Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers ::Road Racing and Cross Country::

If you were an endurance runner and told someone during the winter you had done 2 x 800m on the track with an hour recovery, they may consider it a little light. Put in the context of an open graded meeting, it changes.
Monday 28th December- I was continuing to enjoy a relaxing, restful festive break. Training was still going okay. Something was wrong though- thick snow underfoot was proving a barrier to doing anything of real quality. On Boxing Day, I had almost earned a twisted ankle in a pot hole buried under the stuff. Last week, a 10 mile "high tempo" run took almost 70 minutes. Faced with more of the same, I bit the bullet and drove to the Kelvin Hall for the indoor open graded meeting, billed as the Glasgow Indoor Championships. The longest event on offer was 800m but why pass up a race on a dry surface?
Following an 8 minute jog in the arena and a set of stretches, I was in the 2nd of 2 heats. The first 2 and one fastest loser made the final to compete for the not very much sought after title of Glasgow Athletics Association Indoor Champion. Still, there was a trophy and £50 up for grabs.
Heat one came and went. I lined up knowing I needed to be at least 3rd AND quicker than 2:05 to qualify. I quickly moved into 4th, covering the first half in 60 seconds. Sensing minor glory, I passed under 20 Peter Louden of Edinburgh, taking 3rd in 2:02.9, only 0.57 seconds away from my outdoor best. Where did that come from? It was duly confirmed, in another hour, I had to line up to do it again. Such is the Kelvin Hall's dry atmosphere, I spent at least 10 minutes of that hour coughing. Meanwhile, anticipation heated up from freezing to luke warm. 
4 out of the 5 qualifiers lined up for the final. For the first half, see the third sentence in the last paragraph. The same thing happened, same time at 400m, same position albeit there were only 4 of us. Amazingly, I moved into 3rd and stayed there. The legs were on fire in the final lap which will explain the slower time of 2:04.1. Allan Ramsay of Victoria Park City of Glasgow won in 1:57.2 followed by Colin Welsh of Border Harriers (1:59.1).
A 5 mile jog around Glasgow's West End rounded the afternoon off, giving me 7 miles or so for the day. I headed home a more contented athlete than the one which had arrived. Back onto the streets now.