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I can see the sun in wintertime
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WARNING: this post is going to be long winded, and will contain copious amounts of navel gazing, dodgy tummies, tears and self pity
When I signed up for DCM, it was a way of proving to myself that last year's horribleness was over - the two crap marathons followed by the chest and lung infections, mild pneumonia and adult onset asthma. I was going to take it easy and high five every child, enjoy the atmosphere and not obsess about a finish time..... Yeah, that didn't happen :rolleyes:
Got up nice and early on Sunday morning. Managed to eat a small bit of weetabix and half a cup of coffee, and OH dropped me into town. Followed the crowds to Merrion Square and hung around for a few minutes, then dropped bag in and headed towards start line. I joined a queue for the loo and waited.... and waited... During the long wait, Emer911 saw me and we started talking. We decided to run together for a while and see how things went. It took a while to get started and the emotion got a bit on top of me but Emer was nice and calm - it was good that at least one of us was!
The first few miles disappeared quite quickly. The race was quite congested so we didn't notice the time passing. We got a shout out from Annapr just after the Quays and then my gang were near the top of Aughrim Street so that helped me to get up that first hill. Before we knew it we were in the park and Emer was remembering 2012 when she got injured. Thankfully that didn't happen this year. On through the Park and into Castleknock, which was amazing. The crowd were incredible! At this point we made a conscious effort to take our time up the hill - the crowd gave such a boost that it was easy to think the race was nearly over, instead of having 20 miles left. Back into the park and all was good. Out of the park, into Chapelizod, still feeling ok. I had taken a gel at 4 miles so took another one here (I think
) I wanted to get as much into me before the usual tummy troubles raised their head. On to Kilmainham - I think it was around here that Emer spotted Krusty, we got a shout out there. Dolphin's Barn and Rialto were next - got another shout out from a friend who was stewarding. Still feeling ok. At the start I had said to Emer that if I felt ok at halfway I might try and push on a little bit, so just past Crumlin Shopping Centre, I said I'd give it a go.
Crumlin went ok, Walkinstown was up next and the first inklings of tummy trouble started. A bit of dry retching, nothing too serious. Cromwellsfort Road was long and felt tough. I knew a friend of mine would be in Terenure so that was my next goal. Saw her and her family and they gave me a great boost that got me another bit further up the road. Tummy feeling very dodgy now. Decided to try and take in another gel - and it came out again as quickly (but I managed to keep going while puking, I'm such a classy bird :rolleyes:) Milltown has always been a bugbear for me, I really hate that stretch so the next goal was to keep running and not walk in Milltown - goal achieved. Roebuck road - crap. There was a portaloo somewhere around here, I stopped for a while, left and then went back. Started again, stopped and hung onto a wall somewhere around here. Felt a hand on my back and it was Emer. I was in a fairly bad state but we started moving. We ran up Heartbreak hill and kept going. Emer was brilliant from here on - all she was short of doing was carrying me down the road. Fosters Ave was grand because I knew it was downhill. Onto Stillorgan Road and I was feeling crap again. Down by RTE and I think we walked a bit around here. Emer gave me a glucose tablet to try to pick me up. I was a bit of a head case at this stage, nothing left to give. Then we were onto the never ending final stretch. It seemed to take ages to get to the RDS and from then on, the crowd (who had been amazing the whole way around) were just incredible. I was crying and laughing the whole last mile. The finish line was in sight and that was it, we were there. 4:12:44.
The drama didn't end there. As we got over the line, my breathing went completely haywire and I couldn't catch my breath. I was trying to get my inhaler out of my pocket and started to panic. It was terrifying. I eventually got it out and a steward took it out of my hand and told me he'd press it for me. I managed to get a couple of puffs and my breathing started to slow. A chap beside us who'd been sitting in a wheel chair hopped up and told me to sit down. I actually couldn't because I was gripping the barrier too hard to let go, I thought if I let go I'd fall over and forget completely how to breathe. It took a couple of minutes but then I was ok. Again, Emer was brilliant. She waited until I was ok until she felt like she was going to throw up! We got our medals, got our picture taken and headed off to collect our bags. I said thank you for the millionth time and told her what a legend she was, and then I found my gang to get my lift home.
