Decided to take my ‘almost annual’ pilgrimage to Strathclyde Park for the Jog Scotland Christmas Cracker 5k today. Although the numbers looked a bit down of previous years, there was the usual assortment of  Santa’s, Elves, Reindeer, Xmas Trees and Superheroes, definitely puts a smile on the face.

After a short warm up I headed for the Start line, boy it was chilly, wished I had put a few more layers. Right cue just before the horn went for the start of the race, the sky darkened, the race started, spent the first ‘K’ and a wee bit head down into a stiff wind and sleet, thankfully the wind was behind us for the next 2K, could not seem to take advantage of it though, seemed to clear up a bit after that. Between 3 – 4 K , my GERD decided to act up, could not breath properly, started to choke on the Reflux and my esophagus went into a wee spasm, great timing! I realised I had forgotten to take my pills this morning. Had to stop and walk for a wee bit, was passed by 4 people as I was walking, just as I was coming up to the 4K mark I started to feel a bit better, breathing had settled a bit, so started running again and pushed it for the last ‘K’ managed to pull back 3 places in the process, crossed the line in around 22 mins, had set the modest target of sub 22 for the race, so felt a bit deflated.  Cheered up however when I saw ‘Big Bird’ sprinting to try and catch ‘Santa’ before he finished.

Was delighted to discover later that I was 18^th out of 207 finishers and my chip time was 21:59, so I had achieved my rather modest target despite my wee setback during the race.  Confident now that I can get my 5K time down significantly over the coming months.