10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Munster Senior XC 2021

1. Guessing Game

I think that the Munster Senior XC is a unique event. It is the only event in the world where you have to guess when your race will start. It’s great fun, more events should do it. Imagine the stress of a big city marathon where it would just start randomly +/- 1 hour. It would make it much more interesting.

2. The Hour

I think that I would be much happier if the clocks went back an hour every day. It suits me and it really annoys all the people who think they’re great because they get up early in the morning. I got up at 10 which was actually 11 but it felt like 10. It didn’t matter because I didn’t know what time the race was on at so the clock was irrelevant anyway.

3. Zero Muck, Zero Time

I think that the field in Two Mile Borris must be the best-drained field in Tipperary. It rained a lot during the week, so it was looking promising for a morale-sapping, speed-reducing muck fest. I was very worried when I arrived at my best guess of 1:30 pm to see that the ground was barely even soft. I was even more worried by the sight of the women’s race which had already started about an hour before when I had guesstimated.

4. The Numbers

I think that I was a little stressed trying to get my number. Normally at a XC race you should have started your warmup before the women’s race starts. I hadn’t even arrived, had no number and no warmup. Then they announced on the PA that the men’s race wouldn’t start until 15 minutes after the women’s race. I didn’t really trust this so I ran around combining my number search and warm up into one event.

5. Gerry and The Pacemakers

I think that the man with the mic only had two records with him. It would have been better if the record was Ghost Town, instead we got You’ll Never Walk Alone. Just before the start it was announced that in the tradition of the Munster Senior XC the national anthem would be played. I was hoping for another rendition of YNWA but we actually got the National Anthem which was very disappointing.

6. Don’t Get Injured

I think that the most important thing with running is not to get injured. Everything else is not worth worrying about. If you could avoid getting injured for 12 years and just keep running you’d be very good, unbeatable almost. When the race started I ended up racing fellas who reminded me of when I was 23. It’s terrible because they’ll all probably get too motivated, go mad on the mileage, get injured and be like me when they’re 35 back exactly where they started.

7. Viciousness

I think that I have a target on my head. Every single person who passed me in the race did so viciously. Barry was particularly vicious when he passed, I wonder is it because of the hair, it must be easy to build up hate for the hair in front of you which results in the vicious passing. Once he passed me and got a gap he slowed down so it must be the hair.

8. The Poisoned Crow

I think that I could never be confident of beating Mike in a race no matter how big the gap. As usual, I got a good gap on Mike over the first two laps. Mike races like a crow who has been poisoned, as the race warms up, he heats up and starts to fly. My only hope was that the gap I had cultivated was big enough to withstand the charging Mike. I could see him at the end of every lap when the course turned back on itself. I saw that he was wearing a t-shirt under his singlet which was encouraging as that’s always a sign of not really being too bothered.

9. Discrimination

I think that size-based discrimination played a part in my little detour at the finish. I had held my position better than normal only getting passed by two young fellas and Barry. I knew Mark Walsh was on my back as I turned the last bend where the course separated into the finish and the normal lap. I’m presuming due to my bigness and general hairiness it was presumed that I couldn’t possibly be finished so the gap was opened and I was sent off for another lap. I had to duck back under the rope to get back into the finishing straight. In the end, it didn’t really matter, all it did was save me from having to sprint against Mark Walsh which would have been pointless anyway.

10. Great Run by Me

I think that I will have to do an Instagram post to make sure everyone knows about my great run and a great victory over Mike. Even with the finishing straight discrimination, I beat him badly by 20 seconds which is an awful lot. The size of the gap and the fact that he was wearing a t-shirt under his singlet made me feel sorry for him so I didn’t do any real gloating. I always knew that I would eventually beat him, it is kind of disappointing that like when I finally beat John Meade it was very, very easy.