Swashbuckler's Marathon Debut?

I'm EU44 in all Nikes apart from vaporfly. 44 in all endorphins. 44 in asics dynaflyte. 45 in NB.

Haha I read that one before. We'll see 😂 . Border Half early December. I'll be in no shape for a 5k PB attempt.

This has all the elements for the making of a half decent race report. Apologies for any folks that are shocked by some of my commentary contained within as it may seem very UnSwashbucklery. 😂

Ballyheigue 10k 2022

This is one I have raced a couple of times before. Last time out was 2018 where I finished 4th in a time of 37.34. That day saw me battle for a podium and ultimately lose out with about 600m to go.

The course itself is an absolute pig of a route. Hills, hills and more hills. All rewarded back to you in mile 5 but there's an awful lot taken out of the legs by then. I knew this wouldn't be a PB run and having heard that my buddies coach was racing it also knew I wouldnt be winning it! The best I could hope for was maybe another little battle. The absolute last thing I wanted was a solo run.

All week I had been feeling like crap on my runs. I was tired , plus the heat and humidity was just zapping me completely. So I didnt have high hopes. I decided not to really taper for this. Come race day on Saturday my week had looked like this;

Monday: Easy 5M

Tuesday: 3x1200m/4x600m all off 2mins at roughly 5.45-5.50 pace. This session had gone pretty well. Tough but the recoveries were generous

Wednesday: Easy 45mins (recovery pace)

Thursday: Easy 10k

Friday: Easy 5M

I got a decent night's sleep on Friday night so I felt ok the morning of the race. Did a decent 3 mile warmup most of which was around the mobile home site. Then headed up the village to kick off. Noticed a stiff breeze as I headed uptown. Decided to wear the Vaporfly Next% as I didnt want to waste miles on the Alphafly. Met a couple of people I know including diegob who gave me the details of the route change this year. Sounded messy and was good to have the heads up.

We were lined up with the half marathon runners at the same start point and time this year. I wasn't a fan of this. Very hard to know who you're racing until the split-off point at 5km. Good atmosphere at the start. Few deep breaths. Try and get a peek at the race number colours around me to see who I'm competing with (orange = 10k, blue = HM). Thankfully Derek Griffin is wearing the blue. Countdown from 10 and off we go.

I'm well positioned at the front and immediately notice i'm placing high enough up the field as we turn the first bend on to the first ferocious hill. The first hill is probably one of the longest/steepest in the race but its so early in the race it doesnt feel like the worst. All that being said, its a slow first mile for sure. On this hill I pass a couple of over-enthusiasts. I'm placing 5th ish. Derek is off into the sunset and my buddies coach (Trevor) isnt far behind him. Ultimately they were the winners of the HM and 10k. The rest of us were left to fight it out for scraps. Mile 1: 6.15

The start of mile 2 is the remainder of this hill and then flattens out for a bit before turning left after the church and back up another steep hill. The sea breeze hits hard. I'm still in fifth. The two lads ahead are within touching distance but I have no idea if they are half marathoners or 10k lads. I try to ignore all of this and just focus on getting the effort right. Pushing too hard now means there's nothing left for the downhill in mile 5. I can hear heavy breathing behind me. Two or three lads. Based on the breathlessness I suspect they are 10k. Effort level is where I expect it to be. Unpleasant. Certainly more unpleasant than I like to feel this early in a 10k. The breeze makes it all the tougher. Mile 2: 6.06

Mile 3 is reasonably flattish but has two sharp enough pulls. Again unpleasant and striking the right balance is key. No change in positions here. Still the same. If the two lads up ahead are 10k then I'm placing 4th currently. I know I would soon find out. Lads behind me still breathing down my neck. Drafting off me all the way up the hills and protecting themselves from the breeze.......This annoys me. Mile 3: 6.06

Soon after this the HM and 10k go separate directions. This will be telling. The two behind me would want to f*ck off with their drafting. Its all I'm thinking about now. The two lads ahead reach the crossroads and take a right. They're HM. I'm in 2nd place! Hmm ok interesting development there. The two behind me turn left with me. 10k lads...well feck. This is probably the most unpleasant part of the route. The legs have been drained from the first few miles and this mile is alllllll uphill. The drafters are latched right behind me. I decide to cross the road and they follow. I cross back and they follow. I know I shouldnt have, as we're all racing but I shout back "Are any of ye gonna do some of the work here?". I get a breathless, confused grunt of "I dunno" back. "Grand I say. So ye're just gonna draft off me all the way is it?" No response. I'm in the depths of 10k pain right now and the hills and breeze are just a killer. At least I know the route and I know some reward is coming if I can make it that far. Before the end of mile 4 we reach the crest of the last major hill and it drops for a bit before turning right onto a back road. It's around here that one of the 10k lads pulls ahead. I stay with him. Mile 4: 6.10

