10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Dungarvan 10

1. Hibernia

I think that the Romans must have had Dungarvan in mind when they named Ireland. I think Hibernia means permanent winter in Latin. Dungarvan is permanent winter.

2. 10+10 Miles

I think that I have finally learnt my lesson about 10 mile warm ups before 10 mile races. I admit that it is very tempting, but an upcoming marathon does not justify the misery that is a 10 mile road race after a 10 mile warm up. Because of what I have learned, I limited myself to a two-mile warm up. After a mile of the warm up I met a windswept miserable looking Viv and Sean who were coming to the end of their first 10 miles. They looked utterly miserable so I was very happy with my decision.

3. Wind Delayed

I think that the start of the race was very odd. It was either the 11am start or the threat of the howling cold wind that made the first few 100 meters down to the roundabout very slow. Because everyone seemed to be jogging and the wind was behind us I went to the front and enjoyed leading the race for about 200m, it was lovely until we turned left at the roundabout into a vicious headwind. The second I felt the wind in my hair I knew that my time at the front had come to an end so I tucked in behind the people who should have been leading the race in the hope that the wind would be so ridiculously strong that I could follow behind them like Kipchoge behind a Tesla.

4. The Decision

I think that running in pack is one of the great feelings in running. It is fabulous to run along in a pack of runners that you know are way way better than you. I got to experience this for about 500m while it was decided who was going run into the wind. Once it had been decided I was quickly deposited out the back door with a few other stragglers like John Kinsella and Kevin O’Leary.

5. Go Solo

I think that ending up running solo in a 10 mile road race is a big mistake, you are always better off with company even if you don’t like the company. After being shelled from the pack that I was enjoying I sat in behind Kevin O’Leary, John Kinsella and some fella from Waterford. I was very happy at the back of this group and it would have been much better if we had all stayed together for the wind tunnel miles. Unfortunately, John Kinsella had other ideas and split the group to pieces so I ended up solo just before the point of the race where you didn’t want to be solo.

6. Unphotographable

I think that Formula 1 teams should rent out that stretch of road on the way out of Dungarvan for aerodynamic testing. It has to be the windiest road in the world. I think it is slightly uphill as well to make it worse. God it was miserable. I knew I was getting slower as I started to hear magic shoes behind me. I could picture in my head Viv sitting at the very back of a bunch of perfectly paced runners hiding so well from the wind that he won’t appear in any photographs. This thought made me both angry and worried.

7. Beautiful Wind

I think that the corner after the five-mile mark in this race might be my favourite corner in a road race. It feels so good when you get to that corner and turn sharp left. Then you feel the beautiful cold wind on your back pushing you along like magic shoes on the flat only magnified. Just like the magic shoes, a tail wind benefits some runners more than others, in my case the benefits are compounded.

8. The Eagles

I think that I’d have been better off not knowing that Viv had run 10 miles before the race. Being beaten a man who isn’t taking the race seriously and is only running “marathon pace” is a disgrace. After 7 miles I was left in the company of Viv and Aoife. I desperately wanted to destroy Viv, I was hoping that Aoife would help me but she seemed to be happy just to run with Viv probably because he is a nicer man than me, for this reason I tried a good few times to drop both of them from mile 7 to 8 but it didn’t work so I had to wait for the finish.

9. Don’t get Viv’d

I think that the last 800m of the race were glorious. They changed the finish this year. I think it is better, more dramatic and perfect for destroying Viv. When you turn off the roundabout with the terrible traffic you have to go back up a small little hill. To me this hill was the Alpe D’Huez, Viv was Jan Ulrich and I was Lance Armstrong, I wish I had given him “the look” just before I sprinted away from him. Someone shouted at me as I reached the top that I had sprint to avoid getting chick’d, I didn’t care about getting chick’d I was only worried about getting Viv’d.

10. Gaps Fuel Themselves

I think that the great thing about getting a gap on someone close to the finish is that the gap starts to feed itself. Once I realized that I had dropped Viv I was so delighted with myself that I only got faster all the way to the finish. If it had of been the Tour De France the team manger would have been on the radio yelling at me to take it handy so as not to alert the drug testers. It was a crushing victory. I’m starting to enjoy Dungarvan, beating Viv definitely helps, the wind wasn’t that bad.