10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Munster Masters XC

1. Badness

I think that you don’t have a problem when you know what you are doing is wrong. I know that I should recover properly from the marathon so that I can get even more excellent. I would love to have the patience to try and become even more excellent, but it seems like a miserable existence. I try not to think of the marathon as anything special as it is just an invented concept that your body has no knowledge of. If there is no obvious badness after the marathon sure why wouldn’t you be fine to race again. Magic shoes and limited alcohol definitely help to reduce the amount of debadification required.

2. Freezing Fog

I think that this is the first race that I have run in freezing fog. It was terrible to come back to this awful cold place after a few days in wonderful Spain where it is warm and there is no ice unless you deliberately want to have ice and go up the mountains. Freezing fog is very atmospheric to run in, if it wasn’t so cold it would be a great addition to any race.

3. Course Check

I think that Clarecastle might be my favourite venue for cross country. It is an acceptable distance from Cork and for some reason the course seems to agree with me. I have beaten many people in this field, for example Conor McCauley even though he claims not to remember the beating. Clarecastle is one of those courses that gets very mucky, I wasn’t sure what it would be like in freezing fog, it turned out that it was a lot like the course in Donegal, sort of like a soft carpet with short portions of muck, perfect for Dragonflys.

4. Dragonflys in the Field

I think that Dragonflys are the best thing that has happened to cross country. I have always been in favour of them, they are excellent shoes, probably the most comfortable spikes ever, they don’t even feel like spikes. Nike are even bringing out a XC specific Dragonfly now which will have the triangular cone shaped spikes. I tried to put my current triangular cone shaped spikes onto my track Dragonflys but they don’t fit so I had to go with regular 9 mm spikes.

5. The Old Grey Whistle/Gun Test

I think that the start of this race was very unfair. There were a lot of runners in the race because the Munster Intermediate was being run at the same time as the Munster Old Man race. The starter had both a whistle and a gun which was slightly confusing as either is an accepted starting method. He waved the whistle at us as he backed away which made me think the gun was broken and he was going to use the whistle which is normally used for giving out. Then he tried to fire the gun but it didn’t go off so we had to regroup. Then again he tried the gun but it didn’t work, then the gun worked so we were off, myself and Michael Herlihy were badly delayed as we weren’t anticipating the third successful firing of the gun.

6. Helly Hansen

I think that running with a t-shirt under your singlet is normally a sign of a lack of interest. When it is actually freezing like it was in Clarecastle a long sleeve under your singlet is essential. There should be a rule about the colour of the longsleeve, it should be colour co-odinated with the singlet otherwise the photos will look terrible on Instagram. I choose a black Helly Hansen top that I have had since 2010 when it was cold last and I had to use YakTraks to run.

7. Chesser Checks Out

I think that Rory Chesser nearly won the race on the first lap. Because of the dodgy start myself and Michael Herlihy lost about 50m on the bunch of Intermediate and Old Men at the start. I deliberately took it somewhat handy for the first kilometer as I wasn’t sure how my body would react to the race. After a kilometer which was also a lap I felt totally unbad so I picked it up a bit and dispatched Michael Herlihy and moved up into third a good bit behind Rory Chesser and a little bit behind Kenny Rodgers.

8. The Gambler

I think that Kenny Rodgers tactics for the race were very interesting. After three of the seven one kilometre laps Rory Chesser had a good gap on myself and Kenny. Listening to his breathing I didn’t think that Kenny was going to be able to bridge the gap up to Rory but slowly but surely or quickly and certainly, I can’t quite remember, I was dropped and Kenny caught Rory. I was left in third happy enough to be without sight or sound of Michael Herlihy.

9. Herlihy vs Murphy

I think that Brian Murphy did me a big favour today by distracting Michael Herlihy. Seven one-kilometre laps is a lot of laps to be worried about being caught by a resurgent terminator like Michael Herlihy. Thankfully Brian Murphy was keeping him busy so I was left alone in third to concentrate on looking excellent for the photos in the fog. The problem with a one kilometer lap and effectively two races in one was that lapped runners became an issue for the last two laps, combined with the freezing fog it must have been great fun trying to figure out who was who.

10. Confirmation

I think that no matter where I am in a race I will always be afraid that I will be confused with a lapped runner and sent off for another lap like keeps happening in the National 10k on the track. Thankfully the stewards did an excellent job counting the chaos and at the end of seven laps I was sent into the finishing chute in third behind Rory who had been overhauled by Kenny Rodgers. I had time to feel the ice that had formed in my hair before turning around to see Brian Murphy storm in just ahead of Michael Herlihy. 15 seconds was the gap, which is similar to the gap between our marathon times.