10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The 10 Miles des Baines Capbreton

1. 10 Miles in France

I think that I did well to find a 10 mile race in France. I didn’t go looking for one specifically there just happened to be one on near Bordeaux and there was a flight from Cork. The race was on in a town called Capbreton which looked like Dungarvan on the map so I thought it would be good.

2. Vin Rouge

I think that I felt under pressure after Rhona and John Meade’s victories in Listrac the day before. They won six bottles of wine, a plant and two wine glasses at a 17km race through a vineyard. It was a very good race to watch with everything from elite runners to Chewbacca taking part. Chewbacca was a big hit with Billy so we had to follow him around for a while after he finished.

3. Hotel Baya

I think that having a race that starts outside your hotel is wonderful. I didn’t realize that the hotel that I’d booked was the race headquarters when we arrived on the Saturday night after dropping John Meade off in Bordeaux to go back rioting. The receptionist was all apologies about the hotel not being accessible in the morning due to the race which was fine by me.

4. Mexican Wave

I think that doing a Mexican wave before the start of the race was one of the more unusual pre-race rituals I have taken part in. It seems to be a thing in France as they did it the day before in Listrac also. It involved everyone crouching down on the start line which I find almost impossible due to my bad right knee. I crouched down anyway as best I could and did the wave before we took off towards the sea. The race had about 1000 entrants so very Dungarvan like.

5. Decathlon

I think that this was the first time I have raced someone who was wearing Decathlon magic shoes. When the race went off. I recognized one of the runners Cedric from a race I did in France about 5 years ago so I said hello. He told all the other runners I was Irish which was helpful. Then I recognized Freddy Guimard the Decathlon athlete who ran 2:15 in the Paris Marathon the week before. The Decathlon magic shoes must be ok if he’s back racing a week later.

6. Peloton

I think that the first five miles of the race were very nice. We ran along the harbour on a cyclepath in a group of about 8 or 9. I sat at the back because I didn’t know the route and the pace was just about at my limit for 10 miles. It was like being in a peloton with the runners in front pointing out the various obstacles on the cycle path. Then we went under a bridge and started onto a gravely path along what looked like a river or a lake.

7. Paris Roubaix

I think that it was fitting on the day of Paris Roubaix that part of the route was like Paris Roubaix. After 5 miles our group was lined out running on the edge of the water on a half a meter wide concrete embankment trying to avoid the sandy gravely path to make maximal use of the magic shoes. At this point Freddy and another Frenchman made a break with my acquaintance Cedric leaving me with a group of 5 fighting for 4th. I was surprised at how easy it was to stay balanced on the embankment. It would have made an excellent photo.

8. Le Sable

I think that I probably should have studied the route in more detail before the race. Around 7 miles into the race the route went onto a beach which I did not know anything about, and we had to run through thick sand for about 500m. It was like a section of cross country race thrown into the middle of the Dungarvan 10 for the craic, if it was thrown into a race back home there would be uproar as people wouldn’t be able to run great P.Bs by me, I loved it. I can confirm that the Vapofly 3 is very good at draining sand. I must be good at sand running because I moved up to 4th in the sand and we caught and passed Cedric who had dropped from the Freddy group.

9. Stairs

I think that while we were running through the sand I started to dream of the podium and the champagne. I was right behind third place waiting for the road to recommence. Unfortunately, the way out of the sand involved climbing a set of stairs which I am unbelievable bad at. The guy in third danced up the stairs and put an incredible distance into me in the space of 200m so the podium and champagne was gone.

10. Cinquième

I think that it is very difficult to do well in the races abroad. You don’t know the course so you kind of have to follow someone at all times. On the way back to the finish I ran with whom I presume was a local, we helped each other in the wind and made some ground on the fella in third. The finish was back outside the hotel which was great. Unfortunately, I neither caught the fella in third nor beat the fella I was running with, so I ended up in 5th. The first place outside the prizes again. At least I am consistently about the 4th or 5th best in these races whether its in Ireland or France. I just wish I was a tiny bit better, I would have loved to have been on the podium spraying champagne.