10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Dungarvan 10 2023

1. Guidelines

I think that you know you are doing too many races when your mother starts worrying about you. “Are you sure you are within the guidelines for running?” She’s right there are no guidelines for my nonsense and if there were I’d be well outside them. My rule is no niggles then drive on, sure what could possibly go wrong if you’ve no niggles.

2. Perfect for Dungarvan

I think that the weather for Dungarvan was amazing, it wasn’t as perfect as Seville but for Dungarvan in February it was perfect. It was cold but tolerable with an aimless wind that neither aided nor impeded running at my modest pace. There was no rain and no clouds.

3. Kieran McKeown

I think that everyone should meet Kieran McKeown at the start line of a race. He is a very nice man. He told me that I looked very lean and that I didn’t need to lose a stone. He was very complimentary about my shoulders which have almost disappeared. I think it might have been the black arm warmers but I felt very confident after meeting him. Then I met Viv and Alan who congratulated me on my great PB by me in Seville. I almost felt good at running.

4. Next%

I think it is obvious that people prefer the original Next% to the Next%2. If you look on the start line of most races you will see a lot of the original Green and Pink ones which are almost four years old, this is because they are the fastest ones before World Athletics told Nike to cop on. Thankfully I have a source of new Green and Pink Next%s which I will not be divulging.

5. Course Record

I think that William Maunsell might actually have broken the course record if the guy in the van with the megaphone had not spent the first 4 miles of the race talking about the course record. It didn’t help that because of the cold still air the megaphone was extra powerful. If I was William Maunsell I’d have backed off the van and gone back to the group just not to have to listen to “he’s going for the course record” and it 400m into a 10 mile race.

6. David McCarthy

I think that when I was running along with David McCarthy for the first mile or two of the race it must have looked like a thoroughbred racehorse running along with a hairy donkey. It didn’t last long as Conor McCauley has no respect for either donkeys or thoroughbreds and tore by on the way down to the third mile marker at GSK taking the thoroughbred with him and leaving the donkey behind.

7. Noel Murphy

I think that Noel Murphy was the perfect person to run the race with. He didn’t annoy me in any way, I could have run a marathon with him no problem. I’m unsure if Noel Murphy thought that I was the perfect person to run the race with. I thought we ran well together taking turns into the aimless wind but after the race Noel said that I was a terrible man for surging. One man’s taking turns is another man’s surging I suppose. Michael Herlihy also thinks I surge.

8. Gels

I think that you don’t need a gel in a 10 mile road race but it is no harm to have one with you. I remember Fabian Cancellara taking a gel 5km from the end of The Tour of Flanders and winning so perhaps it has a placebo effect. I took my gel from up my sleeve just after 7 miles. We had just been passed by Neil Wiktorski who went by like he was fuelled by many gels. I didn’t actually take the gel just swished it around in my mouth and spat it out. It seemed to help.

9. Vivophobia

I think that I have a terrible fear of Viv. He is a terrifying prospect in a race. John Meade isn’t as bad because if he does pass you it looks like he is trying. Viv sort of glides up to your back like a well trained Russian spy before effortlessly and incredibly annoyingly gliding away. Thankfully because of my work/surging with Noel I had put a massive colossal insurmountable distance into both Viv and John Meade that could not be closed no matter how much hatred they were fuelled by.

10. The Sprint for 8th

I think that I would have been a lot happier if this had been a nine mile road race. At nine miles I was in 6th, 6th in the Dungarvan 10 would be amazing, I’d almost be happy with it as I’d nearly have won and have been close enough to worry Conor McCauley. Unfortunately myself and Noel got destroyed by a Tipperary and Waterford duo on the last hill leaving us to sprint for 8th. It was a fabulous sprint, extremely fast, possibly the best sprint of the day with €10 at stake, we crossed the line in the same time but because Noel is from Waterford and no one likes me I was 9th. John Meade and Viv were after 9th.