Confessions of a never has been.....

Duanington

Annie get your Run wrote: »

I need a little lie down after reading that are you taking a break for Christmas?

lol - I'm down for a day off on Christmas day alright AM.....although the family normally head out for a few easy miles before dinner!

Duanington

29.12.2016

Bit of a messy week leading up to Christmas, bugs galore going around our house and time for running was very limited with the usual pre Christmas catchups\preparations to tend to.

Made a good stab of the week though

Tuesday

15 mile run around Clontarf\Raheny\Donaghmede. Nice run, took it very easy at the start and worked my way into the pace. Seem to remember having very little sleep the night before this one !

15 miles at 7.46

Wednesday

Am - 6.1 easy miles before work

PM - 4 easy miles after work

Thursday

off- zero time for running

Friday

AM - 8.1 easy miles around St Anne's - off work so it felt like a bit of a freedom run :-)

PM - Freedom run part 2, 4.1 late enough miles around Clontarf\Raheny

Saturday

Messy week session wise...swapping things around to suit limited time meant that I could really only go with the lighter session again on Saturday because I had a mid Christmas blow out planned on the 27th ( 5k). A simple repeat of the 5x2minutes@ 5k pace session...

Bit of a meh session, sluggish all around...slower than the MOnday session too.

Just shy of 7 miles for the lot - lovely buzz around the park though

Sunday

Out to Duanington HQ for the dinner meant the usual pre dinner run in the Phoenix park with my sibblings. Thoroughly enjoyed this one...6.7 very easy miles

Monday

Woke up with a rotten head cold, put off running till the evening when I hoped to feel better. I didn't, 3 easy miles with some sluggish miles sometime in the PM.

Tuesday

Woke up with an even rottener head cold, no interest in racing but I'd pencilled in the Cloniffe Harriers 5k from way out for this week - knowing that I'd need some sort of focus over the Christmas week.

I eventually got organised, had a lemsip ( or two), headed to Santry and sat in the car trying to talk myself out of racing.....while I felt a little better when I got there, I knew it was a no win situation...race and I would probably hate it ( and knew a fast time wasn't on), don't race and I would have bottled it....

Got the race number and headed off for a warmup.....realised I forgot the watch too ....
Decided to get a long enough warmup done around the park beside the stadium then trudged into the stadium to line up. I was shocked by how few people appeared to be lining up ( although I really shouldn't have been, given the time of year).

After a briefing from the RD we were off, lapping the track once before heading out of the stadium and swinging left. I wasn't feeling the love for this one straight away but gritted the teeth and got on with it.
No idea what pace I was running over the first mile but it was slow...I was overtaken by a couple of people and had that dreaded hollow leg feeling.
By around halfway I had that "eh...this actually isn't knocking on death's door fast" feeling so started to push on a little and from about 1k to go I was accelerating again and overtaking people that had overtaken me earlier.

Finished overtaking on the track and feeling strong, official time was pretty slow ( 18.02) but I'll take it for now...its a ****e race result but a nice little session to start into the shorter stuff over the next while.

Great setup for the race by the way, fair play to Cloniffe, I mentioned to a few people during the week that if you went after this race for a PB it would be perfect....if they moved it to February :-)

A few more easy miles after to bring the total to roughly 9 miles

Wednesday

AM - 7.2 easy miles

PM - 5 easy miles all on grass to test out the new spikes

Thursday

Felt human again for the first time in a few days so I went for a tester tempo this evening to see how the system responded.

3 miles turned into 4 which turned into 5....

Ended up with a nice progression style run around Clontarf\Raheny

7.40
6.28
6.30
6.20
6.21
6.23
6.16
6.14
6.03

An easy 8.20 to finish

Lungs felt good and legs felt good so onwards and upwards from here - pushed the effort towards the end but resisted doing anything silly ( thought about it all the same !)

Core\weights earlier in the day

tang1

Figured something was amiss alright when I seen your time in the results, still faster than me ya bo!!ix and you dying!!!