So it's a couple of days later and I'm fairly happy. I couldn't have done much more on the day and I don't think I'd have done much differently. When I signed up, I wanted to finish, that was it. A decent half marathon and training cycle put pb ideas in my head :rolleyes: I had a look at the run on Strava and after asking me if this was the Dublin City Marathon, it then congratulated me on achieving my goal - I'd put down 4:15 as my goal time months ago. So I have that anyway
DOMS is pretty much gone now, still a bit stiff but not too bad. Went for a very easy 2 mile jog today to test out the legs - they're very heavy but they'll be ok. I signed up for the Remembrance 5k in a couple of weeks, I wanted to do it last year but was sick so that'll be an easy jog in the Park. And another marathon? Well I'm not saying no. My Mam, of all people, told me I can't just leave it at 9 completed, I should really round it up to 10. We'll see 0 -
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Week 1: First easy miles on Wednesday after marathon, DOMS gone by then. Another 3 runs done that week, 13 miles in total. Couldn't have done much more, legs felt heavy and tired.
Week 2: Felt quite dodgy and tired for first few days of week so no run till Thursday's 4.5 miles. Easy 4 planned for Saturday, cut short to 2.7 by phone call from courier who was sitting outside the door with a delivery. Children all still in bed and too lazy to get up to answer the door.
Finished week 2 with the Remembrance Run in the Phoenix Park. A lovely idea and a very nice atmosphere for a run. As the announcer said, it's a run not a race so enjoy it. And I did. Wrote the names of the people I was remembering before we started. (And went back at the end to add someone I forgot - she was in my head anyway when I ran so that's the main thing!) First mile fairly handy, 7:52. Picked up pace a bit for second mile, 7:31. Mile 3 slightly quicker again, 7:23. Watch time 23:35. Happy enough with that, a fairly good result for 2 weeks after a marathon.
Next on the horizon is Tom Brennan 5k on New Year's day, I'd like to give that a bit of a whack. After that is the Raheny 5, this is also due a bit of a bash. Off to put together a plan 0 -
Monday
Plan: Fartlek - 10-12 x 1 min @ 5-10k pace, with 1 min recovery
Actual: 1 mile warmup. 11 x 1 min @ pace with 1 min recovery, 1 mile cool down.
First session in AAAAGES. Felt a bit hard but grand by the ned.
Tuesday
Plan: Rest or 40 - 60 mins easy.
Actual: 35 mins easy, 3.8 miles
Only managed 35 mins in between work, school run and parent teacher meeting.
Wednesday
Plan: 50 - 60 mins easy
Actual: 52 mins, 5.3 miles
Exactly what it says on the tin
Thursday
Plan: 5 x 1 mile tempo intervals with 3 mins recovery.
Oooh this was a bit hard. 1 mile warmup to start. Then tempo miles were 7:58, 7:35, 7:45, 7:43, 7:41. Recovery ended up being about 2 and a half mins instead of 3 - it was easier to keep track of a .25 mile jog than anything else. Another mile cool down back home. 8.3 miles in total.
Friday
Plan: Rest or 30 mins easy
Actual: 22 mins.
Not a lot of time so just an easy jaunt around the block.
Saturday
Plan: 50-60 mins easy
Actual: 35 mins easy
Run cut short by Smallest Girl ringing me to remind me that she had to go to a birthday party and OH wasn't there to bring her. So had to peg it back home to get her sorted. And of course OH walked in the door, just as we were heading to the party....
Sunday
Plan: 80-90 mins long run
Actual: 75 mins, 7.5 miles
Got to end of road at 7.5 miles and couldn't be bothered to go any further. Knackered. Will do better.
