Evening all
It’s been a long busy day so I’ve only just managed to finish my blog. Jim’s also been in a grumpy mood for the last few hours after his Barcelona marathon next Sunday was cancelled so he hadn’t got round to proof reading my draft either.
The human was a right Mr Indecisive last night. At different points Dunfermline, Springburn, Ruchill and Drumchapel were on the shortlist. Then he threatened to ditch me altogether and have another rest day. At the eleventh hour (quite literally) he decided on Strathclyde.
Since that’s not too far we had a bit of long lie, not getting up until after 8. Quite decadent really. A far shorter commute than last weekend.
We got the usual quality dad chat in the car with such interesting topics as the first few T in the Parks having been in Strathclyde Park and harking back to his Oor Wullie hunt in Hamilton last summer. He’s still not got over that particular obsession.
This weekend, parkrun was celebrating international women’s day so it was great to share today’s run with three of my most favourite running women in Claire, Alison and Kara.
It was my first trip there, with the human having done it just the once before in December 2018. It’s a fairly straightforward flat lochside out and back run which offers PB opportunities albeit the prevailing wind can make it quite a challenging headwind finish.
The route is entirely around Strathclyde Loch. Now brace yourself for one of the best ever Crumble factoids. Strathclyde Loch is a manmade loch which, along with the country park, was created by destroying and then flooding an old mining town. The entire population of Bothwellhaugh was evacuated in 1965 to make way for the motorway and Strathclyde Park. Its ruins still lie at the bottom of the loch. I bet you didn’t know that.
After a short warm-up we headed for the start area. Claire asked what my PB was and Jim told her 23:45 but that wasn’t likely to be in reach at the moment. Subconsciously though I think she maybe lit a fuse!
There were a bumper 342 runners today so the start area was quite crowded and we decided to run on the grass alongside the path for the first 1k. It was a bit muddy but not too slippy. Pretty soon though I realised that it would be a bath day today.
We started pretty fast hanging on to the tail of the 22 minute pacer. Well his bib really. We knew that was greedy and wouldn’t last long. About 3 minutes in though I realised that I had forgotten an essential part of my pre-run routine. When you need to go you need to go. Mid parkrun or not. The PB dream shattered so soon. It’s a cruel cruel world.
After the deed was done Jim executed what can only be described as a spectacular grab, bag, tie and bin manoeuvre. It was the sort of routine that the Formula One teams would be proud of. We maybe lost 20 seconds all in. Maybe all was not lost.
We started moving again (a bit more comfortably now it must be said) and got round to the turn in good shape. The course was slightly altered today because of surface water so the section near the turn got a little bit bunched up with runners on both sides of the path which slowed us down and limited overtaking options. Once again the PB dream slipped further over the horizon but don’t stop believing.
Through 4k and having passed the tail walker on the outbound leg the paths opened up a little and, in spite of the drizzle and headwind, we picked up the pace again. Claire effortlessly sailed past us around then too and we tried to keep as close to her as we could. We pushed very hard in the final stages and were delighted to see the finish.
Against all the odds (did I mention the wind and the bunching up and the poo stop?) we completed today’s parkrun in 23:34. A new Crumble PB. We were delighted. We celebrated with a Team Garscube selfie and then a few treats back in the car.
So a very enjoyable morning. We were very pleased with that run. A nice route, great company and fantastic support and marshalling.
I guess the silver lining on the cloud of his Barcelona cancellation is that I might get a parkrun next weekend after all. And Jim might manage to make it through next weekend without hearing “Barcelona” by either Ed Sheeran or George Ezra, two of his least favourite singers. Only Freddie and Montserrat need apply when it comes to singing Barcelona-based songs.
In other news I picked up my 100th insta follower today. You too can follow me on @letsgetready4crumble.
Crumble out x
Let's get ready 4 Crumble 