Singer

Duanington wrote: »

29.12.2016
Decided to get a long enough warmup done around the park beside the stadium then trudged into the stadium to line up. I was shocked by how few people appeared to be lining up ( although I really shouldn't have been, given the time of year).
...

Finished overtaking on the track and feeling strong, official time was pretty slow ( 18.02) but I'll take it for now...its a ****e race result but a nice little session to start into the shorter stuff over the next while.

Great setup for the race by the way, fair play to Cloniffe, I mentioned to a few people during the week that if you went after this race for a PB it would be perfect....if they moved it to February :-)

Nice going given the lurgy, I was a good bit behind you anyway

I was also surprised at the low numbers, there was a higher attendance last year (around 190) and there's been as many as over 250 in the past. I guess the success of parkrun eats away at local club 5ks, no matter how well it's setup.

Duanington

tang1 wrote: »

Figured something was amiss alright when I seen your time in the results, still faster than me ya bo!!ix and you dying!!!

ha ha - I was actually trying to decide which excuse to use B.....the no watch thing or the life threatening cold....I'll go with the cold so

Duanington

Singer wrote: »

Nice going given the lurgy, I was a good bit behind you anyway

I was also surprised at the low numbers, there was a higher attendance last year (around 190) and there's been as many as over 250 in the past. I guess the success of parkrun eats away at local club 5ks, no matter how well it's setup.

Thanks - yeah that would explain it alright, well done - not far of your target I don't think?

Singer

Duanington wrote: »

Thanks - yeah that would explain it alright, well done - not far of your target I don't think?

Yeh, happy with the race and no complaints. I was in better form a few months ago, but 30 seconds better than the same race last year so that's something to be positive about!

Duanington

01.01.2017

New year, same old story !

Friday


5 very easy miles on the coast ( mainly grass), legs were feeling yesterday's progression run so I scrapped the idea of running a double

Saturday

AM - A few easy miles around St Anne's, bumping into some of Boards\DNS finest along the way. Ran 8x100 metre strides as part of this, running the strides very hard to get the heart rate up.

7.2 miles

PM - 5 easy miles ..back to St Anne's for these. All nice and easy this time.

Core work and stretching after

Sunday

Headed out this morning to the Phoenix Park to attempt to fly a kite with the youngest ( kite lasted about 30 seconds before nosediving and smashing itself up on the tarmac) and to catch the Tom Brennan 5k race, quite a few from the club racing and a couple of Boardsies taking part too ( well done again folks, good to chat afterwards).

Got the running gear on myself later in the day and headed for a few easy miles along the coast, sticking to grass as much as I could.

8.2 for the lot and some corework when I got back.

Finishing off a half decent week training wise at around 60 miles with a good blowout ( 5k) and a good progression\tempo thrown in.

Happy New year folks, train smart and race hard for 2017 !

tang1

Nice to meet you at last D, what they say is right, fit looking as a butchers dog!!!

Duanington

tang1 wrote: »

Nice to meet you at last D, what they say is right, fit looking as a butchers dog!!!

Nice to meet you too B - the aul tracksuit and hoody can work wonders alright

Duanington

09.01.2017

Monday

Back to the grass in St Anne's for today's session. Plan was for:
6 miles @6.30, 1 easy, 2 miles @ 6.10

Wore the racing flats for this one and after a brief warmup, I got started around the pitches at the top end of the park. The ground was good and mushy in places but good and firm in others so I just about got away with the flats for this. Ran a bit too hard given the surface and had myself pretty wrecked after the 6 miles, was glad of the easy one and decided to just get the head down and run for the 2 miles at 6.10.

Splits worked out as :

6.19
6.23
6.24
6.23
6.22
6.39
8.14
6.02
6.01

11.5 miles including the easy stuff either side - very tough session but great to start the year off with some tough stuff!

Tuesday

Severe lack of time today meant I would struggle to get in my long run ( 15 miles)....had a trip to Galway planned with my better half and we had to be on the road early enough. Got out for 11.5 miles before hitting the road then headed out for a few easy miles later in the day ( down Wesht).