Not a bad week for week 1, just over 35 miles. Week 2 is more of the same, with a 400s session instead of the 5x1 mile, and a tempo run instead of the fartlek. Feeling tired already 0 -
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So last time I was here, I was planning a training cycle for Raheny 5. That didn't go to plan - weak glutes caused problems with hip and training went out the window. Didn't do a whole lot of running in December. Didn't do Tom Brennan 5k as hip and glutes too sore. Did a bit of jogging in January and managed to run the Raheny 5 in just under 40 mins so that wasn't too bad. I've been jogging along for the past couple of months, mainly easy miles. So it's time for a program
I got a place in the New York Marathon on 5th November through the international lottery so I have something major to focus on for the year. My next race will be (fingers crossed) the Terenure 5 mile in May. I really enjoyed this last year so hopefully it'll be the same this year. I plan on doing a couple of races in the Race Series as well.
So Terenure 5 mile training started last Monday - with a rest day. Lovely
Week 1, day 2:
Plan: Fartlek - 10-12 x1 min @ 10k pace with 1 min recovery.
I got a new watch for Christmas - an Apple watch - and it uses Nike Run Club. I can't work out how to set up training sessions on it so this session was a bit all over the place. But I got a 10 min warmup, 11 x 1 min with 1 min recovery and a 10 min cool down so it wasn't too bad. Need to work out how to use Strava for stuff like this.... 4.8 miles in 42:42.
Day 3: Rest day.
Should've been 40 mins easy but Wednesday is a mad day so Wednesday's easy and Friday's rest days will be swapped.
Day 4: Progression run
1st mile warmup (9:41), next 3 miles were 9:05, 8:10, 7:45. Mile 5 was a little slower (8:58) as it started the cool down. 5.6 miles in 50 mins.
Day 5: Easy miles
Had to go into town to get Mother's day pressie for mother in law so jogged in from smallest girl's school (2.2 miles in 20:27) and jogged home with pressie (2.5 miles in 23:08)
Day 6: Easy miles
Out early and down towards the coast for this, gorgeous morning. 5.1 miles in 49:56.
Day 7: Long run
Out again reasonable early (if you take lost hour into account). Another lovely morning, chest felt a bit tight though and was glad I'd brought inhaler with me Took a quick blast at a traffic light around 3 miles and felt better for it. 8.6 miles in 1:25:10.
So a reasonable week for week 1, just over 29 miles and two fairly decent sessions. Hip still playing up a little bit and shoulder giving me a bit of trouble so I can see myself spending quite a bit of quality time with my physio over the next few months. Let's see what week 2 brings 0 -
Monday: Rest day, yay
Tuesday: Tempo.
Tuesday's session is optional - felt alright after a mile warmup so gave it a go. 3.4 miles at tempo pace, with another mile cool down. 5.4 miles, 47:54
Wednesday: Rest day.
Thursday: Intervals
As previous readers of this log know, I hate 00s of any kind. Today was 12x400 with 3 mins recovery. I can't work out how to set up my watch properly so decided to run 0.25 mile fast, 0.25 slow and see how that worked out. And as it turned out, it was grand. The fast bits were pretty fast for me (around about mile pace) and the slow bits were nice and slow. 1 mile warmup and just under a mile cool down. 8 miles in 1:11:50.
Friday: Easy
As described, 3.3 miles in 33 mins. Legs very tired after Thursday's session so just as well it was easy.
Saturday: Easy
Early miles before a mad day - Saturday rapidly turning into busiest day of the week
5.1 miles in 52 mins.
Sunday: Long run
Up and out early again. Lovely day out there. Headed out to Raheny and back towards Clontarf. Really enjoyed this. Took it very handy - 9.4 miles in 1:34:45. Nice run.
31.4 miles for the week, with two fairly decent sessions. Another bit of a mad week ahead so will fit in runs and sessions where I can. 6 weeks to Terenure.0 -
Monday
Plan: rest day
Actual: 8x200s with warmup and cool down.
