2013- My Year in Running

2013 Statistics

2013 in words and numbers.

Races- 24, constituted thus:-

Road- 9

Track- 8

Cross Country- 6
Trail- 1

1st places- 4
2nd places- 3
3rd places- 8 (includes team positions in National Road Relay, George Cummings Road Relay and McAndrew Road Relay)

Clubs and Regions Represented:-

Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers- 16

Whitemoss- 6

West of Scotland- 2 (Scottish Inter District Cross Country Championships, UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships)

Personal or Course Bests Set- 9 (not including courses run for the first time)

Championship Results:-

Scottish Inter District Cross Country Championships (8km)- 27:07, 10th place, team gold
Scottish National Cross Country Championships (12km)- 39:38, 9th place, team silver
UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships (12km approx)- did not finish due to illness
Scottish National Road Relay Championships (5.8 miles, final leg)- 29:45, team bronze

Scottish 4km Cross Country Championships- 12:58, 28th place, 4th placed team
Lanarkshire Cross Country Championships (6 miles approx)- 30:59, individual silver, team gold
Scottish West District Cross Country Championships (10.5km approx)- 37:45, 11th place, team gold

Other Achievements
Scottish Cross Country Grand Prix, joint 7th place

Longest Race- Marathon

Shortest Race- 400m  

Best Race- Scottish National Cross Country. I trained well in the weeks leading up and everything simply clicked on the day to give me a second top 10 finish in 3 years. One of those afternoons you look back on with pride.

Worst Race- it would be easy to settle for the Dublin Marathon but to choose a race where I ran a personal best by over half an hour (2:37:58 in my second marathon compared to 3:08:06 for my first in 2005) seems silly. Unfortunately it was the UK Inter Counties Cross Country only 2 weeks after the National. I cursed my luck by catching a chest infection which aggravated my asthma and left me with no option but to drop out a race for the first time ever. A horrible feeling doing so and it made for a VERY long bus trip back from Birmingham.
 

Most Enjoyable Race- I didn't enjoy many in 2013. For the atmosphere, club camaraderie and post race meal and beer, the Armagh 5k Road Race. I also ran pretty well in a competitive field which gave me the confidence to run the way I did in the Scottish National Cross Country 9 days later.

Summary- the race list is shorter and disappointments are greater because, from June to October, I focused my energies on a tilt at the Commonwealth Games marathon qualifying time. Sadly, it didn't come off for me and it's a shame I didn't get a really good race performance during the training spell to show the work had been worth it. Whatever 2014's goals are, a marathon will not be among them. I certainly intend to make more use of my BMC membership than I did in 2013- I should have made it amount to more than one 5000m race in Manchester. Time to train hard, train smart and make use of the opportunities available. Hopefully the 2014 review is a tougher one to write.