Parkrun 5k (No. 3) 31/10/09
What a difference to last week's outlook.Glorious autumn weather for the third Edinburgh Parkrun. The course and early start are maybe not ideal, but a combination of great organisation plus nearly ideal weather - only a light SW breeze and bright sunshine - put a smile on most faces.
Ricky and wife Susan.A more substantial Porty presence this week as the informal and fun aspects of the weekly event attract runners that might shy away from a full-on eyeballs-oot road 5k. Which is not to say we weren't giving it our all.
There seemed to be no wind on the way out towards Granton but after the turn-around the south west breeze could be felt sweeping across the prom, not quite in our faces - but just enough to blow the sweat off your forehead. The ground was still slick from the night's rain so I wore grippier wet weather tyres. This worked well, though I was glad to see some of the lads clearing the fallen wet leaves from the last couple of hundred yards, before kick off.
I spent most of the distance in 5th place but from halfway I had Stevie Ogg just behind my shoulder and there was nothing I could do to shift him. We last crossed swords paired to run up that dreadful hill in the Tour of Fife where I had finished in front. However this time the going was flat and I had nothing left to answer with when he pulled ahead onto the final narrow stretch towards the line. Well done Stevie, good effort. I was 6th again, but 10 seconds faster. This was very pleasing but its going to be nigh impossible to make any further improvements. (At 17.31 this was 24 seconds faster than Paula ran the first 5k at NYC marathon the next day.)
I had taken my camera along but was pleased to see Andrew Jeske capturing the action again, so have relied mostly on his photos to accompany this report. The prospect of abysmal weather the next day put Mary and I off the 10 miler at Templeton Woods and this turned out to be a very good call. However due to a little too much recovery beer at an impromptu Halloween celebration at Ben and Alison's I was talked into running over the Pentlands following morning being picked up at 7.30am. We were first to the car park at Flotterstone and it was pretty grim weather. However after you are soaked through with filthy muddy shoes it doesn't really get much worse, and it was a good workout as Ben's fitness was on the mend and we were 10 minutes faster than the previous week despite the soggy soggy ground. Only passed one hillwalker who gave us an incredulous look.
Report pb.
Photos pb, Bill Blair, Andrew Jeske.
Parkrun Website HERE.
Most of these great photos are from Andrew's flickr site HERE
Mary's Blog HERE
Willie can scarcely contain his joie de vivre.
Some ran home afterwards, some ran to the nearest cafe.
The Parkrun organisers invited anyone interested in helping out to sign up. I can't think of a better thing to do if you are not running.
Please get in touch with them through the website if you are available on a Saturday morning.
Next day and its all change for 2 hrs of mud and rain on a dark grey day...
(Photo taken by Dougal's owner.)
