BUPA Great Edinburgh International & Inter-District XC

Quite possibly the biggest and best cross-country meet in the world this year (outside of the World Championships in Amman, Jordan this March) and I earned a spot in the race, running for the Scottish West District squad. Fifty Scottish club and university runners were selected to compete in a field otherwise consisting of ueber-elites. It was a privilege to be a part of it, and it will surely be one of my most memorable races ever.

To give you an idea of how amazing it was (and how ridiculously over my head I was!) at today's 8.9 kilometer cross-country race, let me introduce you to the competition. First, we have Zeresenay Tadese: World XC Champion in 2006, 3-time World Half-Marathon Champion, Olympic Bronze Medalist at 10,000 meters, with personal bests of 12:59 in the 5,000, 26:37 in the 10,000, and 58:59 in the half.

Then we have Eliud Kipchoge, shown here (at age 18!) out-kicking none other than Hicham El Guerrouj and Kenenisa Bekele for the World Championship 5,000 meter title. PB's of 12:46 for 5,000 and 26:49 for 10,000 meters.
(getty images)
Next, another Kenyan runner shown here winning the Junior title at World Cross Country, Augustine Choge. PB's of 12:53 over 5,000 and 7:28 over 3,000 meters.
(getty images)
And though he was out due to injury this year, the man who won this race the past three years, and whose credentials make him perhaps the greatest distance runner ever, Kenenisa Bekele: world record holder at both 5,000 (12:37) and 10,000 meters (26:17), Olympic Champion in the 10,000 in 2004 and in both the 10,000 and 5,000 in 2008, bearer of 12 World XC titles!
(getty images)


The American presence was sparse (partly due to the USA half-marathon championships next weekend), but the highlight of my day by far, was meeting Ed and Jorge Torres, chatting a bit (mostly me going on like a giddy school girl about how big a 'super fan' I was), and running some strides alongside them. Additionally, I brushed shoulders with Andrew Lemoncello, Sergey Lebid, and Andy Baddeley. That is, until they started running (and I started to redefine my idea of what it means to run, and run fast).

In short, the competition was analogous to my high school basketball team, the Canby Lancers, facing the '95-96 Chicago Bulls in the United Center. The conclusion was, needless to say, fore drawn.

Despite wanting to 'run my own race' and avoid going out at a suicide pace, I let the excitement pull me through the first 1500 meters at a pace that would make the remaining 7 km hurt. By the 2nd kilometer, a large pack consisting of Easties and Unis mostly, drove right past me. The remainder of the race was hanging on desperately, cursing the 25 mph winds, falling further and further behind the field - ugh.

The leaders early on (The Eritreans running for the Weegies would, like me, pay a heavy price for their aggressive start):


About a mile into the race, I am already feeling the burn and peeling off the back of the pack:
The leaders going up Haggis Knowe for the first of four times:
My first pass up the Haggis. Despite appearances, there are still a few runners behind me at this point - though I was definitely back in the "hinterland," where the air is seemingly thinner, the mud thicker, and the hills steeper. That photographer almost beat me up the hill actually:Haggis Knowe, part 2, with a lead group consisting of Boniface Kiprop (bib #18), eventual winner Abebe Dinkesa (bib #11 in the red shorts), Zeresenay Tadese (bib #1), Eliud Kipchoge (bib #2), Mang'ata Ndiwa (bib #15):
Me on Haggis Knowe, parts 2...3...4... (can I walk now?!):
Result: 8.9 kilometers in 32:32 for 61st place overall. The winner, Dinkesa, a relatively unheralded Ethiopian, ran a time of 26:51. Our West District team - led by the 4 Eritrean transplants and rounded out with the efforts of Chris Mackay, Paul Sorrie, Jethro Lennox, and eventually me) won with 33 points over the East's 64 and the University's 83.

