They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and, based on recent happenings, I believe there to be a bit of truth in that saying. After my lowest ebb of the National Cross Country, where I stepped off the course with less than a third of the race done physically and mentally broken, I didn't run another step for a full 15 days. I kept away from the club as well, missing the post National social that night and another social event at the ten pin bowling the following week. I didn't intend to show up at all until the day of the National Road Relay but found myself missing the club so I returned to a training night one day after I had resumed running with a stiff and sore 5.5 mile jog. A few things did happen during my sabbatical. I cancelled a week's training holiday in Portugal (running was the last thing I wanted to do) and took the decision to resign from the responsibility of club captain. On the flip side, a few other things happened personally for the better. That's all I'll say for now.
In the 3 weeks thereafter, which included the 15:25 clocking over 5km at Clydebank, I found myself building up a head of steam each day to the point where I felt confident of a good show in the road relay. I felt I would be most use on a short 3.15 mile leg so was duly allocated leg 1 in the A team. To recap, there are 6 legs, 3 short and 3 long (5.8 miles) run alternately for senior and over 40 men and 4 legs for women and over 50 men. Conditions in Livingston, though cold and foggy, were pretty much ideal.
I felt quite focussed on the task and decided to run as aggressively as possible and see where it got me. I quickly found myself near the front as we proceeded down the first stretch to the sharp left turn uphill. I wasn't paying attention to who was with me but knew I had company. I hadn't run the short stage for a few years but still had enough knowledge about its twisting and turning nature to use it to my advantage. After roughly a mile and a half of to-ing and fro-ing for the lead, we came to a downhill stretch leading into a left turn. During my hill sessions, I've been trying to improve my technique on the descent as well as climbing. Clearly something is working as I found myself opening a gap as I rounded the bend. Faced with a flat section of path, I then strode hard and, to my shock, found myself with a bit of a gap.
The final mile or so follows a dirt trail past Almondvale football stadium towards the start/finish at St Margaret's Academy. I battled on into the mist as hard as possible, as it turned out building a good lead.
Above: in the lead with 400-500m to go on 1st leg. Photo courtesy of That One Moment.
In the last half mile, I readied myself for a final burst up the home straight. After months of struggling to recover from the biggest mistake of my running life (doing a marathon), pounding up to the finish to give the club a 17 second lead over 2nd placed Shettleston was the best feeling I've had in running for months. A course best of 15:47 was just fine as well.
Kyle McLellan set off on 2nd leg, running a terrific time of 29:11. He had the misfortune however of having Central's Andrew Butchart on the same leg who clocked the fastest long leg of the day, an outstanding 28:03. This aside, Kyle's run went a long way towards sealing our final position. Ian Rawlinson, Ben Hukins, Josh Lilly and Robert Gilroy consolidated us in the silver medal position, only 63 seconds adrift of Central. Such was Central's quality, their winning time was the quickest since 1999. A measure of how good it was is that our time would have won the race last year and was the club's fastest since 2003.
Running equally well was our B team in 7th and our over 40s who took gold and 9th overall. Our over 50s also won gold. I stayed to see our A team finish but was starting to get a chill from the cold by then so didn't wait for the medal presentation. I can safely say though I love running again.
Full results are here.
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