14.8 for the day

Wednesday

AM - after a great night out the previous night and no idea where\when I would get to run in Galway....I thought about giving TbL a shout for an impromptu running date but knew that I would have to just take what was given in terms of running windows. As it happens, the first window of the day presented itself when herself dozed off mid morning....I of course, rather than get some much needed sleep myself, headed straight off to explore Galway city a for a bit...stopping off at the coffee jungle along the way. Beautiful weather for it too, lovely stuff.

8.2 miles easy

PM - Strava tells me I got in another 3.5 miles later in the day!

Thursday

Headed out after getting back from Galway for some easy miles around St Anne's - 8.7 easy miles


PM - got out later again for 4.1 easy miles along the coast.

Friday

With the Masters XC on the cards this week and the trip to Galway thrown in, I shuffled things around to make sure this week's hill session was close enough to race day to keep things sharp ( while the hill sessions are intense, they don't tend to linger too long in the legs so a day's recovery seems to be ok).

This week's hill session was 8x75 seconds with 3 minutes recovery and once again I was stuck for time. To make sure I got the session done, I cut the warmup short, cut the recoveries back by 30 seconds on each one ( risky, I know!) and cut the cool down afterwards a little short.

After a brisk enough warmup, I got straight into the hill reps, taking a couple to get going properly to be honest. Really felt it in the lungs from about the 3rd on and my legs were suitably bollixed by the last one.
I’m using the hill by the cemetery in Howth for these and it certainly takes it out of the system by the end of the session.
Paces ranged from 5.40-6.00 ( finished strong which is good)

7.1 for the lot

Saturday

AM – Easy stuff around St Anne’s, bumped into a few boardsies along the way. 7 easy miles, mostly on the grass. Bit of a niggle in my left hip which I noticed just after my core routine after yesterday’s hills ( hint is in that sentence....core after hills with shortened recoveries = not smart)

PM – Out late enough to test the spikes out for tomorrow’s XC race. 4 easy miles

Some weights and core work – hip less niggly

Sunday

Dublin Masters XC

Waaaay back when, myself and L looked at different options and ways of getting in some good competitive XC racing in over the winter months. The masters in St Anne’s proved to be the perfect fit – timing wise and location wise, it was ideal. It would serve to give that bit of extra hurt that one can only get from competitive club racing and would also serve as a good session over some muck!

If I was surprised at the lack of numbers at Cloniffe’s recent 5k race, I was equally surprised at the crowds that greeted us this afternoon in St Anne’s. After a quick catch up with clubmates and boardsies galore, myself FBOT and KennyG ( and later MurphD) got a good warmup done before heading towards the starting area.

I didn’t realise it at the time but I was a long way back from where I probably should have been at the start, I was keen to stay out of trouble over the first 500m or so given the tight and bumpy nature of the stretch after the first turn -I really should have known better though and moved up a few rows before the start to avoid congestion and get in amongst it a bit more.

Anyway, after a slight delay - bang, we were off...kind of! Trudging through the mud at first, the field got moving and then ground to a near stop going around the first tight bend, I knew it would be foolish to start trying to move up the field just, there wasn’t room and the ground was riddled with roots and bumps, ready to snap an ankle or two. Eventually a gap appeared as we left the tight stretch between the trees and I moved out wide to overtake a few people...quite a few actually and then darted back in before I ran into a thorny bush. The ground was soft here and I knew it would take a lot out of the legs over the course of the 4 laps, I couldn’t see any obvious way to avoid the mush so just ploughed through and took out a few more people in the process.
A sharp left at the end of the softer ground and we were running through the woods behind the doggy playground, the surface was great here but things still felt very narrow and crowded – we crossed a path, jumped a log and were then running slightly downhill, bouncing off the cushioned forest floor, another sharp left, across a path and we were heading back up the same hill on the same type of cushioned surface. It was around about now that the field started to open up a bit, I knew the start had been slow but I also knew that meant I’d have a lot to give for the next 3 laps. We turned right away from the trees, out onto the softer, heavier grass and worked our way up the light drag towards lap 2.