This was planned for Tuesday but that was shaping up to be a mental day so did it on Monday instead. It was ok. Only ok. 4.5 miles in 42:39.
Tuesday and Wednesday: Rest day
Thursday - tempo intervals
Warmup of a mile. 2 mile @ tempo pace followed by 0.5 miles recovery. Then 3 x 1 mile @ tempo pace with 3 mins recovery in between each one. Then about another mile home as cool down. Wow, this was tough. Absolutely knackered by the time I got home. The first two miles were grand. The third mile was ok. The fourth was horrible. The last one was ok - mainly because it was the last one. Was happy enough when I got home - until I noticed the plan was supposed to be 4 individual miles instead of 3. Crap. Anyway it was done and I wasn't going back out again. 8.8 miles in 1:17:04.
Friday - easy miles
3.3 miles in 32:06. Legs knackered after Thursday's run.
Saturday - easy miles
5.1 miles in 50:34. Legs still tired.
Sunday - long run
9.5 miles in 1:33:30. This was another hard one. Absolutely knackered heading out just after 8 a.m. (busy day ahead again). Wanted to stop a few times but kept going. Very much a yucky run.
Not a bad week. Two alright sessions and a few easy miles. Very tired though - not sleeping great at the moment. Anyway, according to the plan, next week is a step back so looking forward to lots of easy miles 5 weeks to race day. 0 -
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Monday
Plan said rest or easy, so decided on easy. 3 miles in 30:54.
Tuesday
3 miles, progression-ish (9:30, 8:40, 8:30). Warmup and cool down brought it to 4.1 miles in 38:27.
Wednesday
More easy miles, 3 miles in 29:55.
Thursday
20x200s w/2 mins recovery was plan. However I can't see my watch clearly enough to work out time so 200 fast, 200 recovery was how this one played out. Set the watch to kilometres to make things a bit easier to read and jogged to a nearby park to get it done. It wasn't fun, I'll just leave it at that. Got the 20 done - most of them were done at around 6:30/mile pace (which is about as fast as I'll ever go) A couple were messed up by the same annoying little sh!t of a dog who decided my ankles looked tasty and decided to have a go at them. The first time he didn't get close enough, the second time he nearly got me. Luckily his owner looked up from her phone in time to catch his lead. I told her, that's the second time he's done that. She shrugged her shoulders and went back to the phone :mad: With warmup and cool down, 6.6 miles in 59:39.
Friday
3 easy miles in 30:12. Legs tired.
Saturday
Decided to go up to St. Anne's for the Parkrun. Haven't been up in absolutely ages, hadn't even done the new course. Got there nice and early, in plenty of time to get a hug and a promise of chocolate treats from MarthaStew Was hoping for somewhere close to 23:30ish but legs felt very heavy and still tired from Thursday's session. As usual started too far back, first km very tight. Started to spread out a little and moved up a bit further. Wasn't pegging it and watching the watch, just tried to keep a steady pace. Started the second lap and legs felt very tired so it was definitely harder to keep moving at a decent pace. Lost a few seconds (and places) at the end as I was heading down the avenue while everyone else was legging it across the path to the finishing chute, d'oh! Finished in 24:04. Felt very meh about that, but Thursday's 200s were still in my legs so at least it was a run out.
Sunday
Long run today. Did a nice tour of North Dublin for this. Got a bit lost in Ballymun about 4 miles in, but got on track and found a road I recognised after a while Got home a little while ago, 9 miles in 1:30:18.
Just under 32 miles for the week, not much of a step back to be honest :rolleyes: 4 weeks to race day.0 -
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Good tempo session there Rachel, might steal that one (slower pace obviously
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What's your target for Terenure?
