Sunday 2nd September 2007

Pirates' Right Guard and Club Chairman, Ian Smith reflects on the Great Scottish Run.

The last time I finished a marathon it was because you were guaranteed a peanut in every bite, so it was with some trepidation that I agreed to sign up to running the Great Scottish Run, held in Glasgow and covering a whopping 13 miles. Along with fellow players, Jim Dorman and Darren "Sunshine" Brownlie and not forgetting Pirates' WAG, Sara-Jane Chalmers. I set off to trot round the course just happy to finish if I could. Originally there were more volunteers, but a few had to drop out with injuries both from the season and training for the run. We were running, not in full kit, but in full Pirates uniform of rouge trews, official NFL socks and our old white game tops. So in addition to raising some money, we hoped to raise a bit of awareness about the team as well. I say we all started together, in typical Pirates fashion, young "Sunshine" hadn’t got his race pack through and had to collect it in person. He got some bum information and didn’t actually get his race pack until 10 minutes after the race started. We’ll dust over the fact that he still finished miles ahead of the rest of us, but he is half me and Jimmy’s age. We decided to start as close to the back of the field as we possibly could, primarily to prevent being trampled by anyone from behind and also because the queues for the toilet were massive and by the time I’d got to go, so had the first three thousand competitors.

At 20 stone and never having run more than a couple of laps of the pitch before starting my training for this 5 weeks ago, I have to say I was a bit worried about not completing the course, unless it was in an ambulance that is. As I was struggling along Paisley Road West, I stupidly asked a marshal if I had reached the half way point yet, and have to admit that my heart sank when he said you’ve only done 4 miles so far. But on I plodded. I had decided to run the equivalent of a lap of the pitch and then walk a half lap and then back to run as this would be kinda closest to the sort of training we do week in week out. I was doing really well and then at mile 11, I was due a walk break, but the stand-by ambulance crew at that check-point was the crew that normally covers our games and they gave me such a cheer when they recognised me, I just had to keep running and that was the point I’m not
sure if I hit the wall, but I definitely hit something and my legs just went. The last two miles was painful and I could hardly do more than shuffle along, but it’s amazing what hearing your name over the tanoy can do for your mental health, and I managed to jog in the last quarter mile cheered on
by what was left of the crowd with an official time of 2hrs 56min 16secs. At first I thought I was the first player to finish, but it turned out "Sunshine" had already spent 40 minutes in the treatment tent just past the finish line. Hah!, that’ll teach him to show up us linemen. Jimmy D finished in 3hrs 11mins, which was superb as he had only just got back from holiday and hadn’t trained while he was away, unless you count fishing as training. Needless to say, the WAGs showed the players up by beating us all, but she’s way thinner and actually took her training seriously! Hubby, Gary Chalmers did bring team mascot Ben the great-dane for us all to sit on, while her mum fed us some shortbread until our legs were capable of standing, to make up for showing us up.

Although I’ll never do it again, it was a great experience and all the other runners were great to chat with as we struggled round. There was an extremely enthusiastic crowd lining the course, cheering us all on, without which I don’t think I’d have made it all the way round. We raised a fair bit of money for both the team and our chosen charities to boot, which means it ranks up there with my proudest sporting achievements. Special thanks to all who sponsored the runners. I think from now on, I’ll stick to American Football, after this, pre-season fitness should be a doddle.

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East Kilbride Pirates American Football Club.