10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Munster Senior XC

1. To Hell or to Limerick

I think the initial hesitancy to hold this event in Limerick racecourse was understandable. Having said that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the course. It was a fabulous cross-country course, one of the best courses ever. The perfect antidote for the nonsense in Abbotstown. It should be the opposite way around where they talk about moving the course because it’s not dangerous enough.

2. B vs B

I think that there is too much minding of oneself in running. It is a terrible shame that both Leevale and East Cork fielded “B teams” for this race. It was great for the members of the B teams like myself and Mark Walsh but it should be the case that you have to run both the County and Munster cross country in order to qualify for the Nationals. It would stop people skipping a race because they know it is going to be run in a ridiculous swamp in Limerick that will have absolutely no relevance when it comes to the Nationals. It should be like the GAA where if you are caught training on a weekend where there is a cross country race that you are eligible you get banned.

3. Triangulation

I think that I will have to order a pair of the triangular spikes that Michael Herlihy had for this race. They are the spikes from the Nike Zoom Victory 5 XC. The shoe companies make no effort to innovate when it comes to cross country spikes for pure bogs like Limerick racecourse because there are only about 40 customers in the entire world. I am very tempted to try a pair of Inov-8 mud claws in races like this as there must be something better than spikes. I could try training properly but it is a lot easier to buy something that could make you faster.

4. Scandalous Decision

I think that the decision to reduce the race distance from 10k to 8k was scandalous. They said it was because of the tough conditions. This was clearly nonsense as the runners who had turned up were the maddest of the mad runners in Munster, farmers and strong fellas who either don’t know about or have utter contempt for magic shoes and who want to suffer as much as possible. It was clearly shortened so that people could go home ten minutes earlier. It was only afterwards that Michael Herlihy told me that if I had objected, they’d have had to have made it 10k. If I’d have know I’d have said something.

5. This is Bad

I think that after 100m of the race we were all glad that it was 8k not 10k. The race started with a ridiculously loud bang from what was possibly a new starting gun and off we went up the hill as fast as we could before all slowing dramatically when we encountered the first bog. That first bog was a good introduction to what lay ahead, this was not muck, this was a shin swallowing swamp.

6. Mass Cheating

I think that marking the course with only flags was asking for trouble. On the first lap everyone was very good and ran outside the flags all the way around the course. After the first lap new questionable lines were being taken, we’d already been given two kilometers off but when faced with ridiculous conditions it’s probably fair enough to lop off another few meters so long as everyone does it.

7. Downhill

I think that my favourite part of the course was the downhill section. It could have been a perfect course if they had taped off the hard path that ran down the middle of the downhill section so that you’d have to run downhill through the swamp instead we went from 7 minute miles through the uphill swamp to 5 minute miles down the hill with everyone desperately trying to find the hardest ground. 12mm spikes and rock hard gravel is not very pleasant.

8. The Swamp

I think that if I could have figured out a way to run through the swamp at the bottom of the course I could have beaten Michael Herlihy. The bottom of the course was a mystery to me, everyone else seemed to fly through it but every time I tried to turn at the final corner I came to a complete stop. There is no worse feeling in a XC race than when you put your foot in the ground and it doesn’t come out. The only worse feeling is when you see Michael Herlihy plowing through the same ground at twice the speed you are going with muck flying everywhere.

9. Like a Michael Herlihy in Muck

I think that there was no happier man in Limerick than Michael Herlihy, he was almost joyful, nearly smiling. I was ahead of him on the first lap but as we went onto the second lap he danced past clearly absolutely delighted with himself. It’s interesting that you can tell how happy someone is by the way they are running. Every step into the mud seemed to make him happier and happier. He was bouncing and ploughing his way through the swamp like a young bullock on his first day out of the shed.

10. The last will be first, and the first last

I think that these sorts of conditions should be mandatory for cross country. They turn the results from road races and road races on grass upside down, that’s the way it should be. I beat lots of people that beat me in the Abbotstown road race on grass and people I destroyed in that same race like Michael Herlihy beat me very badly in the muck. The only reason for cross country is to torment track and road runners. Despite my bad beating by Mike, the Leevale B team was still victorious in the battle of the B teams which proves nothing and probably doesn’t count as it was only 8k and not 10k. Hopefully the Nationals in Donegal will be in similar proper conditions; Donegal couldn’t possibly be dry could it?