Previous week's tempo was 1x2 mile, then 4x1 mile - another good one! Today's was 3 miles at tempo, Thursday's session is 12-16x400s :eek:
Re target for Terenure: not actually sure to be honest. My 5 mile pb is 38:57 from 2012 (I think). Ran Terenure last year in 39:29 so would like to break that certainly. Would be nice to run a pb - legs might be able for it but head not great at the minute!0 -
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I was under 40 by the skin of my teeth in Raheny, I was just lucky that day - if the old finish was still there, with the slog up Watermill Road, I wouldn't have done it! I would like to give Terenure a good bash, just have to work on mental side of things (that's going to need a LOT more work than the legs and lungs :rolleyes:)
I hear ya on that Was just talking to the Donore girls the other day about that. I'm terrified of getting racing. Haven't raced really in 4 years now and it's all about my head. Only way for me to get faster and fitter is to race...but I don't want to race because my times will be slower than they were. Catch 22. Ray's post is spot on though...just need to get out and race lots for a while.
You should take his advice. I won't, because.. 0 -
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maybe you need to get into the habit of racing more often? Get used to the pain, and build up annoyance with yourself from the times when you don't push through it, that next time you do.
Yep, makes perfect sense. I'm at that stage at the minute where I'm trying to reassess pace - I lost a lot of whatever small bit of speed I had last year after the lung infection/pneumonia/asthma fun and games, but it's sort of starting to come back now. I ran 400s this morning and the intended pace was 1:42 - 1:48. I ran most of them in 1:39/1:40, so that's promising. Of course, this is all well and good in theory - but what normally happens with me is that any time training is going well, I fall or get sick or something. I'm waiting with baited breath... 0 -
Monday
3 miles easy in 29:40 before collecting smallest girl from school.
Tuesday
Tempo run. 0.8 miles warmup to the nearest park, and then plan was 5 laps of the park (just over 3 miles) at tempo pace. Miles were 8:10, 8:08, 7:55 and last 0.2 at 7:54 pace. 0.7 mile cool down home. Total of 4.8 miles in 41:40.
Wednesday
5.1 miles at stupid o'clock before a mad day in 50:48.
Thursday
400 session. Was dreading this one - in the program, it's described as a gut check workout, one you need to bring your A game for. I didn't want to have to worry about constantly checking distance so I picked a spot just down the road from me that's a 400m stretch - it's always popping up on my Strava feed so it was time to make use of it Plan was 12-16 x 400 with 3 mins recovery, so 400 fast down the road, 400 slow back up the road, easy peasy :rolleyes: Half mile warmup and off I went. Decided to aim for 12 400s. First three were good, next few were ok, next few were a bit iffy. All of a sudden I had 10 done and there were only two more left. Gave it socks for the last one and then decided, fiddle it, one more won't kill me. So 13x400s with 400 recovery in 52:30 - most of them between 1:39-1:42, which was bang on plan. About another mile home for cool down. Happy Rachel
Friday
4.3 easy miles in and out of town in 42:09 to do errands (miles home not so easy with bag of errands on back)
Saturday
5 very easy miles in 52 mins.
Sunday
Long run.
Aim was 1:30-1:45 with last ten mins run faster, to help get body and head used to strong finish. Headed towards the Phoenix Park, ran in NCR gate at 3.4 miles. Ran up the North Road as far as Chesterfield Avenue, then down the Avenue, around by the Zoo and back out the gate, just about 8 miles done at that point. Headed for home then but varied route slightly so it was actually 4 miles home. About a mile and a half from home I sped up a teeny tiny bit so last two miles were 9:10 and 8:39. A good run but begod it felt fierce hard at times! 12 miles in 1:55:30.
A total of 41.6 miles for the week with two good sessions, very happy with that. 2 weeks to Terenure.0 -
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Great session with the 400s Rachel... curious about where that perfect 400 spot is?!
Also good strong finish to your long run too... don't forget those last couple of miles are uphill.
The 400m spot is from Charlemont traffic light to church gate. It keeps coming up as a Strava segment when I run on Griffith avenue so I thought I'd put it to good use 0 -
The 400m spot is from Charlemont traffic light to church gate. It keeps coming up as a Strava segment when I run on Griffith avenue so I thought I'd put it to good use
Ha, yes, that's what i figured. I've used that stretch for sessions too, although the trees play havoc with the garmin. But it's good because no roads to cross.0 -
Only a week to go :eek: This week is a bit lower in mileage - small bit of taper before the final week.
