods only complicate it further, and actual demand far more difficult explanations.

Dawkins’ medium is definitely not television. His written works are elegantly written, and in them he deserves his position at Oxford as the Charles Simonyi chair for the public understanding of Science. But in television I feel he comes across as slightly arrogant, smug, distant and, I’m afraid, somewhat grating over the course of an hour. I’m a big fan, so goodness knows how anybody who wasn’t would feel after settling down for an hour of documentary.

Compare this to National treasure, David Attenborough. Attenborough has found a way of reaching out and pulling his audience in to the savanna and rain forest with him, so we all manage to enjoy the splendour and variety of the life about us with him. It’s clearly a tall order to expect Dawkins to become a similar treasure overnight(!), but if he could take on some of the approaches, and manage to find a way to better engage with the audience, it’d make for far more compelling, informative and educational television, especially when dealing with scientific subjects rather than his atheism.

In the core message of the programme it did better, when he wasn’t bringing religion in to it. Evolution is not a complex concept - indeed it’s rather obvious when you look at the selective breeding process we apply to our favourite animals - but it really seemed a bit more mixed up in the life of Darwin than would have been ideal. The budget may have been at play here: The choice of what seemed like aging natural world footage of animals fighting, eating, copulating and fleeing, and the strange metaphore of a piano to explain the relative duration monkeys (and humans) have existed to the entire span of life on earth. Some on-screen graphics really would have been better, and more emphasis on the simply vast stretches of time involved. Geology plays a key part in demonstrating evolution, but it didn’t seem to be applied or explained very effectively. Similarly it was very fleeting (but when it was mentioned, did so very effectively) how horrifically cruel yet wonderful the natural world is. Parasites, eat or be eaten, how the eye has independently evolved multiple times, and how there are some bizarre relics of evolution within our own body.

All said, I’d give the programme 6/10 - Could do (much) better. It fell short of really engaging effectively with a fascinating subject, and Dawkins made atheism a far more a central part of the programme than was necessary. Dawkins perhaps needs to realise that if he had been less up-front about atheism, and focusing on the core concepts he was supposed to be putting across, it might actually have convinced more people to what seems to now be Dawkins’ main role as lead atheist. As it was, a programme that should have been about a stunning piece of science, it became more of a programme about atheism, and as such was much the poorer for it. And I say this as both a Dawkins fan, and an atheist myself.

By Richard | Posted in Atheism, Science, TV | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (4)

Helensburgh Half Marathon

August 3, 2008 – 3:29 pm

DSC_2435Things have been rather busy the last while, and the only subject I’m feeling keen to write about is running! Normal service should resume soon. But in the meantime, this morning we had an early start to head off to Helensburgh for the Helensburgh Amateur Athletics Club organised half marathon.

I should say up front that I had mixed feelings about the event. I was mainly entering it to ensure I completed my running club’s championship criteria - As I’d left things rather late (and am leaving marathons to next year), my choice was limited by the time I got around to choosing. Helensburgh and Glasgow half marathons. Mainly though I didn’t really get around to doing the necessary training, so my goal went from pushing my PB too far (which I figured I’d leave for Glasgow in early September) to simply getting around in one piece. In fact, I didn’t get much running done this week at all other than the Monday club session: I wasn’t feeling 100% in the middle of the week either.

So we got to Helensburgh with enough time for a couple of quick trips to the facilities, and I got a very short warmup in. Just before everybody started gathering for the start, the sun seemed to appear from nowhere, and I started worrying whether I should have put some sunblock on. I needn’t have bothered. After the start, the sun disappeared. And it then wasn’t very long until the rain started. And didn’t really stop for the duration. A short sharp shower would have been quite nice, but this just kept on coming!

