800m in the Sun

Before I begin, here is a taste of what is to come on this blog in the coming weeks:-

1. A few words and photos from the WWE Wrestlemania Revenge Tour show at Braehead Arena on 13th April.

2. As a follow up to the 1-1 draw on 18th December, a report on Queen's Park's 1-0 win over Elgin City on 9th April.

3. A bit more about my athletics pre-Cambuslang, including the parts played by Whitemoss AAC and Calderglen Harriers.

4. My training up to the Bristol 10k on 15th May, provided I get the performance I'm looking for.

Bristol is the first of this summer's twin targets. Touch wood, training is going extremely well. Two back to back holiday weekends have been a god send because the time off work has seen me manage double sessions four times. Races are playing their part in that preparation and, following my time of 1:59.35 at the Mens League, I've tackled two more 800m with good results.

Linwood Open Graded Meeting, Wednesday 27th April

Above, with sunglasses: officiating during a league meeting at Linwood in 2008. I ran a 3000m steeplechase earlier in the day.

The concept of an open graded meeting is you turn up, enter a race giving your personal best performance and you are placed in a race with athletes of similar ability regardless of age (and gender sometimes). So you can end up with some interesting races. I drove to Linwood straight from work for this which is not always ideal because I find getting out of work mode and motivating myself hard in these circumstances.

It was a perfect night with not a breath of wind. My 10 day old personal best earned me a place in heat 1 of the 800m. I recognised a couple of faces, Inverclyde's Craig Ruddy and Lee Wilson of Victoria Park/City of Glasgow. I was allocated lane 1 which wasn't great. I ran as hard as I could, going through 400m in 58 seconds. However, the other 7 athletes were simply going too quickly for me. I couldn't get close enough to make it a contest so, despite a good time of 2:00.24, I felt a little deflated trailing in last. A chat with Cambuslang coach Mike Johnston afterwards made me feel a bit better.

I then went an easy 2.5 mile warm down before going home. The down side of these meetings is the time knock on effect. I got home at 9.30pm carrying running gear, a suit, briefcase and holdall for a late dinner of haggis, neeps and tatties, home made in the microwave.

Central and South of Scotland League Division 2 Match 1, Scotstoun, Glasgow, Sunday 1st May

Training continued and, the day before this, I ran the Glasgow Parkrun to try out new racing shoes. I clocked 16:08 for the 5km but this included a detour off course which cost me at least half a minute. I didn't take the barcode which records your result so it won't appear. Somehow Mike still knew I had been there!

This was the first time I had been to Scotstoun since it had reopened following renovation and what I saw impressed me. What didn't impress me so much was the gale force wind on the track home straight. I didn't want my third 800m this year to be my slowest.

I found myself in a strange situation because both Cambuslang (my first claim club) and Whitemoss (my second claim club) were in the same division. This meant I would be competing directly against Whitemoss for the first time, a club which, as you will read in a future post, has been and remains a big part of my athletics life. I'm still on the committee as Mens League team manager after all.

I exchanged a bit of banter with friends and acquaintances from both sides before my 800m. I had lane 2 this time, a slight improvement. Some advice from Mike helped me formulate a race plan. I found myself a distant 2nd after 100m behind Kilbarchan athlete Craig Stuart who has a best 400m time of 48 seconds and is apparently stepping up in distance. That was the advice- don't belt after him. Sure enough, he went through 400m in 51 seconds while I was 58 seconds. I was determined to beat my Linwood time and dug in to do so. I surprised myself at how well I coped with the wind and was delighted to clock my second sub 2 minute 800m- 1:59.7. I exchanged handshakes with Craig Stuart who won in 1:55.9. This means I clocked a faster second lap than him- 61 seconds compared to his 64.

I rounded the afternoon off with a 20 minute jog warm down on part of the McAndrew Road Relay route (see my race report in October 2010) then headed home quite satisfied with another good day's work.