Katrina and I decided to have a change from Linwood and once we knew our good friends Neal & Caroline  with Harrison were running Pollok and it was Pollok’s 8th birthday run then we decided to head over to Pollok.

We arrived in time to do a mile or so to warm up.  It was cold but dry and no wind so perfect for a good blast. Katrina was making her normal comments about taking it easy, enjoying the run etc which normally means she’ll have a good run!

I decided to set off a little more conservatively than previous parkruns at Linwood and see how I felt.  We were chatting to Neal & Caroline and their friend Debbie with Finn as the race director was giving the briefing. There were a couple of people who were running their 250th parkrun which is very impressive.

When they said go I glanced down at my watch ready to start to when I realised I hadn’t set it up! So I spent the first 10 secs running down the course setting it up! School boy error but showed me that I wasn’t quite in race mode.

Once my watch had found the satellite and started I got going weaving my way through the runners ahead.  I spent the whole of the first lap catching people which was actually pretty enjoyable!

I was keeping my breathing under control and pushing hard but not flat out. By the end of the first lap I was in a little pocket of my own with a group of 5-6 about 20 yards ahead and I couldn’t really hear anyone behind.

Once we got onto the long uphill I caught and went past 3-4 or more runners and one guy moving very quick went past me.

I felt I was able to run hard right to the end which was a benefit of going off a little more conservatively. On the run in to the finish one of the guys who I had gone past went past me.

I finished 30th in 20:28 and was 1st in my age category M55-59. I wandered back up the course to cheer in Katrina, Neal and Caroline.

I saw Neal pushing Harrison finishing fast with Katrina a few strides behind her!! Caroline also had a good run and was pleased to run 1min 15secs faster than last week.

We joined lots of other parkrun folk at Pollok House for coffee/tea and scone and a birthday cake to celebrate their 8th anniversary.

Photo thanks to Pollok parkrun

Debbie with Finn and Neal & Harrison

Results ….

This afternoon I checked the results on the web site and was very impressed to see that Katrina was ahead of me on the age graded results. I think this is the first time that has happened!!