Despite my talk about ‘just getting around’, I figured I’d try for a 1:45 time. My previous PB in Glasgow last year was 1:52:38, but since then I’ve joined a running club and seen my times tumble. It was what you might call a ’soft PB’. So figured it was reasonable to aim for something, and see how I went. Mindful of my friend Sharon’s supportive text last night about taking it steady and overtaking towards the end being a lot more fun, I settled in to a comfortable 7:45/mile pace, and figured I’d keep at it. I was pleased that my pacing meant I was able to catch up and pass a good few runners. The rain saps a lot out of you, but despite that I found myself feeling pretty good all the way around. Passing runners was good fun, but it didn’t last - a group soon formed towards the end section in Helensburgh where we were all passing each other over and over again.

I’d picked up a water bottle along the way, and hung on to it. No bins and my hatred of littering meant I couldn’t lose it in good conscience. So when Frances suddenly appeared on the other side of the road, she snapped this rather amusing picture of me throwing it in her direction so she could find a bin. Some gratitude for her efforts on my part! My excuse was I’d not seen her (my glasses were soaked!), and somehow finding a bin had become quite a focus for me! An DSC_2357amusing action shot will no doubt ensure I don’t forget my rudeness either!

The 3-4 miles through Helensburgh’s back streets were tough. Long and straight streets with very little going on. Returning to the front and seeing the 12 mile marker was therefore a huge relief, and I felt good enough to pick the pace up a bit more, and start picking off the group I’d settled with. Of course, they weren’t letting it just happen, so a great race ensued. Best of all (for me!) I managed to keep at it. Rounding the final corner to see the finish line was a huge relief, but one of the other runners had something left in him and passed me. I congratulated him briefly… Normally I’m a bit hopeless at sprint finishes…

But somehow I ‘dug deep’ and found a chunk of energy. Thoughts of hill sessions in the gloomy winter flashed past me: I’d been in worse pain and had less energy than I had then, so figured what-the-hell… So my very first sprint finish! DSC_2432 And, it seems, I won!. Wow. Chuffed to bits.

My fellow running club members had some great performances. With an out-and-back course, it meant we could see our front-runners doing extremely well. Not had the official results yet, but looks like some superb performances were put in and some great results throughout the field.

My watch time gave me a time of 1:41:27, but there’s a bit more in that given I didn’t stop my watch for a while (too exhausted from the sprint!). My official time was 01:41:23, so a PB of 11 minutes was waaay beyond my expectations given my minimal preparation, and given how good I actually felt at the end, plus a bit more training, I’m starting to feel quite really confident of pushing below 1:40 in Glasgow next month, especially if it’s a bit dryer :-)

Certainly a great end to a great event. Whilst the weather was far from helpful, the course is superb, and the organisers and their wonderful marshalls deserve a special Thank You! In dryer conditions it’d be really quite something. The views over the lochs and reasonably flat course were all great. Thoroughly enjoyable, and a great result.

Now, if only I’d remember to put some plasters on…

Some additional items:

By Richard | Posted in Running, Scotland | Tagged , , , | Comments (4)

Dwain Chambers’ Olympic ban upheld

July 18, 2008 – 6:28 pm

So Dwain Chambers has lost his attempt to overturn his Olympics ban. Almost certainly the right decision given every other runner he’s competing against for a place has a clean record. His transgressions in the past sully the image and reputation of these fine runners.

I recall hearing somewhere that we’re the one of only a very few countries to ban convicted drug users from the Olympics, so in the context of the world of sport, there’s a discrepency with other countries that may be cause for appeal. But - and it’s a very big but - at the same time the deliberate and intentional use of performance enhancing drugs so fundamentally undermines so much of what sport, and in particular Olympic sport is about, a lifetime ban on Olympic participation still strikes me as fair. So rather than us overturning the rule, it’s perhaps other countries who should be reassessing what message they’re sending out by not being as harsh as the UK on such ‘athletes’.

Chambers had lost a huge amount of support amongst the public (his recent qualifying win had a muted response, and even a few boo’s), and even more so, I’d imagine, with many of his fellow runners (At least, those who chose to say anything). His abuse of drugs led to his team mates losing their gold in a 4×100m relay. Shameful stuff to try and enhance your own chance of winning, but even worse to participate in a team event and ruin their efforts. Whilst he’s perhaps to be commended with some of his efforts to help authorities tackle drug abuse, it’s far too little, far too late.

