It was quite a while after the Scottish National Cross Country on 21st February 2009 before I raced again. From 5th-14th March, for the second consecutive year, I accompanied Calderglen Harriers coach Alan Derrick and former club member Jimmy Stewart to the 2:09 Events Spring training camp in the Algarve resort of Praia da Falesia in Portugal. The company is run by former UK international Mike Gratton who won the London Marathon in 2 hours 9 minutes, hence, the name. He is an ever present on the camps. Additional coaching help this year was provided by other former UK internationals, Paul Evans (1992 and 1996 Olympics 10,000m participant and former Chicago Marathon winner) and Bruce Tulloh (European championship medallist over 5000m).
Above, left to right: myself, Jimmy Stewart and Alan Derrick in Portugal, March 2009.
10 days of training twice a day (once in the morning, once at teatime) and enjoying some sunshine is a nice way to spend the early part of the year. I got some great training in, including a mile time trial on the track in 4:39 and a time of 27:37 in a 5 mile handicap cross country between runners on the camp towards the end of the time when I had quite a few miles in the legs. Wearing a kilt for the karaoke that night also went down well with very little of the local brew being needed to become a tad tipsy due to the level of training. I showed the versatility of a distance runner with a rendition of Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" to start and a speedier little number later, "Waterloo" by Abba. I only ran once the following day! Alan provided backing vocals to a wide range of performers while Jimmy bailed out altogether.
Above: a lighter moment in Portugal.
I then had another 3 weeks of good training at home. The quality of my track sessions in particular were improving. For example, 2 sets of 5 x 400m all in 65-67 seconds and, on another night, 2 sets of 3 x 600m all in 1:42-1:44 were higher quality than anything I had done before. I was also attending other Cambuslang training nights on Tuesdays.
Finally, on Saturday 4th April 2009, I made my debut in red and white at the Scottish Road Relay Championships in Livingston. This is 6 stages for men, 3.15 miles and 5.8 miles alternately. I was assigned the long second leg in the B team. I took over in 12th place and, while in good shape, maybe started a little too enthusiastically since I got jaded towards the end. However, I ran 31:30 which was a big improvement of 1 minute 44 seconds on the previous year. According to my training diary, this was a "good debut, encouraging omens for the summer." Steven Wylie, Chris Wilson and Robert Gilroy all ran quicker than me on long legs in the A team which finished 5th overall. The B team were 17th. And so began a new chapter.
This concludes my little 4 part feature.While it won't reach any literature shortlists, hopefully you have enjoyed it all the same.
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