10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The National Masters XC

1. More XC

I think that it is a terrible shame that the cross-country season ends in February. There is room for at least another three or four cross country races. I don’t know why the intermediate and masters couldn’t be separated out, I would have run both. I wonder would there have been anything to stop you doing both on the same day. 15k cross country would make good marathon training.

2. Kilkenny

I think that this was the first race that I have run in Kilkenny. I have entered the streets of Kilkenny about three or four times but baulked at driving to Kilkenny on a Thursday night every time. It is a lovely place, very flat with very nice grass. The race wasn’t actually on in Kilkenny but in Gowran which has a unique combination of a golf course, horse racing track and cross country track all in one.

3. Don’t Forget Your Dragonflys

I think that you might as well not turn up to a cross country race when the ground is dry if you don’t have dragonflys. Michael Herlihy is a recent convert, he was so astonished by how good they were after a session at the farm last week that he hasn’t stopped talking about them all week. John Meade hadn’t a hope as he was wearing spikes from at least 2001.

4. Pink Pants

I think that it is terrible that as a man you can’t wear tracksuit pants that are any other colour than grey, black or navy. Mark Walsh was horrified by my pink Adidas tracksuit pants which I think are lovely. I wore them on the warmup to annoy him. For the warmup we weren’t allowed on the course by a “where do ye think ye are going” man so we went into to a bumpy field before finding that you could hop a fence and get onto the course which was also bumpy but recently rolled.

5. Fast Old Men

I think that it is incredible how fast the start of the race was. Last year the old man race went out very slow, it was very polite and almost pleasant. This race was very different. It was a mad dash to the first corner, I was miles back but not too worried as the course was nice and wide with plenty of space to pass people like John Meade who had gone off too fast.

6. Sensible Conor

I think that following Conor McCauley in a race is the most sensible plan of action. Conor is the most excellent pacer. You simply could not go wrong following Conor, well maybe if you were able to follow Tim O’Donoghue that would be better. Once the madness of the first few 100m was over I looked around and found Conor in the pack and followed him for the first nice flat loop. It took the first small lap and most of the second big lap to move up into the top 20.

7. And Now to Pass John Meade

I think that I did some excellent overtaking in this race. One of my favourite overtaking maneuvers was on John Meade. It was so fast that he probably didn’t even notice the blur of Leevale singlets sweeping past. After about a lap and a half I realized that I hadn’t actually hit anyone while passing them as Conor is very polite and doesn’t do anything like that. So when I saw David Power up ahead at the left hand turn as you returned to the start I took my opportunity to give someone a gentle right shoulder providing the perfect amount of momentum and adrenaline to get through another lap.

8. Course

I think that the course was very similar to the one in Donegal. It was very fast, excellent for dragonflys. The turns were either fast sweeping turns or ninety degree turns through gaps. There was also no mud. It was very like a road race on grass. The only complicating factor were the many little holes in the second field, sort of like hoof prints. Fortunately they were no problem to someone with huge feet like me but the smaller footed runners were complaining about getting their feet stuck in them

9. Tony O’Brien

I think that Tony O’Brien must know what is going to happen in these races. Before the start he came over to me and said if you are lapping me halfway around the last 2km lap you’ll be running a good race. As we came onto the last lap I was in about 8th trying to hang onto the back of Brian Conroy. As we entered the big field for the last time we passed Tony going up the hill so I knew that I was having a good race. A good race being defined by beating Michael Herlihy, Viv and John Meade in the same race.

10. Catch Conroy

I think that I need to get better at finishing races. I have no kick at all. As we came down the hill for the last time I thought I had a chance of catching Brian Conroy but he took off after Conor taking a Rathfarnham fella with him. I wasn’t too worried as I knew I was having a good race so I kind of relaxed until I heard Mark Walsh and Noel Murphy flying behind me. Unfortunately, I got to the line before them so there are no excellent photos like in Dungarvan. John Shine was in shortly after Mark so we won the team with possibly the youngest looking masters team in history.