The Olympics strives to set a gold standard for sporting excellence and pushing human achievement and endeavour. So, the right decision today, and the right message being sent out to any other athlete who finds themselves presented with the option. Making the wrong choice will have serious consequences later in life. It really is about taking part, and fairly, and pushing as hard as you can. For me, at least, it’s the journey that’s important, not the destination. Chambers might do well to recognise that himself.

By Richard | Posted in Olympics, Running, Sport | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

Pushing my 5k PB

July 14, 2008 – 11:19 pm

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.

By Richard | Posted in Glasgow, Running | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

A portrait of me

July 8, 2008 – 8:07 pm

My friend shardcore offered to paint a picture for Frances and my recent wedding. Frances wasn’t so keen on the prospect, but I rather fancied seeing what would happen, so jumped at the chance at getting the shardcore treatment (How often do you get such an offer?). So without further ado here’s Richard and Marvin (2008). I’ll leave the explanation of what’s what with the picture to shardcore: he’s done a far better job than I could manage. But I’m honoured to be featured on what he describes as perhaps “the geekiest painting ever”.

The fun didn’t stop there though! After the post was submitted to boingboing.net, it then got picked up by no less than gizmodo, and the comments on both have been (mostly) enjoyable, and nice and geeky too. My server ‘dexter’ (which hosts both leyton.org and shardcore’s website) has managed to survive the ensuing load reasonably well too. It’s also getting it’s first public viewing at Brighton’s £5 app get together. I’d be there myself if I didn’t live at the other end of the country.

Anyway, hope you like the painting. I think he’s done a great job :-) - Be sure to check out his other pieces too.

Update: The original was taken by Chameleon at a Scottish Bloggers get-together a while back.

By Richard | Posted in Art, Personal, Technology | Tagged , , | Comments (3)

Awaiting Wall-E

July 4, 2008 – 9:50 am

I’m a huge fan of Pixar, and all that they’ve achieved. I recall watched their early films (including the famous lamp and ball, and the tin soldier) when I was a student, and the magnificent progress that has been made in the short amount of time since then is magnificent. Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and Finding Nemo have become firm favourites. Genuine classics.

I’d not been following what film to expect next, so I was in for a treat when I found the Wall-E trailer site. Absolutely wonderful, and immediately looks like it’ll appeal to a huge cross-section of people in the seemingly effortless Pixar way. I showed the trailer to Frances, and it certainly struck a chord with her.

via Gordon I’ve just read a lovely story about one girls encounter with the trailer, and it really adds to the Pixar story.

Wall-E is out on the 18th July in the UK. It’s stormed the box office in the US, as it’s received great reviews and hit a chord, so I’m quite pleased we don’t have a huge wait before it arrives here. I’ve not been to the cinema in ages, but I’m pretty certain we’ll be making sure we see Wall-E :-)

By Richard | Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Oxford Brookes University’s new Chancellor

June 20, 2008 – 3:27 pm

Marvellous news from my old University, Oxford Brookes. They’ve announced that Shami Chakrabarti is to become the new chancellor. She succeeds Jon Snow, from Channel 4 news. I’ve a huge amount of respect for both Jon Snow (my various posts here), and Shami Chakrabarti: She’s an impressive personality who has helped make Liberty the impressive force it is today, and I’m sure she’ll do a superb job at my old University.

By Richard | Posted in Personal, UK | Tagged , | Comments (0)

My Blogging MP

June 20, 2008 – 2:05 pm

Well, there’s nothing quite like a media storm to draw attention to the fact that your own MP has a weblog. It seems he’s been accused of calling us all miserable (link to BBC news).

You can read the article here on his weblog - I plan to do so later on. He also has a slick, but rather generic looking Labour-MP website

As a weblogger myself(!), and a constituent with no party affiliations (but plenty of opinions, as Mr Harris himself will have recently discovered after I wrote to him about 42 days detention), I plan to keep a bit more of an eye on his weblog in future. It’s certainly to be commended (especially as he’s a minister), and I certainly hope the current media storm doesn’t put him off maintaining it. If only more politicians would do so (Glasgow councillors in particular), we’d all perhaps know a tiny bit more about what our representatives think.