Dunbartonshire and West District Cross Country

Dunbartonshire AAA Cross Country Championships:

A beautifully sunny and crisp morning on the hilly fields outside of Kirkintilloch, a town circa 10 miles northeast of Glasgow. Scottish cross country is often run in the country, literally - not on the manicured golf courses of American cross country. Dunbartonshires were thus held in a local farmer's wheat stubble. The snow-dusted Campsie fells (i.e. hills) to the north completed the pastoral mis-en-scene. (Photos courtesy of fellow Scottish running blogger, Chris Upson):
A picture of what Wordsworth would call "glad animal movement" - a random Scottish youth flows with the wheat stubble, over the sheep scat, and along the thorny hedgerows:

The adult race was approximately 10 kilometers, or 6.2 miles, and consisted of three loops with a non-trivial hill bisecting the course. The cruelty of the course designers had the runners cross up and down this hill 4 or 5 times per loop, making for 15 solid climbs up the muddy slope. Below is Garscube mate Rob McLennan tackling one of said hills: Garscube Harrier, Joe McKnight:
Garscube harrier and fellow running blogger, Marco Consani:

The Garscube Harriers ran a brilliant race, taking the Dunbartonshire team championship with a mere 22 points (with Dumbarton and Helensburgh coming in a distant 2nd and 3rd with 84 points and 85 points respectively). Individually, I emerged victorious (in a time of 36:47) over 17-year-old 1500 meter specialist Sean Fontana and recent Glasgow transplant, a fellow bearded American and former University of New Mexico athlete, Mike Deason. Other Garscube scorers were Danny Price (6th), Toby Messanger (7th), and Dave Robertson (8th).

West District Cross Country:

The week after Dunbartonshire brought the highly competitive West Districts, which includes all the top club runners in the west of Scotland - undoubtedly the strongest of the three districts in Scotland (in terms of depth). My goal going into the race was a top 20 finish - ambitious considering the quality of athletes, led by the Shettleston harrier's Eritrean contingent who have recently competed at World Cross Country championships!

The 10 kilometer course was flatter, firmer, and thus much faster than the previous weekend's slop-fest. From the start of the race, I latched onto the purple vest of Bellahouston harrier Kenny Richmond, a top 20 finisher from last year. Near the end of the first lap (of three), since I was feeling comfortable at the pace, I decided to move past Kenny and very gradually worked my way up the field - not so much chasing the chaps ahead of me as holding off the other chasers, one of whom turned out to be the American running for Glasgow Uni, Mike Deason. Deason sat right on my heels for the second lap and seemed to be much more relaxed than me at that point - as witnessed by the photo below!

Mike apparently found more humor in the act of dodging an angry dog that was loose on the course, which happened just before this photo was taken I believe. On the third and final lap, Mike decided to make his move. I was determined not to let him get away, so I dug deep and let him pull me along, overtaking a few more runners in the process. Coming into the final stretch, I was a few meters back and unleashed my kick. After going by Mike fairly authoritatively, and with him seeming to concede by uttering "nice race man," I began to doubt whether we were indeed approaching the finish or whether the course had another zig-zag (and perhaps another 200 meters) remaining. Upon easing off for fear I had kicked too soon, Mike again overtook me as we came upon the finishing area. I was not able to regain momentum, and we came across the line in 32:56 - he in 14th position and me in 15th. I was very pleased with the overall effort if not with the result of my duel with Deason. Garscube, despite our missing a few runners on the day, finished a respectable 7th place in the senior mens competition.

See Debbie's slideshow for more coverage of the West District race!

Cross-Country Relays

Dunbartonshire AAA Relay Championships:

Posties Park, in the shadow of Dumbarton Rock (photo below), played host to a small 4 x 4 kilometer cross-country meet for competing clubs in the area.

The site of the relay can be seen to the right of where the River Leven empties into the Firth of Clyde on the west of Scotland:

Since the Garscube men's team was the defending champion, there was a strong motivation to field our best squad and retain said championship. On a mostly flat, slightly boggy (for Scotland anyway), not quite 4 km course, our team of Stephen Mulrine (12:32), Lindsay Cunningham (12:36), myself (11:56), and Euan Mackay (13:14) were successful in over-coming an early lead by Victoria Park of Glasgow and remaining the top harrier squad in Dunbartonshire.


