Ian Goudie

Sunday was my first running of the Glasgow East 5k.  I had had a heavy night on Saturday and was more than a little hungover as I made my way to the unfamiliar Tollcross Park.  As I drove along London Road Inoticed that part of the road had been closed off to traffic.  I saw a 2k marker and later a 3k marker,informing not only of the course route but also its direction.  I followed the cones around to the left andas I observed the throngs of white 5k t-shirts, I joined in with those othercars seeking a parking place.  Once Iwas safely parked I joined the masses walking towards the park.  People of all ages and all shapes and sizes– apart from athletic- were adorned proudly in their race t-shirts and avariety of foot coverings, with only the very occasional pair of running shoes on display.

We made our way through the park towards the event HQ, where an over enthusiastic PA had joined with the female fitness instructor in leading the 2,500 through 30 mins of warm up exercise movements.  I took my usual pre race pit stop and my usual stretches before meeting up with Joe Chambers of Springburn, Bella Harrier Connie and her two friends and fellow Bella RR Jane Galt.  After agreeing with Connie and her friends to consider running in the forthcoming Famous Grouse 10k, it was time to make our way to the race start.  The announcer asked for ‘serious runners’ to go to the front.  As I had decided that I wasn’t going to race the event I had chosen not to wear my Bella racing vest but another running vest, however even this made me stand out like a professional amongst the white t-shirts.  Joe introduced me to his club running mate Jonathon Graham and suggested that he was in with a real chance of winning the race.  He was the only person that I had noticed with a club vest on.

The event had three starts: a wheelchair one, a ‘seriousrunner’ one and one for the vast majority of participants.  I noticed that there were loads of kids amongst the second group and as we started they shot off at pace.  However they seemed to spend have their time looking over their shoulders to make sure that their pals were with them.  I started well and made steady progress out of the park and along Tollcross Road. Even by then a lot of kids had adopted a stop/run approach.  I looked at my Garmin and it hadn’t started!  I pressed the start button again and the timer started counting.  We turned left, downhill slightly and then another right turn took us onto LondonRoad.  I took a note of my time at the2k marker 3:20 and again at 3k 7:50, a 4:30k, or a 22:30 5k pace.  I heard a young lad saying that he was hoping for a sub 20min run and thought ‘no chance’ as I overtook him.  I probably ran a little faster during the next kilometre but didn’t notice the 4k marker.  The route turned left off of London Road and towards the park.  As we climbed a small hill, I over took a wheelchair racer, who then overtook me on the following downhill section.  The course then climbed a little more and I could see a marshall guiding runners into the park.  I followed his guidance and was now insidethe park and running along a tree lined path. I could hear the over enthusiastic PA guy shouting “c’mon wee man” to the lad in front of me and as he cheered him over the line, I crossed almost unnoticed.  It’s the first run I’ve been at where runners finishing places and times are not recorded.  I walked around to the girls handing out goody bags and fruit and then made my way to the toilet before finding Jonathon and Joe, who had came in 1st and 3rd respectively.  A few minutes later Connie and her two friends arrived and we congratulated each other before heading our separate ways.  After I had got changed I drove back around the route in the reverse direction and witnessed the sea of white t-shirts who were still walking around the course, with no intention of even a token jog or run.  It’s their event I thought, most of them would have been local to the east end and for many of them the 5k would have been a significant challenge.  Well done to each and everyone of them.