Glasgow Parkrun #129 - 02/07/11

Official time was recorded as 18mins 34secs. I felt a bit jaded after Wednesday's Vets 5K in Clydebank. Ralph Connolly (pic at top) caught me in the last 250m, but my legs had 'gone' by that point.

Scottish Veteran Harriers 5K Road Race Championships - 29/06/11

Time today was 17mins 56secs. I finished in 6th place tonight. Gerry Reid (Ronhill Cambuslang) caught me with around 200m to go, but he spurred me on to dip 18mins. Thanks Gerry!

Strathclyde Parkrun Event #62 - 25/6/11

Time today was 18mins 14secs. That was the first time I have won a Parkrun race, so I am happy! I am pictured just tucked in behind my older cousin Andy McLinden (top in the UK for the V60 in the half marathon category). Andy pushed me on in the final kilometre and I was grateful for that.

Brian Goodwin Memorial 10K - 24th June 2011

A disappointing 38mins 04secs tonight. Average heart rate was around 172bm. I shouldn't wear a heart rate monitor for 10K racing, since I feel it probably holds me back a little bit. Terrible half way splits tonight e.g. 1st half 18.24 and 2nd half 19.40 - rubbish tactics!

Mens Health Forum for Scotland (MHFS) 10K - 19/06/11

Time today was 37mins 48secs. Happy with that since it is a season's best so far. I have another 10K, which takes in part of this route on June 24th 2011 at Cartha Queen's Rugby Club, Pollock Park Estate in Bellahouston.

Kirkintilloch 10K - 16/06/11

Time tonight was 38mins 10secs, although my Garmin watch measured the distance as 10.05km (50m long). My time at 10K Garmin time was 38mins exactly. I finished in 15th place tonight. Two runners caught me with 300m to go and that of course was a bit disppointing, but nonetheless it was 18secs faster than last year's effort.

Polaroid Vale of Leven 10K - 12/6/11

Chip Time today was 38mins 04secs. That is a personal best on that undulating course, although to be honest a part of the course (from 6K to 9K) had changed from previous years and is now a bit flatter. I felt good going into this race, but was a bit silly at the start by standing amongst the 50min+ 10K runners, only having to later on dodge between them all to surge ahead - wasting valuable energy and fluency. I spotted Al MacLachlan (Bellahouston Road Runners) at the 8K mark and decided to try to catch him, but he managed to accelerate a wee bit just beyond the 9K mark to re-establish his lead. I wish I had sprinted more near the end to have dipped 38mins, but it wasn't to be. Roll on Thursday's Kirkintilloch 10K Trail Race - another tough course nevertheless! My Garmin Heart Rate Monitor was useless today - it just refused to pick up my heart rate accurately. This seems to happen to me every time I wear a monitor in that part of the world - very strange!