This race again doubled up as the Scottish 10k Road Race Championships. Like for Bedford, I built the training up for 2 weeks then tapered off during the week leading up. Two steaks is my usual pre-race meal. There was a slight difference for this one...three steaks on the Friday. I could still feel them in my stomach as I went out a jog on the Saturday morning. The Saturday was also my birthday and, after the Queen's Park-Clyde match, I paid my Gran a visit. It was the Alf Tupper diet this time, a fish supper. At his seminar in Cambuslang on the Friday night, the great Ron Hill cited the man known as "The Tough of the Track," if not his chosen diet, as his inspiration. It was the quietest of birthdays for me that night.
Having studied the entry list closely, I had a game plan. In his book, "From Last to First," Charlie Spedding, discussing the 1988 Olympics, says that doing well in the Olympic Marathon is simple. Get in the lead group and stay there while everybody else drops off. "Like most things in life, it's simple, but not easy!" he states. Springkerse Industrial Estate in Stirling isn't quite the Olympics in Seoul but, from the gun, I adopted the same approach.
There were a number of Scotland's prominent distance runners competing and the depth of field overall was greater than in most Scottish races. I'd traded victories with most of those in the leading pack over various surfaces and yet to beat one or two others, such as Robert Russell (Central). There was also our recent Ethiopian recruit, Wegene Tafese. After the initial bun fight out the traps, I positioned myself close to the front off the shoulders of Russell and another Central athlete, Ross Houston. Tafese was close to me as were a number of others such as John Newsom (Central), Ben Hukins (formerly Aberdeen, now unattached), Chris Mackay (Inverclyde), Luke Traynor (Giffnock North) and Thomas Fay (Shettleston). Paul Sorrie (Shettleston) went to the front during the first couple of kilometres. I was content to stay glued to Russell and Houston and try to ignore the clock on the lead car.
The pace was pretty brisk, hovering around 2:55-3:00 per kilometre. It steadied at around 3km which suited my Spedding tactics just fine. I had taken a few strides into the lead a couple of times. However, conditions were breezy and I had no intention of taking the strain for everyone then being ambushed near the end so each time resumed my previous position. As the course headed into the countryside, I could sense without looking round people were dropping off. So far I wasn't. The 5km mark passed in 15:12.
Between 5km and 6km, the course doubles back on itself, following a different route back to the start/finish. By this time, I was part of a leading group of 5 with Russell, Houston, Tafese and Mackay. The others still gave chase though. After 6km, things started changing. Russell, Houston and Tafese continued to sustain the pace while my legs started giving way. I wanted to stay with the trio but, while the mind remained willing, the body didn't. Mackay later dropped behind them as well. As the Cambuslang and two Central runners contested the medals, Mackay gave me a target to chase to also help me stop anyone catching me from behind.
At 7km, re-entering the industrial area, I thought of the remaining kilometres as a 10 minute effort from the recent Thursday night club sessions. Anything to get to the finish. My legs were as sore as they've been in a long while. 8km in 24:37 ish. 9km in 27:48 ish. One runner did catch and pass me around this time, Dougie Selman (Corstorphine) who has a good track pedigree over 1500m. Again, the mind was willing but the body wasn't. Thankfully there wasn't much distance left.
I found enough energy to clock my second sub 31 minute 10km time, 6th place in 30:58. Parallels with Spedding in Seoul include he too lay 5th in the later stages and got overtaken, Australian Steve Moneghetti relegating him also to 6th. The second 5km took me 15:46 so a bit of a war of attrition. Wegene Tafese won the race in 30:22 ahead of Robert Russell (30:24) and Ross Houston (30:29). Chris Mackay finished 4th in 30:46 and Dougie Selman took 5th, reaching the line 1 second before me. Tafese, myself and Kerry Wilson (11th, 31:45 and first veteran) took team silver medals for Cambuslang. We were however ably backed up by Greg Hastie (44th, 34:59) and Alasdair Murray (144th, 39:34). Alexandra Lamond meanwhile clocked a personal best of 39:06 to finish as 2nd under 20 lady, bettering her time at the Great Scottish Run 10k by over a minute.
Above: silver medal winning team, left to right- Kerry Wilson, Wegene Tafese, myself.
The race left me tired to the extent I have granted myself a few days away from running to recover. I'll start the Ron Hill running streak afterwards. At least the fish supper didn't come back on me.
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