“Is he still alive,” asked the woman next to my wife.

“I think so,” said my wife, “otherwise this would be the Jimmy Irvine Memorial Bella 10k.”

Good point.

I’ve written about Jimmy before – see here – but what I missed then and my research pick up now was that as well as being a brilliant runner and volunteer for the club, he was also its founder. I can’t believe I missed that in my original entry. It’s a bit like writing a biography about Elon Musk and not mentioning that he is a massive bellend. It should be the first thing you mention.

This year my wife and daughter joined the spectators to watch the race, which was handy as it turned out to be surprisingly warm after a cold and damp start to the day. I wore a running jacket but decided to take it off after the first kilometre and throw it to my wife. Which was fine in theory. But in practice she was surprised to get a rolled up sweaty jacket thrown at her face.

“Eeeeeeeeeeeekkkk!” she screamed.

“Sorry!” I said as I ran on.

The race has now used the same route for the last few years and seems to have settled into the idea that it should start with a several hundred metres of climbing. A tough start but not as tough as then running it a second and third time as the race loops round Bellahouston Park.

The Jimmy Irvine Bella 10K remains an enjoyable, albeit hilly, race to end the year.