thought my 1,000th post would be a bit more auspicious than a simple comment on a race but, hey, who cares.

The West Districts….. I arrived and discovered that there were a pile of Tortoises due to run (or crawl as the case may be). Me, George, Owen, John, Ian, Bobby, Vince and Anne. Oh well, Me, George and Bobby anyway.

As usual, it was great to meet up with guys like, Paul Emsley from Arran, John Moore from Irvine, Alasdair Murray from Kilmarnock and John Rennie from Girvan. And of course, Connell, Keith, Mike, Scott, et al.

Unfortunately, there were others there, that for me were not so welcome – ie the Eritrean guys. Not that I have a specific problem with Eritrea, simply that I have a problem with being lapped!!

I MUST TRY TO REMEMBER NOT TO CHAT WHILST WAITING FOR THE START PISTOL . Yep, as if I’m not slow enough, I have to miss the start by what turned out to be a full 2 seconds.

Into the first lap and ½ way round I passed George who’d had to stop to tie his laces (it’s his age you know). At this point, my duel with John Rennie of Girvan started. He’d pass me then I’d pass him. 3 laps of passing and being passed made this a fairly enjoyable race. Unfortunately, 2 guys from Helensburgh decided to be a complete pain in the arse. They kept passing John and me and then immediately slowing down. This put us both off our stride.

I knew that I had to put in 2 good laps to avoid being lapped and this I did. As I approached the end of the 2nd I knew it was going to be OK. Through the start/finish and into the 3rd lap. 50 yards on and I saw the 3 Eritreans going like trains for the finish. I must have got in by the skin of my teeth.

So, third lap and still ahead of George but not to remain there for long. He passed me with 2K to go and by the final K I was fading badly.

I finished on 44:34. George was about 40 secs quicker and Bobby another minute ahead. Roll on Cyclists Vs Harriers.

Good fun but the report card reads… could do better .

Regarding fashion, of course Bobby let the side down by failing to wear one of his top of the range tank tops. However, yours truly made up for it and more by sporting the rather nifty orange numbers (just for you Suzannah ).