10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About Pacing The Charleville Half Marathon

1. Not Berlin

I think that Charleville is like Berlin if you knocked down all the buildings and replaced them with hedges and lots of Limerick flags. It's very very very boring. I prefer Berlin, much nicer, better walking tours.

2. Lazy Lads

I think it was very unfair of Comber and Alfie to make Conor and I do the 1:25 group. They're both very lazy. I like suffering so I had no problem accepting the faster pace group. I don't even know why I'm complaining, I suppose like complaining too.

3. Stingless Bee

I think I felt like a bee with no sting this morning. I had delusions that I could sting on the drive up but after a few steps I realised that my legs were still bad.

4. Cheesestrings

I think that the Charleville half marathon needs to get bears instead of Cheesetrings. I saw the giant Cheesetrings at the start and while I was tempted to get a photo, Cheesesetrings just aren't bears. You can't cuddle a Cheesetring, it's just wrong. I prefer bears. Michael sort it out.

5. Balloons

I think that Conor and I should have worn our balloons. It was a big mistake, no one could tell that we were the 1:25 pacers, we thought that it was too windy for balloons, it probably was but we could have let them go after a mile. We had to tell everyone that we were the pacers. My pink singlet helped.

6. Retinal Scaring

I think my pink singlet and pink sunglasses might be a bit bright. Gearóid Ó Laoi said that it damaged his camera. I still think it looks fantastic.

7. Instagram Pace

I think that the pace that we had to run was very nice. It's not easy and it's not super hard, it's the sort of effort that you'd run at if you were trying to get nice photos for Instagram.

8. Rebadification

I think that pacing the half marathon may have caused rebadification. I thought that I had successfully completed debadification on Saturday but after about 9 miles my quads we back to being quite bad. I'm not worried because debadification normally takes 10 days so I'm well ahead of schedule.

9. Old GAA Player Syndrome

I think that I should have tried the stem cells that they're selling in the Elysian for recovery from the marathon. They seem to cure everything, baldness, bad legs and old GAA player syndrome. I was slightly put off by the 10% discount for Bladez Barbers with every treatment. It's just not hipster enough, I prefer Tom Winters.

10. Pretend Pacing

I think that I should just pretend that I'm pacing someone for every run I do. I didn't whinge or moan, I didn't ask to stop for a pee and I didn't stop to re-tie my shoelaces just because I felt like a break. It was great fun, I really enjoyed helping people. It's nice. I kind of missed whinging.