Monday
4.6 easy miles in 46:26
Tuesday
Fartlek - 12x30 sec @ 5k pace with 1 min recovery. This was grand, no real problems at all thankfully. 1 mile warmup, 2 miles of fartlek and a mile cool down brings me to 3.9 miles in 37 mins.
Wednesday
3 easy miles in 30:40
Thursday
Last big session of the program - 3x2 miles at tempo with 5 mins recovery. Jeez.
Decided before the start that recovery would be 0.5 miles - just easier for me to work out Worked out a route that would involve a bit of up and down, and hit the road with a 1 mile warmup. Stopped and stretched for 30 secs, then straight into first 2 mile tempo - 7:55, 7:54. Half mile recovery and then into the second set. Can't work out exact mile times for this set as the half mile recovery bookended either side of this - the middle mile was 7:45 so I'm assuming the half mile either side were under 8 mins pace. Last half mile recovery and then into the last set - I'm fairly hanging now :rolleyes: 7:41, 8:02 - last mile had a good bit of incline and was mainly into the wind as well. 0.6 mile home as a cool down to finish off: 8.6 miles in 74 mins.
I won't lie, this was tough. A lot of the miles were into the wind, some were downhill and equally some were uphill. The last mile or so was very hard and I was very tempted to stop. But I didn't so happy days
Friday
4.1 easy miles in 40:51
Saturday
3.3 miles in 32:40 to and from Parcel Motel to pick up some new Asics. Note to self: running home uphill with a reasonably heavy box will aggravate an already sore shoulder :rolleyes:
Sunday
Yuck. That's all I can say. 7.5 miles in 1:17:17. Too hot, too many greenflies, too many snuffles and coughing, scratchy throat, not enough air, forgot to bring inhaler. Yep that was a big steaming heap of dung of a run. Bleurgh.
Great week until today. 35 miles for the week, with one great session and one really crappy run. Off now to forget all about my crappy run - my gorgeous niece is being christened today and I'm her fairy godmother 1 week to Terenure.... 0 -
Monday - easy
3.4 miles in 33:42
Tuesday - Interrupted 400s
Plan was warmup, 8x400 with 300 recovery, cool down. Got the warmup done. Started the 400s and had just finished number 5 when the phone rang - Middle Girl wasn't well in school and had to be collected. So session shortened. Quick cool down home and around to collect her. Was a bit miffed I didn't get to finish the session but 5 is better than none.
Wednesday - easy
3.1 miles in 29:56 while waiting for Smallest Girl to come out of school.
Thursday - fartlek
Got called unexpectedly to work and Smallest Girl was bringing home another Small Girl for a Eurovision sleepover, so session was very quick warmup, 5x1 min fast with 1 min recovery and very quick cool down just before school pickup. 2.8 miles in 26 mins
Friday - easy
Mad day. Huge crash of breaking glass woke me up just before 4 a.m. A picture fell off it's hook on the stairs and smashed all over the stairs and floor. So down I went, using my phone as a light and swept it all up before the barefooted children wandered down the stairs first thing in the morning. Didn't really sleep particularly well after that. Got them all up, got into my running gear and brought Smallest Girl and her friend to school. She wasn't well. Brought Smallest Girl back home :rolleyes: The Boy arrived home early just before 2 so tied him to chair asked him to mind his sister and pegged it around the block: 3 miles in 29:05.
