10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Cobh 10

1. Cobh Tan

I think that any visitors to Cobh for the race must think that the weather is good all of the time in Cork. Last year it was sunny and calm, almost incredible, the same this year which was miraculous given the week before. Seamus Somers said that this must be why I’m so tanned, Cobh must be like Malaga to a person from Sligo.

2. Warm Up

I think that parking for the race was wonderful. I drove straight into the middle of Cobh and parked right by the finish. I knew that the start was up at the top of a crazy hill as I had pushed a buggy up the hill last year with a bad hamstring when Rhona did the race. I only had time for a mile of a warmup along the flat before installing the magic shoes and beginning the ascent to the start. I ran up the hill with the different colored houses where all the tourists were taking photos. It was a suitable warm up for what lay ahead.

3. Weeeeeeee

I think that this must be the only net downhill course in the world that is slower than if it was flat. The first half a mile is relatively normal, like any road race in East Cork, then the madness begins with a sweeping right-hand descent that is so steep it’s difficult to keep your legs moving fast enough not to trip up.

4. Bere Island

I think the only other race I have run with steeper hills than Cobh was on Bere Island. Bere Island is probably easier than Cobh because there is only one hill, there are two Galtee like climbs in Cobh which deserve names they are so steep. If it was cycling they’d have names and people would paint our names on them.

5. Olympians

I think that it was interesting to be involved in the battle between the Olympians. I didn’t really want to be involved in the battle, but I had no choice as I wasn’t fast enough to get up the road to Michael Bruton. It’s great to see people racing each other, racing is what the sport is about. It’s called a road race not a road time trial. If I was good, I’d race everyone all of the time.

6. Tour of Cobh

I think that all my years spent watching cycling on Eurosport paid off in this race. The Cobh 10 course is like the Tour of Flanders without the cobbles on the climbs. From watching cycling I knew not to attack the bottom of the climb like everyone else seems to do, the most important thing is to get to the bottom of the climb in first then relax for the first half of the climb, then make an effort when you can see the top so that you can run hard over the top of the climb and get good momentum for the descent. I’m not actually sure if this is the best way but it feels good and it doesn’t spike your heartrate too much.

7. Heywood

I think that the performance of the day was probably from Heywood or possibly Michael Bruton. I spent 100% of the race with Heywood which is not what I was expecting, I was expecting to spend about 62% of the race with him as this was his first 10 miler however 10 milers are more like 10ks now because of magic shoes so it probably isn’t that surprising. When I was a young fella in 2010 you couldn’t do back to back 10 mile races without having to spend 20 minutes in an MRI machine the following week.

8. Spaghetti Junction

I think that the Cobh course was particularly confusing. I never really knew where I was on the island at any time until we got back onto the main road at 8 miles and I could see Passage West. Where do all those other roads go? They don’t seem to serve any purpose other than to pummel the legs of cyclists and runners in magic shoes. There was one particularly confusing junction where we went straight on even thought there was a signpost to the left saying Cobh 4km. I had to shout at a steward to know where to go as there is no sign language for straight on.

9. The Island of Many Train Stations

I think that it is hard to define the last hill on this course. When you come out onto the road across from Passage West you’d think that the hills are over. There are however two nasty little mini hills left which can do a lot of damage. I was still with Heywood who I didn’t really want to get rid of as he was good help with the mild breeze as we started the second last hill up to the second of the three train stations in Cobh. I knew Aoife was 10 to 15 seconds behind as every time we went by someone, 10-15 seconds later you heard a “Well Done Aoife” at least it wasn’t “Well Done John”.

10. The Last Dance

I think that you know you are getting old and cranky when young fellas start tormenting you. What Heywood did to me on the sprint to the line was disgraceful, disrespectful and unsportsmanlike. It is ok to do a little celebration like a jump or a fist bump when you beat someone but it is not ok to do a side to side dance with your arms when you are only sprinting for fifth in Cobh and there are only prizes for the top four. If it was in America he’d have been disqualified and rightly so. I gave him a good talking to afterwards like a proper cranky old man, he won’t do it again, he will probably beat me again, that is if either of us ever recover from the hills of Cobh.