“Break ankle Alley” was less daunting 2nd time around and yet I very nearly went over on my ankle on my first step there! The field was much easier to move through at this stage though so I continued to pick off runners, the shout outs from the big crowds around us really helped keep things moving. Out from the trees and down towards the marshy corner, I decided to go wide around the corner to avoid the worst of it ( mistake) then tried to kick on towards the turn into the trees, found it very heavy here and I was glad to turn back into the woods.
Down through the trees again, I was feeling stronger and starting to enjoy the race, I hadn’t looked at the watch yet and knew it was pointless anyway. Over the path, around the couple of tight bends, jump over the log and it was back to the forest floor for the slight downhill stretch, I was loving this stretch but also knew that I had felt very strong coming back up the same hill on the opposite side so once we crossed over, I was out wide and moving up through the field some more.

Out of the trees, onto the softer grass and the crowd was immense here – massive support which was great to hear. I knew from the shout outs that FBOT was somewhere close so he had obviously been moving up the field too.
The softer, heavier ground really saps the energy from your legs so moving back into the tight alley between the trees was a slight ( very slight) relief, I steadied myself a little before continuing to push on and target runners ahead. Went wide again at the marshy corner and only then spotted some of the more experienced lads taking the inside line where the surface was better. Back into the trees and I was starting to hurt just a bit, myself and a Crusader athlete went toe to toe along this stretch, right over the path, over the log and down along the straight to the turn back up the slight hill. Every time I went, he responded and as a result, we probably passed 6\7 people along the way. Once we crossed the path, I was able to shake him off though – massive shout outs from the Raheny crowd as we turned out onto the grass again.
The softer ground was a killer this time around but I knew I had to keep things moving well here, others were flagging ahead and I could make up some more places.

Into the last lap , effort levels were high, people weren’t coming back as quickly or as often and I was looking at a group of runners about 50 metres ahead as a target. Took the inside line at marshy corner , really felt the burn coming through this section though. Back into the trees for the last time and I kicked again, knowing that this was the last time we’d be running on this surface, skipped over the path, jumped the log cleanly and kicked for the turn at the end of the straight ( more shoutouts here...all boardsies I suspect...couldn’t look up or I’d keel over).
The group I was chasing were coming back to me now, as we moved back up the hill I could feel my legs starting to burn but I was also seeing the gap closing. Out onto the softer grass for the last time and I immediately kicked the legs for home – it was maybe a tad too soon but within 10 or so strides I had moved past the group and was heading for another smaller group ahead. Lungs starting to burn now but the finish was just ahead....or was it....out of the corner of my eye I could see people running down through the far side of the trees....I hesitated for a second, backmarkers...it is the last lap. Someone moved alongside me and I went again, this time I kept kicking right till the end....

Finished up in 51st position ( I think) and a good few places away from the 4th scorer for M35s. While I loved the race, the course, the atmosphere and the feeling of racing against people and not times, I am a little disappointed not to have put in a better performance overall. I left myself with a lot of work to do over the course of the race by switching off at the start, I had planned to stay out of trouble but in the end I actually put myself in trouble (and possibly others) by not getting into position properly.
Lesson learned and banked for next year.

A huge thanks to the vocal support on the day, lots of folks from this parish ( too many to mention !) were out on the course and their shouts of encouragement really did help kick on through the discomfort.
Ran some easy stuff with Ferris and FBOT before heading over for a cup of tea and a catchup with some more folks from this parish....a great occasion really.

75ish miles for the week, 2 good sessions and a XC race...a good week to start the year off

FBOT01

Yep, D we both made the rookie mistake at the start but you pushed on really strongly and gave a good account of yourself. Raheny had a very strong M35 team with all 4 scorers finishing in the top 10. Hard to compete with that but I am sure you won't be found wanting when it comes to trying. Well done again.