By Richard | Posted in BBC, Glasgow, Media, Politics, Scottish Politics, Technology, UK | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

MHFS 10k - 2008

June 20, 2008 – 1:44 pm

This was a significant race for me in a number of ways. Most importantly last year it was the first race I ran after I took up running (here’s my 2007 write-up), but more recently it was a race I’d taken on to beat my PB in, as part of the XT Wings Challenge. It’s also my most local 10k race - running through Pollok park, which is right besides my house, and where I spend most of my time training.

The race is certainly going from strength to strength, and over 2,500 runners took part. Still a way to go before it reaches the 12,000 in the Ladies 10k that I helped out with last month.

My late write-up of the race perhaps belies that I didn’t finish the race in quite the way I’d hoped. I certainly didn’t beat my PB of 45:01 from this years Jack Crawford 10k. In the end I managed a time of 46:23, which was some way off.

I certainly started off quite well. The first couple of km were in my target pace range (around 4:25) - 04:20 then 04:25, and a bit slower at the 3k mark (04:33). But still reasonable. It’s very easy to set off too fast (something I’m particularly prone to do), so was keen to keep it under control. Unfortunately, the 4k mark (04:44) marked the start of the long slow incline into Pollok Park, and that drained me. I couldn’t make up much time down “Sarah’s hill” (as the club call it), I was just enjoying the easier downhill rather than pushing, so my times went to 04:51 at 5k. It pretty much says all. There wasn’t much hope for me to beat my PB at this point, and I found it difficult to get close to my target pace at all. 6k at 04:40, and 7k, the exit from the park at 04:47.

But disaster struck when I had my first shoelace incident during a race. I’m normally very careful to tie my laces. Not too tight as the tops of my feet hurt if they are, due to their slightly odd shape. So that took a chunk of time, so 8k at 04:45 was probably actually quite close to my target. 9k at a pace 04:45, and the final 1k felt a lot longer - there’s a difficult incline at the start of the park entrance, and it’s a lot further than you think to the finish line. Last 1k was at 04:37 average pace. So my average pace was 04:39 throughout. 9s off the magic 04:30 I needed to stand a chance of beating my 45:01 PB.

Reasons? Well, most likely I didn’t do enough consistent longer train runs in the build up. Plenty of short, faster runs/speed session work, but I perhaps didn’t get out for longer runs enough in April and May. But I have a good excuse for at least most of April :-). But not much of one for May :-( It’s also a tougher course than I’d given it credit for. Perhaps complacency too given I do most of my training on the roads and paths that the course uses, but it’s a different kettle of fish when you string them together and try to run them at pace. I also was a bit foolish by going for what turned into quite a tough training run on the Friday just before. I hadn’t planned to, but whilst I was very pleased with the results, it really would have been better to have taken it easier so close to a race.

One of the problems I do have is maintaining exertion for longer periods at a higher heart rate, and building endurance is something I really need to focus on. I’m a bit of a whimp, and find it hard not to think negative thoughts when I really need to be “digging deep”. The winter training helped with this, and probably played a big part in my previous 10k PB.

But I still very much intend to get my PB down if at all possible this year. I just need to find a flatter course and ensure that my mileage is up. Oh, and that my shoelaces don’t get untied!

But to put it all into perspective just one year ago I completed the race in 53:56. This year’s time of 46:23 is 07m33s faster. My average pace was 05:23 compared to 04:39 for similar effort. With a focus on building endurance (I’ve entered the ballot for London 2009, so hope to see something along those lines!), who knows what next year might bring. As ever, it’s not all about individual results (although those are nice!) but the journey that counts, and even when you don’t hit your targets, you still learn a lot, and that’s all good :-)

By Richard | Posted in Glasgow, Running | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)