I took full advantage of this year's festive period to train and have some proper rest and recovery (okay, and to also have some beers and play WWE 2K14 on my new Playstation 3). I also made a head start on a New Year resolution of reading more books instead of wrestling magazines by finishing a biography of the great cyclist Eddie Merckx. This sounds less impressive when I point out that I had started reading it on my summer holiday in July! A resolution definitely worth making.
I also hope to race more often since my strike rate is reducing year on year. 37 races in 2011, 32 in 2012 then only 24 in 2013. I put last year's average down to the Dublin Marathon which, from now on, will be referred to by the Irish Gaelic word "doluaite." It has a similar meaning to the word "unaussprechlich" I've used in discussion of a so called cross country once encountered in Inverkip.
Starting as I mean to go on, I submitted an entry for a series of 3000m races at the new Emirates Indoor Arena in Glasgow. The arena is directly across the road from Celtic Park. I attended the Celtic-Partick Thistle match on New Years Day, thus familiarising myself with the area. I drove there without difficulty before my navigation skills kicked in when I couldn't find my way into the arena car park. 10 minutes driving in a circle round Springfield Road and London Road later, I finally spotted the mini roundabout leading me to my desired destination.
After watching some earlier events to acclimatise to the indoor atmosphere then a caramel cake and cup of tea in the cafe, I was soon ready to line up in the B race, the first of 6 races to be run. Dougie Selman (Corstorphine) would be pacing at 8:30 pace. I ran the first of the 15 laps round the 200m track at the back of the pack before moving into the slipstream of Dougie, clubmates Owen Walpole and Alistair Campbell and Gavin McArdle (Kilbarchan). Alistair was struggling a little after a festive flu bug and pulled up after a few laps. I meanwhile maintained position, ignoring the clock until the 1000m mark which I reached in about 2:50. Spot on pacing and a nice personal boost.
Photo courtesy of Bobby Gavin.
I didn't think I was moving particularly smoothly but I could feel the benefit of recent much needed consistent training. I passed 2000m in 5:42. I had slipped slightly behind the front 3 but was more than happy to try and grind out the last kilometre as hard as possible. I had about 8:45 in mind pre-race so was well ahead of that schedule. Up in front, 16 year old Gavin had taken on the pace followed by Owen then Dougie who was now looking to finish the race. Gavin eventually began to tire and, in the later stages, I found myself closing him down. I reached 2600m in 7:30 then mustered 70 seconds for the last 400m to finish in a very satisfying time of 8:40.24. Gavin finished in 8:37.63. I know he is the current Scottish Schools 1500m champion and has schools international appearances to his name so I took encouragement from finishing so close. Owen won the race in 8:29.45, less than a second ahead of Dougie. I placed 4th out of 7 finishers.
I stayed on to watch the other races, plus cheer on another Cambuslang man, Andrew Mackenzie, Kilmarnock's Scott Martin and one of our ladies, Sarah Benson, in later races before going a relaxed 5 mile jog on a refreshingly dry, clear Glasgow night. I then managed to vacate the car park at the first time of asking.
This result, being only fractions away from my outdoor best from July 2012, is hugely encouraging but it's only one race. In saying that, as with my reading resolution, I've started as I mean to go on. With any luck, any unaussprechlich or doluaite experiences will be few and far between in 2014. Happy New Year.
Full results from the meeting are here.
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