10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Coolagown 10k

1. Unlikely Treble

I think that it was always going to be a big ask to win three races in row. The main problem I have with winning races is that I am relying on lots of other moderately good runners like me taking running seriously. Thankfully due to the last two years lots of moderately good runners like me prefer sessions to races as they have realized that this is how you improve. I prefer continuous races.

2. School Football Matches

I think that it was very cruel of Kieran McKeown to tell me that John Meade was too tired after being at two school football matches. I kind of believed him after last weeks feeble excuse. The thought entered my mind that perhaps he was put off by my course record in the Doneraile 10k and my third slowest winning time ever in the Donoughmore 7 and was actually afraid of me.

3. There He Is

I think that Coolagown is one of the most likely places for John Meade to turn up to a race. They might as well have had “Coolagown welcomes John Meade” signs up. Sure enough Kieran McKeown was only winding me up and there was John Meade looking fresh and well tapered, probably after undergoing a special reconnaissance of the course with the chief race organiser.

4. Rollercoaster

I think that Coolagown is a proper 10k course. You know you are in trouble when you get flashbacks of Donoughmore driving up into the village. It is essentially the Donoughmore 7 only 10k and not at altitude. Just under three miles gently downhill, just over three miles very uphill and 200m very downhill.

5. Would The Real Nick O'Donoghue Please Stand Up

I think that I must look very like Nick O'Donoghue. The race organisers had the great idea of having a fella in the lead car doing commentary. I love commentary on races, it makes it feel like a proper race. Once we got going the man in the van started calling out the leaders, of course he knew John Meade and Kieran McKeown but for some reason he thought I was Nick O'Donoghue. Not Tim, Nick. Perhaps it was the beard and the perpetual smell of coffee off me. Nick O'Donoghue lead all the way to the bottom of the hill at three miles.

6. Tactics

I think that I had no real hope of beating John Meade on that course. Once we reached the part of the course where the downhill kind of petered out and the uphill sort of gradually commenced the man in the van announced that John Meade had overtaken Nick O'Donoghue and opened a big gap. This seemed to delight the commentator for some reason.

7. Kieran McKeown in Third

I think that it was very unfair of the man in the van to keep repeating the same thing over and over again. “John Meade leading comfortably, Nick O'Donoghue in second, Kieran McKeown in third”. This made me very worried as if he could see Kieran McKeown from the van it meant he was very close to me.

8. Well Done John

I think that my favourite part of the race was at five miles as we turned right back onto the semi major road. John Meade was right behind the lead car most likely getting a favorable draft. As the car made the turn right the man in the van doing the commentary said “Well Done John”. I knew this meant that the game was up and that John Meade had won. They might as well have handed him the white envelope out of the back of the van so that he could run straight through the line and back to the car to go to bed early to be up for school in the morning.

9. Metamorphosis

I think that it was almost a pity that someone told the man in the van that I was not Nick O'Donoghue but in fact Donal Coakley. I don’t know who told him but it took him five miles to find out by which time I was wondering if I was in fact Nick O'Donoghue

10. And Well He Knows It

I think that as much as the man in the van was a fan of John Meade the commentator at the finish line was a super fan. “Blistering Pace by John Meade” “At least 100m ahead” “He would have to break both legs not to win” “It’s going to be a record and he knows it” “The man of the moment”. Then a good bit after John Meade I arrived in second place to “And second man home tonight, here comes number 19”. At least it wasn’t Nick O'Donoghue.