Went over to Terenure this evening to collect my number for Sunday so all organised now. Feeling quite apprehensive about it if I'm honest. I had a fairly decent 8 week program - quite a few good sessions with good mileage. But this week has been a bit crap. I'm not sleeping too well at the minute so I'm knackered - and I'm easing my tiredness by eating leftover Easter eggs which is not the best plan! Ideally I'm hoping for a PB on Sunday - current PB is 38:47 but I was 5 years younger when I set it Have an A and B time in my head so will give it a go and see what happens. 2 days to go.... 0 -
This race has been in the program for the past few months. In fact the last 8 weeks training has been leading towards it - no pressure so :rolleyes:
Got to Terenure too early - parked and sorted by 9:30 so far too much time to think about the race ahead. In my head, I had an "A" goal time of 37:40. "B" goal was 38:30 - which would be a 27 sec pb. Going by my training, I thought that a mile pace of somewhere between 7:31 and 7:40 was possible. And this brings me right back to when I was a kid and I would say "But I thought..." and my Nana would say "See where thought got you? Peed in the bed and thought you were sweating".
Anyway, headed up to Our Lady's to use the facilities and met Annapr, who was heading for a warmup. Met MarthaStew as well and she was loving the sun - me, not so much. It was already a teeny bit too hot and windy for me - more of that to come..... Used the facilities and headed for a mini warmup, loads and loads of runners all thinking the same. On the way back up, met Annapr and MurphD, so walked up towards the start line with them. Great atmosphere, loads of people with smiley faces. I was still feeling positive so lined myself up between 35 min and 40 min pacers. 3 2 1 and off we went. I hit the start button on the watch as we went under the gantry and the pace got nice and quick fairly quickly, not a whole lot of congestion so that was great. Got to the corner at the end of the road and checked pace to make sure I was ok and the stupid big start button was still on the screen - I hadn't pressed the f***ing thing properly. So I was already slightly screwed. Finally managed to hit start and assessed the damage. Avg pace was coming up at around 7:45 so I needed to work that down. And then we turned the corner again and the bloody wind came out to play. Mile 1 marker came and went and I hadn't a frickin clue of how I was doing. Avg pace was drifting upwards - it felt like I was working very hard and yet the stupid watch said 8:01. Ah lads....
Mile 2 was... well, it was Mile 2, not much else to say. I remember not really liking the drag on Wainsfort Road last year and I REALLY didn't like it this year, I felt like the sun was a killer and the wind was playing havoc with me. When we turned onto Templeville and then back onto Templeogue Road, I felt like I was doing better - until I looked at the watch: avg pace 8:13?! Are you taking the proverbial?! Mile 3 to 4 was horrendous. Tummy started to play up and was very tempted to just walk off the bloody course. Then I saw the 4 mile marker and gave myself a bit of a boot in the a$$. I knew the final drag wouldn't be as long so I'd just keep going. And I had an horrendous fear of being overtaken by the 40 min pacers. Saw the clock as the road curved and it said 39:xx. Sh!t. Pegged the last few metres as much as I could and got over the line in 39:47 by the clock. I had no idea at all if I'd broken 40 on the chip - for some bizarre reason I kept adding the time on the clock as I passed under the gantry to the clock instead of subtracting it :rolleyes:
Came through the finish and was a hair's breadth away from bawling my eyes out, I was so disappointed. Saw RayCun and Wottle, who both looked fresh as daisies Picked up my water, banana and apple and headed disconsolately to my car (after a refreshing little look at ClaraLara and Digger's gorgeous little baby). Rang my husband and had a little moan - needless to say, he said something along the lines of "would you ever cop on to yourself" 
Got back home and checked my chip time with baited breath, it HAD to be sub40 didn't it?! And it was - 39:20. More than 30 secs faster than Raheny in January but 23 secs slower than my pb, and more than a minute off the time I wanted.
I'm a bit gutted to be honest. I worked hard over the last few weeks and I honestly thought I'd get a better result (here come's my Nana with her thought speech again....) But the wind and sun killed me, I'm useless with heat. My pb is 5 years old, set when I was F40 rather than F45 so I suppose that might make it a bit harder to break (she says, clutching desperately at straws) Anyway, I signed up for the Irish Runner 5 mile in June so I'll give the pb another go - and maybe I'll be a bit more realistic with my goals 0 -
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