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Chapter 2 - Finding Nemo
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Swashbuckler wrote: »One thing I've learned and the advice from Luke will always stay with me "you don't need to feel 100% to run a great race". I went out and ran 36.05 the day after. So I've learned not to panic if I feel tired. You never know til you're in the thick of the race. Even the warmup tells lies!
That is very true
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Ballyheigue 10k Race Report
There will be no stories of heroics today. Haha.
I knew going into this race that the course was tough. Sometimes too much knowledge can be a bad thing. But anyway, thoughts of pbs or anything like that didn't exist for this one. I wanted to be competitive. Knowing how I'm running I figured I should be there or thereabouts in the pecking order.
I made the short journey from my mobile home up the village to collect my number with my buddy at 9am. Very blustery weather. Had slept very well and felt good. The days rest on Friday definitely helped. Sleeping really well these days. Baba is sleeping through the night. The nerves kicked in a bit after collecting the number. It's happening a bit more lately. Same before Limerick and Shanagolden. Need to get a bit of a handle on it.
The half marathon was due to start at 11 and the 10k at 11.15 so I headed for warmup with my buddy at 10.45. Got two miles in and added some strides. Lined up on the main street just as the half marathon passed. Gave them some cheers and got lined up for the 10k. Had a peek around at who was lining up. Hard to tell but some lanky looking lads in club shirts is usually a sign of a couple of fast fellas. Off we went.
The first mile of this race is a pain. It's a big fecker of a hill. Continuous and steep and tough. I've ran it a bunch of times. Running it at pace is a different story. Haha. Three lads had motored off ahead. There was no way I was keeping with them at that pace up the hill. They ran it at around 5.30. No thanks. First mile was as tough as expected. But I ran it knowing what was still to come. First mile clocked at 6.05. I was surprised when I saw that. Quicker than I expected.
By now the field had properly thinned out. I was passed on the hill by a Kerry club runner. So I was placing fifth. The top three were about 100m ahead. I secretly hoped they had underestimated the route so I tried to stay in touch with the Kerry club lad.
Mile 2 has a flat portion but then we turn off the main road onto a nasty steep hill. Wind was in my face here. Still feeling OK. Not red lining by any stretch. Passing a lot of the half marathon runners. This was a help mentally to be passing people. Kerry club lad still in touch. Leading group still 100m ahead. More hills to come. Second mile clocked at 6.11.
The third mile is the worst part of the route. It's pretty much all either hills or drags in windy conditions. It was here I passed the kerry club lad using my strength on one of the hills. It's one of the big differences I've seen in the last year. My strength in general has improved especially on the hills. Doesn't mean I like them. They're still a bitch! But I can manage them better. In hindsight I ran the first three miles a little conservatively. That's what I mean about too much knowledge sometimes being a bad thing. But it's very hard to judge. I've gone hard on that route before and paid the price. Anyway, I digress. Mile 3 was tough. I was in fourth. The leading three hadn't made any gains. I could still see them. Kerry club lad wasn't far behind. Mile 3 clocked at 6.18.
Start of Mile 4 has the steepest hill on the route followed by a drag. Suffered here a little so maybe I hadn't been too conservative! By the end of mile 4 I was starting to catch the lad in third but Kerry club lad wasn't far behind me too. I knew in mile 5 we would finally start to get some downhill payback for all of these fecking hills and I could push on. Mile 4 clocked at 6.28.
Start of mile 5 is finally some flat road so I could pick up the pace a bit and start trying to reel in third place. The leading two were gone. They had pushed on. But third place was coming back to me. Passed him on the flat on mile 5 before we hit the downhill. So I was now in third. Suffering from the hills. But knowing some payback was coming. Finally the big downhill! Hurray! I let the legs loose. Had a peek over my shoulder and kerry club lad was bolting down the hill. Feck. Haha. He passed me at a wicked pace. So I had visualized being in a battle during the week and thought to myself now is the time Paul. You're battling for third. Don't let him go. Keep in touch. So I upped the pace a bit more. I wondered if maybe he was just strong on downhills and maybe he'd even out on the flat. I was right. When we reached the downhill I had managed to stay within touching distance. Had a look at the watch. 5.4 miles in. Not long to go. Time to leave it all out there Paul. No point finishing with something left in the tank but at the same time I need to make it to the finish line. Haha. So I pushed up on him. Working hard now. Managed to get level and pass him. This was the fourth time we had exchanged places. I was working really hard here. He sounded OK. Breathing fine. He put a surge on and passed again. Still 400m to go. One lap of a track. I tried. I really did but he was matching everything I had and couldn't muster enough to pass him again. He finished one second ahead of me. So I placed fourth with a time of 37.34. Mile 6 was 5.23 and the last 400m were 5.15. So a solid pace for the last section of the race. The last mile of the race is mostly on flat so I was pretty pleased with my pace here. Didn't feel the worst at the end in the sense I didn't collapse on the ground. Haha. Kinda nice to finish with some dignity for once. Lol. Had a good chat with the Kerry club lad. Nice fella. We had a right good battle. I enjoyed it.
So there you have it. A good race. Pleased with the time as my previous best on that course was 41.06. Also that time of 37.34 would have been a pb for me last year. To run that time on that course tells me how much I've come on. The time would have been good enough to win the last two years too.
I was never in contention to win. I guess you can have no control over who shows up. But in the long term I want to be that guy that shows up at a race and ruins other peoples plans of winning. Haha.
Not much to over analyze in this race. It was a good solid run on a tough course in tough conditions. Going forward I'll be looking forward to running in some races with deeper fields. I'd rather finish 50th getting dragged along by faster guys than finish 4th in a thin field running on my own for most of it. Cross country season will be interesting!
Up next is Borrisoleigh 5k Tuesday week and another crack at one of my favorite distances
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