Scottish National Relay Championships:

Cumbernauld - the oft voted runner-up as 'crappiest place to live' and champion in the category of 'most derelict town center' played host to last weekend's Scottish National Cross-country Relays. Behold the lovely Cumbernauld shopping center:


An afternoon walk down main street:Exiting one of the local markets:

Cumbernauld: the perfect place to raise your neds
The cross-country race itself - another 4 x 4 km relay - was made equally lovely by the atrocious weather conditions, with high winds and heavy rains turning Cumbernauld's 3 acres of green space into what was, for all intents and purposes, a muddy cattle yard. Due to the weather conditions, I did not bring the camera and thus have no photo documentation of the runner's sliding up and down muddy slopes, drudging through mucky suck pockets of pure muck.

As this was a national level competition, our Garscube Harrier squad was something of an underdog. We (Stephen, Euan, Joe, and I) finished 26th place overall, myself only managing a 16:15 for the 4 kilometer loop. However, congratulations go to the Garscube ladies vet's team (Ali, Kristy, and Mairi) for winning the ladies vets title!

DNS

16 weeks base phase + 8 weeks speed phase + 10 weeks stamina phase + 2 week taper = DNS.

Did Not Start: sinus infection hit me on Friday; hoped it might be better by Sunday morning; but, no. The subtitle to my blog (taken from William Blake's "Europe: a Prophecy") turned out to be prophetic indeed, eerily so: "the nostrils golden gates shut" ... did they ever!

Inverness was beautiful though - the weather, river, loch, hills, streets, buildings, old-growth trees, landscaping... everything was pristine and glorious, even through the haze of a head-crushing congestion.

George Cummings Road Relay

5 mi. - 2.64 miles short, hard, hilly racing (13:42 @ 5:11 pace), 2 miles warm-up and brief warm-down. Garscube team of Stephen, Euan, Joe, and myself took 10th place overall in a field of teams that consisted of all the area's top runners.

Half Marathon: Great Scottish Run

13.1 mi. - 1:12:10 @ 5:31 pace (splits: 5:20, 5:21, 5:15, 5:29, 5:33, 5:31, 5:33, 5:41, 5:33, 5:40, 5:35, 5:29, 5:27), 35th place overall; perfect day, overcast, calm and 55 degrees.

Britt PBs too (1:48:52)!

May-June Race Report

This spring was an exciting time to not only test where my fitness was at after a long winter of training, but to also gain acquaintance with a fantastic new group of runners and races in my new "dear green place" of Glasgow and its environs. Special thanks goes to local endurance runner extraordinaire and new long-run partner, Gavin Harvie, and all the members of the Garscube Harriers who have accepted me into their club events, never failing to make me feel welcome - like an old mate.

My first week of practicing with the Garscube club included a fun 3k race combining the youth and adult members of the club. Here I am charging up the final hill:
Next on the racing schedule, I donned the Garscube Harrier vest in order to participate in the largest 10k racing series in Scotland - the Polaroids - consisting of four races, over four consequtive weeks, in the neighboring areas of Helensburgh, Clydebank, Dumbarton, and Vale of Leven. Although I was not able to run the final race in the series (the Scottish 10k road championship race at Vale of Leven) due to injury, I had a successful three races, steadily improving my 10k personal bests, running 33:37 (5:25/mile pace) at Helensburgh; 33:17 (5:22/mile pace) at Clydebank; and 33:05 (5:20/mile pace) in the downpour at Dumbarton. I was even fortunate enough to have the following picture (capturing my relaxed and carefree racing form!) printed in one of the local Glaswegian free papers for all to see:
I look forward to a summer of training and socializing with my new mates at Garscube. The focus has now turned toward Loch Ness marathon preparation, including an initial month-long training phase emphasizing speedwork (where I will get to relive my younger days of training for the 800 meter run) before moving onto a diet of heavy miles, long tempo runs ... and pancakes! The goal is to break 2 hours and 40 minutes on the fairly hilly Loch Ness course - goal marathon pace of 6:05/mile.