Duanington

FBOT01 wrote: »

Yep, D we both made the rookie mistake at the start but you pushed on really strongly and gave a good account of yourself. Raheny had a very strong M35 team with all 4 scorers finishing in the top 10. Hard to compete with that but I am sure you won't be found wanting when it comes to trying. Well done again.

Hmm, I better change that report to read "finished a hell of a long way from the 4th scorer " so!
Good craic M, we'll push up a row or two at the start next year and give it another lash

tang1

Starting where you left off in 2016 I see with another super showing, very well done D.

RedRunner

Very solid running yesterday D and you looked strong in the final stretch. 51st is not too shabby in some very good company.

Mrs Mc

Great race D on your debut at xc and wearing your club colours.:)

Murph_D

Great run, D. Great account of it too. Some shape you're in!

annapr

You're a gas man, D... disappointed at finishing 51st on your first outing :pac: you were flying going into the home stretch, one of the very few I saw visibly speeding up!

Ferris B

When I found myself lining up beside you at the start I knew one of us was in the wrong place!

Great performance D.

FBOT01

annapr wrote: »

You're a gas man, D... disappointed at finishing 51st on your first outing :pac: you were flying going into the home stretch, one of the very few I saw visibly speeding up!

That's why he was disappointed. He is a hard taskmaster

Duanington

tang1 wrote: »

Starting where you left off in 2016 I see with another super showing, very well done D.

Cheers B

Duanington

RedRunner wrote: »

Very solid running yesterday D and you looked strong in the final stretch. 51st is not too shabby in some very good company.

Thanks for the shoutouts R - good to catchup afterwards too

Duanington

Mrs Mc wrote: »

Great race D on your debut at xc and wearing your club colours.:)

Thanks A - great to have clubmates out supporting

Duanington

Murph_D wrote: »

Great run, D. Great account of it too. Some shape you're in!

Cheers D - might tempt you to one of those BHAA meets yet

Duanington

annapr wrote: »

You're a gas man, D... disappointed at finishing 51st on your first outing :pac: you were flying going into the home stretch, one of the very few I saw visibly speeding up!

Maybe I'd been going too slow up to that point A!

Great to see you as always and thanks for the shoutouts

Duanington

Ferris B wrote: »

When I found myself lining up beside you at the start I knew one of us was in the wrong place!

Great performance D.

A pair of chicken****s C !

Annie get your Run

Duanington wrote: »

Maybe I'd been going too slow up to that point A!

Great to see you as always and thanks for the shoutouts

I see you're on the list for Dunboyne on Sunday! Will be down cheering on so might catch you then

Duanington

13.01.2016

Monday


Easy miles today, I enjoyed the break from the longer tempo stuff that I normally do on Mondays actually. Ran most of this on the grass and did some weights\core afterwards.

6.5 miles easy

Tuesday

Long runs are creeping up again and I've actually had to skip the last couple of long runs ( or at least break them up) for various reasons so was looking forward to this for once. Took in a bumpy route over the second half of this, up the Malahide road, into Raheny and home again.

16.2 miles at 7.44 pace

Wednesday

AM - 6.1 easy miles in the morning - runmute
PM - 6.1 easy miles in the evening - runmute

Core work after...simples

Thursday

Had planned hills today but the club have entered me into the Leinster XC ( Inters) in Dunboyne on Sunday so after a quick check in with the coach, we changed the week around to give the same look\feel as last week. Headed out to ST Anne's on my lunch break for some easy miles, weights after.

7.8 easy miles

No time to run in the PM unfortunately ( was weighed down with a bellyfull of stew anyway so maybe not a bad thing)

Friday

Back to the hills of Howth today for 8x75 second hill sprints - 3 minute recoveries.

F F F Freezing heading out for this so I made sure to get the full 3 miles easy in before starting this one, heading up the coast to my hill of choice.

