Despite my offer to any other Harriers who may have wanted to join me for the 144th Glasgow Parkrun (I won’t be accused of any further skullduggery), I ventured over to Pollok Park on my own for this event. Perhaps the threat of heavy rain kept the usual throngs of runners away, but it seemed a little quieter than usual.
The race started promptly, and I made an effort to stick with the leading pack for as long as I comfortably could. Keeping them in my sights, I was able to see that I was sitting in 6th place with no-one immediately at my back. This changed on the 2nd lap, and, as I made my decent down John Weir Ridge I was overtaken by two runners – dropping me to 8th position. However, all was not lost as I used my Coach McCartney vet school hill reps to good effect and – promptly and easily – passed the two intruders on that second last climb. My confidence was done a world of good, and I felt re-energized, when one of my new friends complimented me with a “good running”.
With the 5th place runner not that far ahead, i managed to make up a little bit of ground on the final climb, but he had a better kick off the top of the hill and managed to extend his lead by a few more meters. Can’t complain though. A new course PB of 18:34ish, and a jump of about 100 places on the Glasgow Parkrun Fastest 500.
