Glen Clova Half Marathon 10/11/07
For me Glen Clova Half felt like a bit of a hit and run job.
I was travelling from Edinburgh via Dunning in Perthshire to pick up a pal and wildly underestimated the journey time to Glen Clova. I arrived in my civvies with about 15 minutes till start time - changing facilities were extremely limited to the extent that you had to undress in the registration hall - this required great skill - a swivel of the head to check for straying female eyes (I should be so lucky) and then a rapid boxer to running shorts change. With the stress of trying to change discreetly there was no room left for pre-race nerves so I approached the race with a bit of a "whatever" attitude.
The temperature was a little bracing on the day and I was one of the few runners who was hard enough to approach the event with just a vest and shorts on. Even if anyone overtook me I still held the moral high ground as I could mutter "Jessie" under my breath. The run fell into a pattern of thoughts that ran around my head in a loop: "my hands are freezing" "I wish I had hair" "oh my what a marvellous view" "oh god another hill" "how come someone who's wheezing and sounds like they are about to expire is going past me" "I shouldn't have drunk so much wine this past week" "maybe I should train a bit harder" "do I prefer fish and chips or bangers and mash?" "yippee another mile marker" etc.
I didn't approach the run with a target in my mind but with about 4 miles to go realised I could be on for a PB at which point I demonstrated my ability to handle the pressure by running by far my slowest mile of the day. I ground out the last 3 miles with a sense that the potential PB was slipping away but managed to dig in hard enough to knock 26 seconds off my PB going round in 1:33:50.
I quickly said hi and bye to fellow porties - some of whom ran cracking races with (fast) Ben and Willie both finishing in the top 10 and with Scott finishing high up to secure 3rd Men's team prize (I think). I had planned on being a tad more sociable but having made a commitment to be back in Edinburgh by 5pm had to leave within moments of crossing the line to make it home in time. The time pressure was so severe that for the first time in my life I passed up on the opportunity of free hot food at the finish.Report Ben Carter
John had this to say:I have taken part in this race since 1992 and always make it my last race of the year mind you after the run i had at jedburgh i had convinced myself that if i had not pre entered clova the shoes were going in the bin - yes it was that bad. so after a few days and finally getting my head together i decided to do the dundee 10 thinking i dont want to have another bad run especially at Glen Clova. i am sure i heard someone saying is that the run that is four mile up then four mile down which is a close description. The first mile is downhill then you seemed to be climbing to five miles well it felt like it then from five to seven is nearly all downhill and from then on it is flat until yes, that hill you went down at the start you have to go up again. ARRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!! bloody hills.
So, after running 70.06 for the ten miles at Dundee everything was set up for Clova or so i thought. Monday morning i woke up to what i thought was the start of a cold so monday nights run was cut short to about four miles no point in doing more damage. So to clova and on the way up it did not look to promising and when we arrived it was cold, damp and windy dut not too bad. It was only when i went for a jog i thought hold on a minute somethings not right. The last few years there has been a strong headwind (think back to Prestonpans and you will know what i mean) but lo and behold it was the total opposite. It's a good job that Rhona was not there as i would got the "how can you just wear a vest and shorts"(yes Ben C i was one of the few ) or "why are you not wearing a t-shirt" as i keep saying to Rhona i am alright once i get going but i did leave it to the last minute to go down to the start.
This year instead of setting of in the middle of the runners i thought "sod it" and went up to the front to get a good start and after the first few miles passed i got the feeling that this could be a good run. When i drew level with barry(bazza) i said either i have went of to fast or you are taking it easy he later explained what was wrong. Turning point and sure enough the wind was at your back - could not believe it. In all the years i have taken part there has only been once where there has no wind but that was the year the roads were like an ice rink and the runners were running on the grass verge. So getting to ten miles in 70.12 just outside my Dundee time i just kept telling myself to go for it and dont even think about the last few hills. it wasn't until the last half mile that i started to feel a bit tired but all the hard work was done and I finished in 1.31.12. what a difference a couple of weeks make after feeling crap at Jedburgh then having a good run at Dundee then to run my best half marathon time this year. Well done to Ben, Willie and Scott for third team prize, and Ben C for running a p.b on what is not an easy course and Richard who could have had a p.b. but was too busy nattering LOL!!!!!! For me it's a great way to end the road running season and I have to say it is my favourite half marathon.
Report John PickardBen Kemp 79.37
Willie Jarvie 81.31
Scott Jarvie 88.09
John Pickard 91.12
Ben Carter 94.02
Richard Dennis 94.39Thanks to Al at http://runnerwanderings.blogspot.com for these action photos.
