10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Stryker 4 Mile

1. Wounded Warrior

I think that it is apt that in Irish Coakley is Caochlaoich which translates to Blind Warrior or Hero. At the moment I am a wounded warrior operating with a terrible wounded knee after a fall on a trail in Font Romeu. Michael Herlihy being the brave warrior that he is on hearing of my terrible wound decided to enter his first BHAA race since he won the Cork Marathon.

2. Visible Injury

I think that having a cut as an injury is interesting. It is a lot easier when the injury is visible to watch the healing progress. I imagine a muscle tear must look similar to a cut just that it is hidden under skin so you can’t see it healing and getting better day by day. It seems to be a lot easier to accept a day off for a cut than it is when I have had muscle injuries as I can almost see it getting better hour by hour. Perhaps someone needs to invent a handheld ultrasound for mad insane lunatic runners so that they can see their muscle tears on a screen every day to persuade them to take time off.

3. Knearly Perfect

I think that while there was an element of bravery involved in turning up to race Michael Herlihy with a knee wound, my knee was pretty much back to normal during the warmup. I was worried that I would have to bail out after the warmup but the cut had healed enough so that I could run with my normal odd high knee lift running style which felt good after a full week of not being able to run properly.

4. Wild Youth

I think that it would be great to be young again, well maybe not young but like closer to 30 than 40. When the siren went it was like an age filter. The young fellas like Denis and Eric tore off probably because their reactions are better and immediately opened a gap. The 35-45 age group pack were left to gradually get up to speed slowly before reaching cruising speed after about 800m at which stage the gap to the young fellas stabilized.

5. Mount Train Station

I think that it is amazing how bad Michael Herlihy is at going up hill and how good Barry and John Meade are. As we approached the hill over the train line Mike came up on my shoulder, I was worried about the hill as I’m having some trouble getting up hills where I have to lift my knee higher. I needn’t have worried as the minute we hit any sort of a gradient Mike was out the back door. Barry and John Meade pushed on closing the gap to Denis, