I beat Lucy Colquhoun ;-)

I am not sure who Jack Crawford is and after after a quick search I am still not clear.  A fictional character in the Hannibal Lector books or a tennis player.  Luckily I do know a lot more about this 10k race and this would be the 3rd time I will have run it.  Last year I got my PB in this race of 34:48 but that was in perfect conditions.  You see this race is along the canal.  Last year was cold and frosty and so the canal path was firm.  This year was mild and wet so the path was flooded and soft and quite windy.  As we all lined up at the start the organisers informed us that one of the canal gates was sealed shut at the 2km marker too.  This would slow me down a bit as well.

So I went here a little bit less fit than last year, but I still hoped to get under 36 minutes.  I met the other Garscube runners at the beginning and said hi to the familiar friends that you get to know running these local races.  Andy B, Chris U and Donald.  All running faster than me at the moment.  Also a few people that I have been slightly quicker than recently.  Joe, Euan and Gerry.  So a good crowd to keep me on my toes.

The start was muddy this year with the first 2km being like a cross country.  I spied Chris and decided to tuck in behind him for a while.  He is running strong at the moment so I thought this would be a wise choice.  Onto the third kilometer and Andy overtook me.  Chris seemed to be a bit off pace and so I tried to tag along with Andy.  I struggled with Andy's pace and so ended up in no mans land between his group and the group with Chris.  Inside I kept thinking that Andy's pace would drop and then I could try to catch him but it never did and I never got close to him.  Infact he just got further and further away.

Near the halfway stage I struggled against the wind and the worst section of the race.  Over the bridge at Lambhill.  At this point I looked back expecting to see Joe right behind me but he was still at least 30 seconds.  I relaxed a bit when all of a sudden I heard a scream from the other side of the canal.  Startled I looked over the bank expecting to see some sorry runner had fallen into the canal but it wasn't.  It was Rachel shouting at me wishing me good luck.  Sorry Rachel I would have shouted back but I was struggling with my breathing at that time.  Soon the finish was in sight.  I was surprised at Debbie and John screaming at me to get a move on.  I expected that maybe Joe was sneaking up behind me so I picked it up.  Only to find that they had made a mistake and thought I was on for a sub 35 min. 

So I finished in 36:12.  12 seconds over what I wanted but I was happy.  I finished one place ahead of Donald who has beat me in all the races this year.  I was in front of Chris although I suspect that he didn't have a good race and a good bit in front of Joe and Gerry.  Andy was well in front though.  Another highlight was I beat Lucy Colquhoun the female record holder for the West Highland Way race.  Bet I won't be saying that come June.

No medal with this race so I am no closer to Debbie's medal tally but I have to mention that Jill the Jogger did win a jogging water bottle.  One of the organisers must have seen her potential as a jog Scotland jogger. 

Jack Crawford Race Results