Friday, October 10, 2014

The Great Run....


The wonderful Victoria Wood tells  a joke about her PE class at school. They got banned from cross country running after they dented a viaduct.

The relevance of that joke to this pictorial and speedy flaneur is that the Great Scottish Run which took place on Sunday. It's been four years since I ran due to a lovely condition called Farmer's Lung - a fungal pneumonia and not pleasant. It requires lots of oxygen and steroids then a long, long time of not stressing the airways - so no running. But kind of not bad enough to warrant lying in the sun doing he haw.

My last training run suggested that 1.20 time would be remarkable. I thought crossing the line in one piece and not being sick, in front of or over anybody else, would be credible. .

The route was round the city centre, over lots of bridges, under lots of bridges- we crossed the Clyde four times in 6.2 miles, a few of us nearly ended up in it.

The subway/underground opened early. The trains didn't ! So 30 000 people converged  in Glasgow for the big start.

                                               
This is a diagram of the full Glasgow underground train as system. Dead easy. Dead easy to use when drunk. Which is useful.


Just a few folk  gathering

Then there was a few more

                                             George Sq was the big meeting point



So we gathered in the square

This road would soon be full of the pink wave ( that's a timed group of runners not a hair do)
Or though it could be a new political movement.

I have no idea what that man standing on the wee wall was doing. By the way he was dressed, he might have thought it was Monday.


He was chatting her up, saying he was a sub 40 minute man.  But I thought he was lion!



Yip, he was running. Half kilt before he started.


                                Posh bit of Glasgow business world- with ready made urinals




But all very pretty to look at while the gentlemen went about their business



You can run in a kilt. Well he obviously could.

The elevated platform for the big warm up. 


Spiderman stretches his adductors




                                                       30 000 people clapping



30 000 stretching...biceps?... no idea?


defo gastroc stretching here



     Garmain at the ready


  And Up....

And down.....



                                  George was running  because zombies were chasing him.
                                                           Then I looked behind me


Arghhhhhh..


up over the Kingston Bridgeñ
running on the motorway- the fastest traffic has ever moved on the bridge I can tell you





View from a bridge - good novel title that

Piper at every K


                                                              An unusual view of the river

Then under the motorway



At the water station- that's me in green



                                                  Over the Squinty bridge, so called because it is squinty...




 The Rotunda and the famous Finneston Crane 
In old days of horse drawn traffic in the Clyde Tunnel the rotundas were where they turned the horses and carts on a rotating platform. A bit like a lazy Susan.


Finnieston Crane with the new Hydro and Armadillo in the background

                                                             and over the river again







And under another bridge





and another...


oh no, we are turning right so we can go over the bridge again!







over this one


then under that one





                                                             on the bridge coming back the way




                                                         near the finish line

Very near the finish


The Great Wall,  as we ran up the computer recognition system flashed messages of support that our charities or families had logged for us. 
Being Glasgow, not all of them were complimentary. I must have been running close to 'Amy' whose brother was telling her to MOVE HER FAT ARSE.


I thought we'd done this bridge but obviously not,

                                                 Home stretch and an arch instead of a bridge.


Camera man on danger money
Home.

One ten on the garmain. Look at those calories, 768, home for cheesecake


Just a photo of the urinals for a laugh
Normal blog service will be resumed next week

Caro   (all over Glasgow) 10/10/14


5 comments:

  1. Would have been quicker if you hadn't stopped to take all those photos. Well done!

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  2. Ah, does me heart good to dream of running again. Alas, alack, I had to give it up 8-10 years ago when my aging tendons started complaining. Now I have to settle for a few vigorous rounds of disc golf each week. Well, that, and sending annoying drivel to those who practice word craft...

    Great run, and great pics, Caro!

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  3. I loved it, Caro. So realistic that my knee gave out at about the armadillo! Question though: If the man in the Monday morning trench coat were facing the other way, would you call it "a wee wee wall?" And no need to return to normal blog service if this is any example of abnormal.

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  4. Jeff - if the wee man had been the other way round, it would have been breach of the peace but with all those picturesque urinals about, there was no need. Never thought I'd type the words 'picturesque urinal' but every day has a new challenge.
    And Stan, it was Alan who took the photos- he's a 45 min 10K man but jogged round in his roll as MIE photographer. It stopped him being bored.
    EvKa? A future blog of Alan's 14 year old son- a scratch golfer, already an internationalist - might make you think about taking up knitting. Or is quilt making a bigger sport in the USA? :)

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    Replies
    1. My wife's a knitter. I tried my hand at it a couple of years ago, but had to quit when I pulled something. Best not to go there...

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