Glasgow University 5 Miler 8/11/08
Gerry reports from the west
Hello to all at Porty. I hope you are all well and running and life is treating you well. It has been a good few weeks since I appeared at the club, some of you may have noticed. The reason being I have flitted west, over to Glasgow, to my home city. Reason really is work, as I have been travelling each day from Edinburgh to Glasgow on the train for the past couple of years and, with another winter approaching, I called a halt to the train journey and got myself a pad in Glasgow's south side.
Am I missing Porty? Yes, I miss Wednesday's training nights, the banter and good friends I have met at Porty. However I have been lucky in moving west and joined a club, Bellahouston Road Runners, who are in many ways similar to Porty. Still a relatively young club and a bigger club than Porty, 150 or so members. I guess 60 or so turn out on training nights, and they meet twice each week, Mondays and Wednesdays. They also meet on a Thursday for a circuit training sesh at a local church hall and it seems some of them meet on other days for a run. So they are keen on their running and I have 'joined' or they are currently my second claim club. Yet to wear their vest, but will be sure no Porty runners are in sight when I do.
Good turn out from our Helensburgh friends.I am in their advanced running group. That is around 20-30 strong and they are pretty good. We do sessions fairly similar to Porty's though have had a track session and last week a hill session inside the local park in the pitch dark - not a light in sight. That was something else. There was freezing fog too just to make sure you couldn't see in front. I can no longer count on being near the front of the pack, they do have a number of fast individuals though they are very encouraging which I appreciate as a newcomer.
I ran in the Glasgow Uni 5 miler on Saturday. Conditions were excellent, particularly for this time of year. Caught up with James Boyce, formerly of the club and also now based in Glasgow. He is recovering from a long term injury and great to see him back in action. Also there was Ian Goode and Andrew Henderson. Julia was taking photos, resting up for the forthcoming international masters cross country champs and the Milan Marathon. Some have it good.
Lots of photos on the university website but these were the only Porty shirts I could see - rumour has it that Julia was taking photos of her Helensburgh pals so maybe she has some images of our runners?The course has changed in the last two years, now two loops in and around the Uni's grounds on the outskirts of Glasgow. Not the course it once was, which was quite a hilly challenging route but still a testing course. There were a couple of hills for each of the loops. Probably the biggest issue was within 400 or so metres of the start, a narrow gate to get through meaning that you had to form an orderly queue, stand still for a few seconds while others in front went through the gates.
I was happy with my showing, 29 mins exactly. I am still a bit short of full fitness but improving. Ian Goode wasn't far behind me and James finished 35 or so minutes, a great time given his lack of running for well over a year.
I hope to get back to Porty from time to time so hope will say "Hello" to you all soon.
So happy reading.Report Gerry Scullion
University website photos
results here
