10 Things I Think About Running

1. Definition of Insanity

I think that doing two races in two days isn’t as “crazy/mad/idiotic” as it used to be, magic shoes have almost made it sensible. Despite the magic shoes it is still utterly pointless as nothing will be achieved in the second race other than hopefully getting through it in one piece.

2. Suboptimal Conditions

I think that as cold and horrible it was in Clonmel, Togher was level 9 winter misery. It was almost dark, incredibly grey, cold and wet even though it didn’t appear to be obviously raining. These Christmas races are incredibly unlucky with the weather as if they were on at any other time of the year they would be the best races of the year.

3. Risk Assessment

I think that the warm up for a race when you have done a race the day before is very important. It’s not really a warm up more of risk assessment on niggles that could potentially turn into injuries. On the jog up to the remarkable efficient number collection at the community centre I felt surprisingly normal, just the usual pains and aches of a 36 year old man. Mostly the pains reside in my right knee and old stress fracture sites, especially when it’s cold. There were no new pains which meant the risk of running the race was low-medium which is like a greeny-amber colour which means drive on.

4. Shimozzle

I think that the start of this race was great fun. It started outside the SuperValu just up from the Lough, I hadn’t really looked at the course map so it was all new to me. There was an interesting ninety degree right turn a few hundred metres after the start. The problem/great thing with a turn so close to the start is that everyone wants to get to the corner first. I was never at risk but there were a few fast starting juvenile North Cork athletes that could have been in danger. Owing to my agility and nimbleness I avoided any trouble before receiving an Anne Marie McGlynn style elbow from Aoife Cooke which was entirely unnecessary.

5. Cautious Conor

I think that it was a good idea to follow Conor for the first mile of the race. He is a very sensible man, possibly the most sensible man in the race. A lot of people went off very, very, very fast which from my experience will take about 12 years to learn is a bad idea. After about 500m I followed Conor as we overtook 4 or 5 fast starters before settling into our likely finishing positions plus or minus a few.

6. Excellent Corners

I think that the corners make this race great. It is a fabulous route. Very imaginative, sort of like a Raheny 5 just with the correct distance and 5k instead of 5 miles. Even the grey concrete looks the same as in Dublin. I love all the right angle turns they are perfect for running, nothing too tight and never too close together. They definitely make the race go by quicker.

7. Nutrition vs Pharmacy

I think that it was good to race some new people today. After about 3k, Conor’s sensible pace became foolish to me so I dropped back. I feared that I was about to be swallowed by a huge pack of runners but only Ben came flying by in a UCC singlet. I tried to beat him because he is also a podcast superstar like me but it quickly became clear that he was far better than me.

8. The Forgotten Fourth Kilometre

I think that the fourth kilometer of a 5k is the most important, I have no memory of what happened in the 4th kilometer other than it was very wet and very grey and Ben and Conor started to get further away. I think that if I had concentrated properly during the 4th kilometer I might have gotten under the magic 16 minute barrier which is all that really matters when you are running a 5k.

9. Kieran McKeowns

I think that there must have been about seven Kieran McKeowns on the course today. He seemed to be everywhere, perhaps there are just lots of people who look like Kieran McKeown in Togher, he was definitely at six of the twelve corners. With about 800m to go he made his final appearance to tell me that Aoife and her gang were 50m back. This made me very worried as I could hear footsteps. Then I heard “Well Done Brian”, who’s Brian I thought, I don’t normally race Brians, then I remembered who Brian is.

10. Kerryman

I think that I did very well to hold off Brian Murphy over the last few 100m, he must be very disappointed as I’m absolutely terrible in the last few 100m of a 5k and normally anyone in sight of me beats me. I will take it as a victory over Michael Herlihy too as Brian beat him in the cross country so that’s positive. It was great fun and I didn’t get injured. Don’t worry the injury will probably happen soon.