Ian Goudie

This was a really hot and windy night.  I don’t usually function in the heat very well, maybe it’s the Viking genes in me that prefer the cold, however tonight Iseemed to be one of the minority who enjoyed the race. 

I had prepared well, having a 30 minute siesta during mylunch break, something to eat at about 4.00pm and a sport’s drink 30 minutesbefore the race.  Well 45 mins as therace start was delayed by 15 mins due to excess queues at the late entry deskand the toilets.  I had a short warm uprun, a trip to the toilet and then a walk to the race start in plenty oftime.   Although there was a last minute jostle for positioning when the organisers announced the race was about to set off. 

The Glasgow jogscotland 5k is a Bella Club Championship raceand there was a healthy showing from the purple posse.  I settled in beside Keith Gibb and behind Lynne Andrew and Karlyn Forsyth and Clydesdale’s Marina McCallum.  As the hooter sounded I started my Garmin aswe set off at what I thought was quite a reserved pace.  I could see Shona Donnelly and Erica Christie just ahead of me and was content to let them use their experience toset the pace.  I did however notice Bella's David Boyle and Jane Simpson shooting off at a race of knots in front ofus.

After about 600m I noticed the 4k sign and realised that thecourse must come back on itself later. The field was still congested as we reached a sharp and tight bend atabout 1km, runners, including me, were jostling to keep sufficient space to runin.  I pulled away from Keith andovertook David as I settled into a comfortable pace behind Lynn and Karlyn,with Marina slightly further in front. At the 2k marker I looked at my Garmin to see what pace I was running atbut it read “are you indoors now?” About a kilometre later I noticed that Lynn was pulling away fromKarlyn, I thought about chasing after her but at this stage I had to use all mymental strength to keep running as the demons called on me to stop and have arest.  I could see Lynn pass Marina andwiden the gap as I struggled to hold on behind Karlyn.  I knew that the 4k marker wasn’t far aheadand concentrated my efforts on reaching that. I seized the opportunity to overtake Karlyn as we climbed a shortincline.  Marina was now in my sightsbut there was still a long way to go and I concentrated in getting around thecourse behind her without doing anything silly.  I could hear the announcer but I couldn’t see where the Finishline was as we ran a long straight part of the course.  There was a right turn ahead of us and as wereached it I cut inside of Marina and ran past her.  ‘Go for it Ian’ she shouted as I sprinted towards the finish line.  I overtook Kilmarnock’s David Mitchell as Icrossed one set of electronic chip mats but the Finish Line was further away, Ikept pushing in and ran over a second set of mats before crossing the line.

I shared mutual congratulations to those Bella and otherswho were recovering in the space over the line and then with Marina, Karlyn, Keith,David and others as they crossed the line. My target for the night was to improve on my President’s time of 21:17and hence gain some points for the Bella Championships.  My fellow runners assured me that I musthave done that easily.  I knew that Ihad run a good race but I would need to wait for the results to be published todiscover that I had finished it in 20:59. 

A few of us stayed behind for the prize giving and with noneof the top Bellas there, it fell to me to collect the award when the organisersannounced that Bellahouston Road Runners had won the Team Prize.         

Selected results:

Jim Robinson 19:48

Shona Donnelly 19:54

Claire Wharton 20:00

Jane Simpson 20:03

Erica Christie 20:32

Lynne Andrew 20:38

Ian Goudie 20:59

Marina McCallum 21:06

David Mitchell 21:06

Karlyn Forsyth 21:09

Keith Gibb 21:16

David Boyle 21:24

Richard Leyton 21:45

Brian Daroch 21:36