10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Great Railway Run 25k

1. Unfinished Business

I think that I had unfinished business with this race. It is the only race that I remember dropping out of. Dropping out of a race is a terrible thing to do, a terrible act with terrible consequences. Dropping out of races can become a habit, so it was important to comeback and finish this race just to prove that it wasn’t terrible mental weakness or a fear of doing the same route that I run nearly every second day in a race.

2. Where’s Jeremy

I think that Jeremy was badly missed at the start line. I don’t really know why I thought Jeremy was going to run but everyone is terrified of him after that 5k in Kilkenny. Even Alan O’Brien was looking for him, “Where’s Jeremy?”.

3. 530s 540s

I think that it is pointless asking people what they are going to run at the start of a race. Once we had established that there was no Jeremy, Lizzie predicted that the one, two, three would be Alan, me and Damian. I asked Alan what he thought 5:30s? “No, no, no if I did 5:30s I’d be in a heap”, he reminded me of Viv. Then the race started, and we went off at about 5:30s, no one came with us, no one, just me and Alan like an old Saturday training session without the usual gap between us.

4. Substantial Lead at Half Way

I think I must have annoyed Alan with my question about the 5:30s as it took about 2 miles for the 5:30s to become 5:20s and for my time as a co-leader to come to an end. As we turned the corner down the hill from Blackrock Castle the pace increased, and I was dropped, doomed to run 13 miles on my own all the way to Carrigaline watching Alan’s silhouette get smaller and smaller until it was no longer visible and his lead became what one would call substantial at half way.

5. Marathon Prep

I think that this race is perfect preparation for the Cork Marathon. The feeling of despair, awfulness and pointlessness that I felt around the back of Jacob’s Island is exactly the same feeling as I remember from the Cork Marathon, and just like at this point in the Cork Marathon there are about 13 miles to go. There must be something wrong with that land because once you get back onto the path to Harty’s Quay the awfulness goes away, just something to be aware of if you are planning on running Cork.

6. Breaking 25k

I think that the worst part of this race was the fear. I spent the whole race worrying that Damian was doing some sort of session during the race and that he would suddenly appear behind me flying. I became very worried as I passed through Passage West and saw Ken Ince and Gary Walsh standing waiting ready to hop in like the pacers Kipchoge had in Vienna. After seeing them I was certain that they were going to pace Damian perfectly and fly past me in the last mile at exactly 5:40 pace. It was great motivation to keep going. I even started to hear magic shoes behind me, although I think it was that the wind had changed direction and I was hearing my own magic shoes.

7. Compressed Marathon

I think that it was great to find out what happens if you don’t turn up the hill at Raffeen. I had never run the road from Raffeen to Shanbally before, what a road for running, wonderful hills that would been lovely to run up if it wasn’t 11 miles into a 25k race. The hills took a while to get used to after the flat along the water but once I got up the hill to Shanbally I was happy to run more hills. The profile of the 25k is very like if you took the profile of the 42k from the Cork marathon and compressed it to fit into 25k. It is perfect preparation for Cork.

8. Hyundais and Volvos

I think that drivers almost hate runners as much as they hate cyclists. I nearly got taken out in Shanbally at the little out and back section by a Hyundai Tucson being driven by a very angry man. The marshals shouted at me so I was able to avoid him, the Gardai were there watching so I hope he got many penalty points for driving on the wrong side of the road. Then up near Novartis a Volvo XC90 took a side swipe at me like you see in those cycling videos on Twitter. I should have patted the side of the car but instead I just gave an unfriendly wave. I wish I had of worn a GoPro as it would have made an excellent Twitter account.

9. Adrenaline

I think that the adrenaline from the run ins with the angry old men in people carriers was better than any Maurten gel. It is amazing what being angry can do for your ability to run moderately fast. I was nearly back to Carrigaline by the time I’d processed the anger. Then I saw the finish and forgot all about the cars and angry old men who wish that they could run and have tanned legs like me.

10. Magic Prizes

I think that the prizes for this race were incredible. It was far more money than I have ever won in a road race. Perhaps the prizes were calculated based on magic shoes as it was precisely enough money to buy one pair of magic shoes. The only other 25k race I ran was in Berlin, I came 2nd then too and got a box of Cliff bars. A pair of magic shoes is much better. You could never have enough magic shoes.