Got started before I could get cold and ran the lot with my gloves\hat on....it was baltic up there!

Made sure to run these hard, starting quick and fighting to push on as the gradient increased ( and gravity played me for a fool).

Took the full 3 minute easy recoveries.

Was blowing hard at the end but knew it was probably the best hill session yet. Paces were all between 5.35 -5.50

9.6 for the lot ( inc easy stuff after)

Duanington

Annie get your Run wrote: »

I see you're on the list for Dunboyne on Sunday! Will be down cheering on so might catch you then

Yep AM - should be fun, hopefully catch up with you there

Duanington

Saturday

AM – up and out early for some easy miles around DNS with FBOT, Yaboya, Ferris and Murph. Great chat as always and with the legs creaking a bit from those hills the night before, I was glad of the company.
7.4 for the lot

PM – out late enough to run a couple of loops in the spikes on the coast.

3.6 less creaky miles!

Sunday

Leinster Intermediate Cross Country ( 8k)

Arrived down to Dunboyne with plenty of time to spare today, met up with the rest of the club just before the Men’s masters got underway. Race numbers sorted, we headed off for a bit of a warmup during the latter stages of the masters race, stopping along the way to cheer on other Raheny runners ( some really strong running today again).

The course itself looked completely different to the course in St Anne’s last week, no bouncing across forest floors or skirting across paths, jumping over logs...this was going to be a different race completely, 4x2k laps around a course with much longer grass and the heavier, softer earth that goes with it at this time of year.

The field would also be different, 72 starters for the inters race, much smaller than last week and with the longer distance too, this would most likely thin out a lot quicker than last week.

After a couple of miles warmup and some strides thrown in towards the end, we lined up at the starting area. It didn’t look like the full 72 starters had made it to the starting line but I knew from some of the faces around me that the standard would still be pretty decent at the top half of proceedings regardless.

A few nervous jokes back and forth at the starting line and the gun sounded – we were off. There was no chance of me making the same mistake as last week, the field was maybe a quarter of the size for starters and the corners looked to be a good bit wider too. Having said that, I still found myself edging back a little at the first turn, a sharp left, the ground was heavy ( we were the last race of the day) and uneven – this was 8k compared to last week’s 6k so I felt patience and having the confidence to back myself over the 2nd half would be as important as anything else today.

Out of the first turn and I was sitting comfortably in a group of 5\6 runners, two of whom were clubmates, the pace felt good and I was happy to stay in the group for the next bit while we figured out the course a bit more. A few more sharp turns, including a dip and sneaky climb and we were tearing down the back straight of the route, I liked this section because it allowed me to kick those lanky legs of mine a bit rather than sticking to the choppy stride that the tighter sections dictate.

Head the watch beep for the first mile just as I moved to the front of the group, I couldn’t tell for sure but I had the feeling that there were quite a few people using me as a pacer at this point, I was probably at the halfway mark in the field as we took the turn into the end of the first lap.

The finishing\starting straight on each lap was a real energy sapper on this course, long, flattened grass with soft bumps and dips, no real trail as such to run in. I have to admit that starting out on the 2nd lap I had fears of dropping back towards the tail end of things, there was a strong breeze blowing in our faces too which was mentally tough – the thoughts of doing this another 3 times was not appealing to say the least.

Into the 2nd lap we moved and I was digging a little deeper coming out of the corners, trying to close the gap to the runner in front and create that illusion to the people behind me that I know what I’m doing 

Great shoutouts from the crowd as we passed by the centre of the course, club coaches, club athletes and Annie get your run ( pretty sure I heard Adrian522 aswell) all giving me a lift as we moved towards the back end of the course again. I was starting to use the inside line a lot more on the corners which seemed to be gaining me some space on those around me and having worked to close the gap on a group ahead on the back straight, I drew level just as we turned into the wind. For some reason (maybe the presence of one of the coaches in support here), I found myself being able to kick a little better than others around me at this section, it was slightly uphill and into the wind but the surface was better than most areas so I just went for it each time.

