After the recent freezing spell, it was a relief to finally have a race to do. On Sunday 7th November, I ran my 36th race of 2010 when winning the Strathaven Striders Run With The Wind 10k. Little did I know it would be another 50 days before I did my 37th. I devoted the rest of November to intense training for the West District Cross Country Championships on 4th December. It was postponed until 16th January. With no alternatives lined up, and any likely ones being snowed off, I had no option but to keep training in the thick snow, ice and sub zero temperatures.
My usual weekly average mileage hovers around 45. In an attempt to make more progress, I agreed with the club coaches to find ways to up this a little. For 6 weeks after Strathaven, my mileages were 54, 57, 51, 44, 56 and 53. The wheels came off big style in the 7th week (week commencing Monday 20th December leading up to Christmas) with niggling pain in my right knee. More about this to come in a future post but suffice to say it saw me rack up 25 miles for the week with 3 days of running. Merry Christmas to me!
It was against this background that I approached Cambuslang's race with less confidence and more self doubt than normal. I knew the road option had been abandoned in favour of cross country so had packed my spikes. I stuck to my old ones, keeping the new pair I got for Christmas in the box until a later date. On arriving I met clubmate Kirsty Grant who surprised me with a Christmas present in exchange for the card and gift I gave for her birthday earlier this month. I also engaged in some conversation with Kilmarnock Harrier Ian Goudie, running his 65th race of the year. Nutter! I then headed out to the course to test my knee which pleasingly held up well.
Due to numbers (26 for the 5 lap race of approximately 7km and 11 in the 2 lap 3km), both races started together. A leading group quickly formed of myself and clubmates John MacNamara and Iain Reid. A sterling effort had been made to lay out and steward the course. Despite this, navigation proved my problem. Anyone who has ever taken a lift from me will know my sense of direction isn't the best. But for John shouting out the turning points, I would have gone off course several times. It was very kind of him considering that he was racing me at the time.
By the 3rd lap, I had got the hang of it. I had tried to replicate some of my interval training by injecting some fast surges to burn off John and Iain. It worked to an extent. Iain dropped off slightly but was still a clear 3rd while John stayed on my tail. John had been at our club curry night on 22nd December, the night my knee problems really started. He had clearly been training since he looked in good physical condition. I was running strongly but he was still there and the doubts were in my mind. Keeping them out my head took a lot of doing. I surged again during the 4th lap but he stayed with me. "Try again" I thought as we neared the end of the lap. After another surge, lasting around 100m, I couldn't hear him. I had got a gap though didn't take this for granted and dared not look behind.
I negotiated the last lap with every last bit of energy remaining. Up each hill and round each bend, I ran on the assumption there was a pack waiting to pounce. I found a sprint in the final straight to finish in a time of 21:22 for the course which I later discovered was just over 4 miles. John came through in 21:31 and Iain in 21:57. While perhaps more of a low key race, a good performance was hugely important to me given my injury filled build up. It's probably my most satisfying result all year.
Cambuslang were well represented throughout the age groups. Regular training partner Frank Hurley was 6th overall and second over 50 in 24:19 and Thomas McPake was first over 60 in 27:35. Another club over 60, Terence Dolan, finished in 32:23. For the women, recently turned under 20 Mairi Brown tested herself over the longer distance, staying competitive to finish in 30:19. Kirsty ran as strongly as I've seen for several weeks, having a race long battle with Motherwell's Clare Barr, losing out by only 2 seconds in 28:48. She was rewarded with a prize at the prize giving.
Having warmed down, showered then devoured a bridie and a cup of tea, I received my reward for a second consecutive race win, £60 worth of vouchers for Achilles Heel in Glasgow. With the number of vouchers I've been awarded at races, I'm gradually getting kitted out in the best of running gear without having to spend very much money on it. Myself, John and Iain secured the team prize for Cambuslang for which I received a club sweatshirt. The aforementioned Ian Goudie walked away with a bottle of wine for his 3km efforts. Fully fed and much happier than I was on arriving, I headed to the sales at East Kilbride Town Centre to spend my work Christmas bonus.
Many thanks go to everyone from Cambuslang who did so much to ensure we had a race at a time when so many have fallen by the wayside. The longer race results are below. The 3km results can be found on the club website.
| Name | Club | Cat | Group | Time | Pos. | |
| Stuart Gibson | RHC | M | MSnr | 21:22 | 1 | 1st Male |
| Johnny MacNamara | RHC | M | MSnr | 21:31 | 2 | 2nd Male |
| Iain Reid | RHC | M | MSnr | 21:57 | 3 | 3rd Male |
| Paul Thompson | Helensburgh | M | MV50 | 23:39 | 4 | 1st M50 |
| Denis Williams | Shettleston | M | MV40 | 23:41 | 5 | 1st M40 |
| Frank Hurley | RHC | M | MV50 | 24:19 | 6 | |
| Maarten Van Der Hoeven | Highgate Harriers | M | MSnr | 24:27 | 7 | |
| Andy Buchanan | U/A | M | MSnr | 25:10 | 8 | |
| Claire McCracken | U/A | F | FV35 | 26:01 | 9 | 1st Female |
| Tom Ord | Victoria Park | M | MV50 | 27:18 | 10 | |
| Michelle Hetherington | Helensburgh | F | FV45 | 27:22 | 11 | 2nd Female |
| Tam McPake | RHC | M | MV60 | 27:35 | 12 | 1st V60 |
| Clare Barr | Motherwell AC | F | FV35 | 28:46 | 13 | 3rd Female |
| Kirsty Grant | RHC | F | FSnr | 28:48 | 14 | |
| Maureen McVey | Giffnock North | F | FV45 | 29:46 | 15 | 1st F45 |
| Mairi Brown | RHC | F | FJnr | 30:19 | 16 | 1st Jnr Female |
| Dave Bartos | U/A | M | MV40 | 30:29 | 17 | |
| Julie Fitzpatrick | Bellahouston RR | F | FV35 | 31:11 | 18 | |
| Clare Blue | Virgin Active Runners | F | FSnr | 31:23 | 19 | |
| Tom Keenan | Bellahouston Harriers | M | MV50 | 31:33 | 20 | |
| Jan Fellowes | Helensburgh | F | FV55 | 31:48 | 21 | 1st F55 |
| Terence Dolan | RHC | M | MV60 | 32:23 | 22 | |
| John McGlynn | U/A | M | MV50 | 33:10 | 23 | |
| Clare Larravide | Motherwell AC | F | FV35 | 34:54 | 24 | |
| Anne Coles | Minehead Running Club | F | FV55 | 34:59 | 25 | |
| David J Hay | Bellahouston Harriers | M | MV50 | 36:17 | 26 |
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