10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Streets of Galway

1. Deadly Rocks

I think that if it wasn’t for deadly rocks in Font Romeu I’d have been in far better shape for the Streets of Galway. I got through 7 days of deadly rocks without a stumble, even John Meade had fallen and bounced back like a cat, then on the last morning a poorly placed pine cone tripped me up on a silly 5 mile trail run that I will regret possibly forever. I ended up with cuts all over but the worst one was on my left knee, a cut bad enough to need two days off, which seems like an eternity to an addict like me.

2. America

I think that there might have been more Americans in Galway on Saturday evening than Cork runners in history that have done the Streets of Galway. It is amazing that more don’t come up to Galway. It’s a little closer than Dublin but far better. Myself and Rhona seemed to be the only Cork people entered. I can’t understand it, even the road is reasonable now there’s no excuse. There wasn’t even another race in Cork.

3. Altitude

I think that I will have to channel my inner Stephen Scullion and blame my performance on it being the fourth day after coming back from altitude. I’m not sure if it actually counts when you’ve only been there for a week but it is very important to have more than one thing to blame and elites seem to blame altitude timing for everything.

4. The Streets

I think that the race is as good as everyone makes it out to be. There is a wonderful atmosphere at the start. Any race where you get to stop the traffic of an entire city for an hour is a great race, it’s even better in Galway because it highlights how bad it is. The route is wonderful taking in all the parts of Galway that should be pedestrianized and used primarily for running and cycling. I didn’t really get to enjoy it properly because of my knee but it seemed like it was fast especially when the wind is from the west which it normally is and when it isn’t raining which it normally isn’t.

5. Swamped

I think that after about 100m of the race I realized that it probably wasn’t the best idea to be racing with a cut knee. I was ridiculously late getting to the start so my warm up wasn’t enough to determine whether or not it was ok to race. I had no pain which was crucial, my definition of pain is something caused by running. I had discomfort which was caused by having to bend my cut knee when running which is different to pain. Within a few seconds I was well back mainly because I was terrified of my knee and kind of had to go through a start up checklist where you check everything as you get up to speed.

6. Brain Inhibited

I think that it is a very odd experience trying to run with a cut knee. I was able to run but I had to concentrate as my brain didn’t want to do the movement of running. I looked at my watch as we ran up through Eyre Square and saw 5:20 pace which was acceptable, sure if I just keep this going it will be fine. I was kind of trying to find the maximum pace where nothing could go wrong which I successfully achieved. It had just rained which is inevitable in Galway so the corners were quite slippy so I was glad to have the Vaporfly 3 and not the 1s on.

7. Soar

I think that one of the interesting things I learnt in Font Romeu is that John Meade doesn’t like the brand Soar as thinks it’s like Lululemon for running. I only have one pair of shorts but even that is enough to annoy John Meade. Once we went past the Cathedral a group formed containing a lot of fellas wearing non club singlets. One was wearing a Soar t-shirt which made me think he might be English and good because the only way you could possibly buy the gear after brexit is to be English. English runners are normally good so I was happy to run along with him for a while.

8. Ide

I think that it is always a good strategy to run with the leader of the women’s race if you want to maximize your social media exposure. As we approached the left hand turn onto the Salthill prom my group of expensively clothed runners had closed the gap to Ide. Ide just ran faster than most fellas for 5k on the track so I began to think that the cut knee was no problem at all. Perhaps the altitude training had negated the cut knee.

9. The Salthill Vacuum

I think that the last 2k of the race along the massive car park that is the prom was amazing. It was like running in a vacuum which is very unusual for Galway as it is normally impossible to hear yourself think nevermind someone talk with the wind while running along there. I wish my knee was working properly as I would have flown home with the wind on my large back. Instead I was happy enough to run along at whatever speed was unlikely to result in a compensation injury.

10. The Claddagh Ring

I think that there is a wonderful finish to the race. I tried my best to catch Ide but couldn’t. I wasn’t willing to sprint so I finished just close enough to Ide to appear on the finish line video on the internet. Once we crossed the line I was directed away from the winners ring and off for a bottle of water and a banana. One of the greatest things you can do in running is to estimate where you would have finished in a race you didn’t run, lots of people would have won lots of races, my version is where I would have finished if I wasn’t compromised by something. I probably would have been top 10 if it wasn’t for my knee. I’ll have to comeback next year to prove it, maybe a few other people from Cork will come too.