CAAC 5 miler

Corstorphine 5 miler 5/06/13

Another Porty champs race and a great turn out from the crew. There are not many 5 milers on the circuit so it's a fine thing to come out and remind oneself just how hectic 5/6ths of a 10k can be. I would like to suggest it is more relaxed than a parkrun but since I belted out the first mile in 5.19 or so, very little beyond that point was relaxed. I did glance across to see Stevie C and Ross M and realised early on in that first mile that I had got ahead of myself.

Good to see Janet back and racing in fine form

Although many overtook in the second and third mile I eventually worked my way back to my rightful place. Which was about a hundred yards behind Michael F and Colin F, first in my age group. Michael disappeared off to keep Johnny in his sights but Colin seemed to be an almost catch-able distance about 20 seconds away.

Lots of other fleeting thoughts many of which seeped off into the ether as I seem to have been running every day and haven't had the chance to write this up while still fresh. After the last big up at nearly 4 miles it was all downhill to the finish. I began to get closer to Colin but first lady Jenny caught up with him and they egged each other on. After the road flattened out we stayed a parallel distance to the line.

These 2 ran well.

Big thanks to Andrew for the lift - here seen complaining that Jim ran a more steady race and had the cheek to beat him!

I enjoyed the race and it could easily have been a lot worse as I haven't (as Michael pointed out) been doing much/enough short sharp stuff. I suspect another home truth was the habit of sinking one or 2 glasses of red on a daily basis. I kind of made a flab-stops-here pact and have had a couple of dry evenings since. And with the warm sunny weather, getting out the door for training runs – even just to burn a few calories – has been easier. Plenty work to do, 7 Hills a good short range target.

Colin and Willie

Great to see so many runners out on a Wednesday evening putting themselves through it. Big thanks to CAAC for putting this one on, although it maybe isn't the most scenic local race. Nice quiet roads though. And I was well under my 30minute target.

Results and details here.
My apologies for not posting more photos - the industrial setting at the finish and flat grey light meant a higher proportion than usual of drab lifeless images - I'm not blaming the beautiful runners of Portobello: they were great!