KB 5, 24/02/07
The need for a bit of a fast race in my marathon plan led me to dig up the 'currently unattached but still very much Porti at heart Karen Young'. Chat of only having done a few gruelling 15 milers with Graeme Hardcore Henry alongside religious circuit training set Karen up for a guest appearance in style. Karen and I go back to the days when V35 was but a distant dream for both of us and so she sure knows how to bring me back down to earth; sniggering at my (fairly) white Mizuno race shoes and a wry smile as I attempted strides to warm up, as Karen warmed up nothing much more than her vocal chords, gave me that nostalgic PRC feeling.
The stalwarts were there: Bert, Willie, John Forker (also sporting very white racing shoes I might add!) I lined up close to the front after my Dubai error of judgement and after a muffled announcement that there would be no 3 mile marker we were off. I tried to keep the leading ladies in sight, not sure if I would be able to hang on to them. Its not the Carnethy hill race but it certainly has a few ups. Gerry gave me a welcome cheer before I swapped places with ladies 1 and 2, having passed the absent 3 mile marker (I think). I could see Keith ahead for most of the race which was a good sign. On the last downhill I was in 2nd place; as we turned the corner into the last 500m I was hanging on only to be overtaken in the last 70m by Christine Milne who also passed Shona MacIntosh. Gerry and Willie gave me some vocal support and I tried a bit of a push for the line but felt my legs a bit empty and just couldn't get past Shona. I was pleased enough with the result and an R&B voucher gives me another excuse to come East again for a race sometime (after the Rotterdam marathon).
Bert followed me in pretty close order which was a job well done. Karen then followed in a great time, considering the absence of any sustained running in her training regime, and beating her old rivals Debbie MacDonald and Izzy Knox.
In terms of the Karen Young/Andrew Henderson race scran ratings I'd say this was a 3:
Nothing laid on but reasonable food (and drink) to purchase
Willie Jarvie ate a hearty plate of stovies (I think) and John Pickard had a pint
I suppose that students have better things to do than home baking (unlike the ladies of Fife AC, who could teach them a thing or 2)
Anyway I gave Karen a stern warning about not having paid her Porti subs and she did run unattached to avoid being the subject of a report to the Committee.Report Julia Henderson
Another week, another 5. But the similarities between last week's Carnethy 5 and this week's King Buildings 5 start and end with the number. After the horrors of last week it was such a relief to be back on (more or less) level ground. And it was pretty familiar ground too, the (2nd) photo was taken by Fiona from our living room window. How's that for armchair spectating? For such a local event it was quite a modest turn out of Porties. But I think everyone had a good run, none more so that Julia who only just missed out on winning the ladies prize, coming in third. There was also a welcome return to racing from Bert, a sub 32 min run showing that his recovery from last year's accident is continuing well.
After catching up with everyone at the finish I declined the offer of a lift from Gerry and set off to jog/walk the mile back home. In the time it took me to complete my journey, Italy had scored 3 tries! Oh dear!Report Keith Mayfield
Photo Fiona Mayfield.
Results here
Thanks to Chris Upson for the photo of Julia which appeared with his report here