We're all bunched together now. Four of us I think. I can feel the lad beside me trying to pull away but I'm up for the challenge. Still seething at being drafted for two miles I'll be damned if this f*cker gets his reward on the first flat section after those hills. Let him feel some of the pressure now. Let him know I'm made of tougher stuff. I think of 2018 where I was third and was passed and didnt have enough strength to fight back. I really really want this podium. 2nd or 3rd I dont care. Just better than 4th. In this mile we hit the big reward. A giant of a downhill. So fast its hard to run it right. At this stage theres three of us side by side although one lad (the yank) saunters ahead. This is just plain hard on the legs. One of the few times I havent felt recovered running downhill. This is all hard work. We now approach the change in route and by god was it a clusterf*ck. We take a hairpin left off the giant hill into a farmers boreen. A crappy dug up side road. I notice the 10k leader coming back against us. He's not as far ahead as I thought. Turns out the cone that we were meant to run around wasnt placed when he arrived and he ended up running an extra 200 metres. It wasnt placed when we got there either but the sleepy marshall got a cone out just in time. He didnt seem to be sure where it was meant to go. We round the cone (annoying) and head back up to the turn we took to re-enter the downhill. All that messing just so we could start the 10k and HM at the same time together. I dunno. Messy......Anyway...I re-enter the downhill in second place but the yank saunters past on the downhill again. Mile 5: 5.48

At some point here we reach the foot of the hill and end up out on the coast road. The yank is about 2s ahead of me. The lad behind is the same. We have a battle on our hands. I kept reminding myself of 2018. I want that podium. But i'm dying. Any push atall from behind would possibly break me. I figure there must be about 500m to go so I decided to put my money where my mouth is and bite down. I push a little bit harder. No response from behind. The yank ahead responds. I push a little more. I can sense the guy behind me breaking (or at least not responding) but I'm absolutely terrified he'll get a second wind. I decide I need to keep upping and upping and upping as much as I can. I use the fear of him catching me to push me on. I can also feel the yank is under pressure too. The last 400 or 500m felt endless. This is as much as I can ever remember putting into a shorter race. We reach the crest of a little pull and the finish line and supporters are up ahead. I keep pushing but the yank has 2nd place sewn up. He finished strong (about 2s ahead of me). No response from behind and I cross the line to the cheers from family and friends. I am absolutely rinsed at the finish line. Completely buckled and keeled over. Paramedic checks on me and there's brief talks of oxygen before I come round a bit and breathing returns to normal. My little girl comes over to innocently ask me why I'm sweating so much 😂. Big kiss and a hug, some photos and once i recompose myself I am delighted. Mile 6: 5.33. The "bit" : 5.21 pace. Total time: 37.37 (three seconds slower than 2018). Total distance: 6.31 miles (110m longer than 2018).

I'm about to head for my cooldown and notice the yank with is folks. Didnt realise he was so young. Its only then I realise he's from Texas and here on holiday. I have a lovely chat with them and congratulate him on beating me (wearing Nike Pegasus) 😂 . Him and his team finished third in Texas State high school. A high quality runner who had no idea of the route before today. Fair play to him. I feel bad for giving out about the drafting....

Head off for a cooldown. All in all I covered about 11.5 miles on the day.

So a really good result. The time is meh but its always meh on that course. To put it into context I ran similar time in 2018 coming off a 36.05 pb and specific training.

I head to the pub that day to collect my trophy and enjoy a few pints. Have a lovely catchup with Derek Griffin and @diego_b from these parts. Was just a really fun day overall and a nice boost to win the podium battle this year having lost it in 2018. Pushed all the way and probably the best outcome I could have hoped for given its a pretty thin field. Onwards and upwards.

Some stats;

And if anyone wondered what rinsing yourself in a 10k looks like then here is the unflattering truth;

Completely agree. We werent catching first place so we were competing against eachother...At the time I was cranky but afterwards I completely got it......I'd probably do the same....😂

Yeah a few good points there A.

With the lack of taper that was 100% intentional. I really didn't know what way the race was gonna go. I knew it wasn't a pb attempt. I wasn't sure if I'd be in contention for a podium so if I ended up on a solo run for nothing it probably would have been a glorified session. Didn't want to sacrifice any quality during the week. Banna on July 31st might be a different story.

Thanks E. I'm not sure how much of a role model I was after 6 pints of Guinness in the pub 😂