it was a great night for a run and nice to see some of my training buddies from monday night as i have not been for a while.after winning this race last year i knew i was going to have a big handicap this year but was looking forward to the challenge.i was handicapped 16 minutes and like last year just kept it steady.set of with another chap and after 1k he looked at his watch and thought i was going just a bit fast for him.i tried to encourage him to stay with me as its better to hang onto someone.but he dropped of a little .at the turn i could then see how far everyone was behind me and the chap had not lost that much,but saw willie,andrew and robert chasing me down but i felt good and knew i could pick up the pace but knew they would be pushing hard to catch me and by the end i knew they would not be far away.with around 1 mile to go i saw donald and thought if i could focus on catching him.slowly i closed the gap but thought i would run out of track before catching him but with 50 metres to go managed to catch him.after finishing i realised that andrew must have been chasing hard as he was closer than i thought with robert just behind.overall i was very happy with my run as i was 50 sec faster than last year,only robert was faster on the vets and i had 3rd fastest time of the night so very happy.i handed the trophy over to stuart williams this years winner.now i have a hard task of beating my time of 33.36 next year.

well it has been a while since i have been on but i have been so depressed as i am unable to run.i am on the mend slowly but i always hear people say dont come back to soon as it just knocks you back more. well i have taken there advice and i have only recently been out the odd run even although it was slow just to see how my leg was and it felt not to bad going at a gentle pace over 3 miles. it was so good to get back out again.but as i have said im taking it easy and hope im fully fit and running well for the cross country as i love it.i would also like to try the other runs like the whangie,ben lomond and a number of others.so heres hoping leg gets better sooooooon.
it is so hard when i hear of the guys at the club all running and how they have done and i just feel as though i would love to have done that race ,but i must be patient.
ill be back. as arny said........

well i managed to get round the 11 miles and my legs are just about still talking to me.i was handicapped along with some very good runners so i take that as a bit of a compliment to be going off at the same time as them but always knew that i could not keep with them over 11 miles.so went out to get round it to the finish without stopping.weather was good for the run.i just felt there was one hill after another and was more worried about not knowing where i was going to take the next turning but stewarding was first class and kept me on course.as i got to bridge of weir i saw cara and jessica just in front of me doing there warm down jog.as i got to them at the bank i just looked up this hill and said up there.well it was hard mentally to get up that hill but as i set out in my mind not to stop i kept going and managed to get up and over still moving even though it was not at any good pace.then coming to the tannery hill i saw in the distance someone and thought maybe they were just out my reach to catch them before the end then cara and jessica just jogging at my back so not to put me off(so thoughtful)shouted come on jim catch him, well that made me pick up the pace a bit more after getting over the hill realised i was going to catch him before the end.if i was not on empty i was now and what a great sight to see arthur at the last corner knowing just up the hill and into the park but that stretch of road up to the park seemed to go on for ever.i turned into the park and finished down to the fountain.it was a great feeling to know i got round it even though through my training i have been doing it was just a bit much for my legs at this point but i can only get better as for all the runs im only setting myself targets to beat next year.well done to everyone who ran...