Edinburgh Athletic Club

Spring is here, well almost. What certainly is here is the road race season. No more smelly, muddy cross country. Although, I rather enjoyed the cross country and hill races over the winter season especially training for them across Fife and the Pentlands. In fact, it only dawned on me today that it has been 4 months since my last road race, so I obviously haven’t missed them!

For those not in the know, the Lasswade 10 mile is a lovely scenic, but fairly challenging race. In recent years it has always brought out a good showing from EAC runners and this year was no exception. Seven EAC runners took to the start line. With a high sun, blue sky and crisp air no one could have asked for a finer day and better running conditions.

As we gathered at the start line the official starter began the usual ritual of calling out warnings reminding runners they had 30 minutes, then 20 and then 15 before the start.

He was a slightly odd looking guy, quite squat and round, with a big florescent jacket marking out his official status. However, it was his starter’s pistol that caught most people’s attention, looking something akin to a wild west Colt .45 it was almost as big as his leg and he had it slung about his waist in an equally cowboy-style holster. He clearly wasn’t a guy to be messed with, and he thought so too!

Unhappy with the lackadaisical approach that the runners were taking to his warnings that on his call for the five minutes to go he quietly drew his gun and fired a shot into the ground. The sound of the sizeable blast caused an interesting reaction from the crowd. Several people, including most EAC runners, jumped, ducked or swore in shock. Women and children screamed, a small puppy made an equally small puddle, and a number of runners looked confused, as if the race had started. The starter, however, just smiled as plumes of smoke circled around him from his discharged weapon. The ruthless grin brought the 400 runners quickly to the start line in a hush and obedience rarely observed at most starts that I have been at.

With another blast of the Colt .45 the race was off. Lasswade is a tough road race- it’s as simple as that. Starting off running up hill for the first mile before a sharp descent by the end of the second mile gives your legs a pretty good all over work out. By the time you’re climbing the steep rise at mile 3 you quads and calves are already tight and heavy, and your lungs bursting to capacity. For me it was at this point in the race that I realised that I might have gone off just that little bit too fast, as I was struggling. I had started mile 3 in seventh position, but those in front of me were pulling away with some ease and sure enough the familiar sound of pounding feet came up behind me and a procession of five runners went by pushing me into twelfth place. I was more than a little annoyed that I couldn’t jump into their group and work with them up the hill, but I had nothing and had to watch them go. By the top of the hill I had recovered slightly and the group ahead were not building any more of a gap, but they weren’t getting any closer either.

Settling into a position where you are running on your own can be a real mental battle as you have to decide what you want. Do you want to push on hard and try and catch those in front, do you want to keep pushing in the hope of a fast time, with only one person behind for some distance I could have easily just cruised home and settled for where I was. I had been building myself up for this race for some time, so I was determined to leave with a good time if I could, and on such a good day for running it would have been wrong to sit back and take it easy.

Once you pass mile 4 at Lasswade there are another couple of miles where you have to work hard on hills, but by the time you get to mile seven there is a good flat, slightly downhill road home and for the first time in the race you can get into a good rhythm. For those last three miles today, with a cool air around me, a blue sky and runners to chase it felt great. I stretched out my legs and ran as hard as I could, although I felt tired and heavy I was moving fast. This is when I love running the most, when you are pushing yourself to the limit, working hard, but feeling awesome. Looking at my watch every so often reassured me that I was doing well and I knew I was going to finish strong.

Unfortunately I never caught the group in front. Towards the end I did manage to close the gap on the runner in front of me who was fading, but unfortunately I just didn’t have enough to catch him. I crossed the line in twelfth place, where I’d been for the last seven miles and the same place I’d finished last year. My time of 57.26 was however 3 minutes and 4 seconds quicker than last year and would have been enough for a top 5 finish in either 2009 or 2008, but a quality field had been led home by Central’s Ross Houston who finished in a course record (I believe) of 51.30.

My fellow EAC athletes also had good races, Dan Clarkson just missed out on a sub 60 minute time, finishing in 19^th place in 60.02, James Mittra also finished well in 28^th place in 62.16, 2 minutes quicker than his run last year. The three us were not quite good enough to claim the team prize and had to settle for second place behind Moorfoot Runners. Seamus Kealey in his first road race for 2 years finished in 31^st place in 62.46 and he was followed by Marietta Beal in 69.05 (Happy Birthday Marietta) and Vicki Lomax in 69.11. 

It was also great to get a cheer from Ben and Jo at various points around the course, the encouragement always helps, so thank you!!

And a race report wouldn’t be a race report without a quick note on the buffet! A great selection of sandwiches were complemented by some stunning lemon drizzle cake and chocolate rice crispies and all the Tunnock’s Caramel wafers you could carry (okay, I might have broken some rules there, but there were loads, and I did give one to Graham Beal. Not that he needs it, has anyone else noticed that he seems to be piling on the pounds these days!! Time to get back to Thursday nights Graham!!!)

Finishing the afternoon in a pub with some of my team mates and a pint of Black Isle Blonde discussing the race, planning next week’s training and where to race next it’s hard to imagine a more perfect start to the spring and the road race season.