Turning into the end of the 2nd lap, I was hurting, no doubt about it, I was hurting and questioning how badly I really wanted this. “The grass is too long”, “ the muck is too....mucky”....”its not fair”...”wah wah wah wah”....deep down though, I knew everyone was going to suffer and I knew that I had moved up into the top half of the field, I’d passed at least 7\8 runners on the last lap. I reasoned with myself to hang on, regroup and focus on the runner ahead.

Coming down through the centre of the route, the support once again gave me a lift, DH from the club had shouted something like “ Well done lads, you’re going well...” on the 1st lap, “That’s it D, you’re flying “ 2nd time around and this time around he seemed to have a lot more intent in his voice, surprise even “ do you want this D? How badly do you want it”.....eh...I’m not sure yet !

Out to the back of the course for the 2nd last time, I could see the leaders well ahead but I was probably close to top 20 now...I could also see what I thought was our 3rd scorer ahead. The pace felt slow and painful but everyone else was suffering too, I kept reminding myself of that. Dig in , keep working and close the gaps – simple right?

Around the sharp bend at the end of the back straight and we were into the wind again on my little straight, I hopped out in front of the lad ahead and could almost feel his head drop as I did. There was a group of 4 ahead now, maybe 10 metres ahead of me and while I was busting a gut now, I could see that they were too. Into the straight to end the 3rd and start the last lap, the wind was strong ( did I mention the grass was long?) and it was incredibly tough to get any momentum going, the lads ahead seemed to be flagging and I knew I’d close the gap soon.

Sharp turn at the top of the straight and into the bowels of the course, winding our way through to the centre area again, massive shoutouts here, there was a medal on if I wanted it badly enough according to DH.f*ck it...I did. I drew level with the group four and kicked straight on without hanging around, it hurt like hell but I knew it was in me. I was now in front of the group and I had figured out that I was either 3rd or 4th scorer for the club at this point, there was another sportsworld runner ahead, getting great support from the crowd and he had looked very smooth so far in the race, moving well, taking good lines through the turns and into the straights, I was chasing him now but running out of course.

Down to the end of the backstraight and I was just about level, sharp left into the wind ( and my little straight), I kicked and it worked....kind of. I moved ahead but he stayed with me. Two turns left for home, I had to stay ahead of him or he’d have me. The crowd were roaring us on , I was close to blowing a gasket and pushed harder again in an effort to shake him before we turned into the home straight, a quick glance up told me that we had maybe 150 metres once we took the last turn.

Huge shoutouts for us both as we took the last turn, he drew level and I heard someone shout at me to “want it more....show him you want it more”...so I went, I kicked and I went. The ground was soft and heavy but it didn’t matter now, we had 100 to go...he was still there the tough little f*cker ( he wasn’t a taller lad  ), he drew level and kicked slightly ahead...and started to move away. Instinctively I responded, arms and legs flailing, lungs burning, face distorted....this certainly wasn’t one for the cameras but over a matter of 5\6 strides and I was ahead again...and felt like I was moving away from him....steaming for the line and managed to squeeze every last ounce every last drop of energy I had left to keep him at bay.

The result? Team bronze for Raheny, county silver for Dublin....16th finisher overall and 3rd scorer for the club ( I think 6th scorer for Dublin which meant I got a medal there too )
I don’t think I’ve ever hurt quite as much as that today, this cross country craic is unique in that its running in its rawest format...the team aspect is great, it adds such a different dynamic to the equation and really makes you dig that bit deeper.

Today was completely different to last week but equally as enthralling really. I’ll hopefully race the BHAA XC next weekend but I can see now why L was so keen to have me take part in the club XC scene this winter, its a different level of hurt that will hopefully add something to the locker over the next few months.

Congratulated the masters on their win, met the Annie Get Your run at last ( who I owe big time for the support on the course), had a chat with Adrian 522 then ran a few easy miles after to bring the total for the day to 9.5

Just shy of 73 miles for the week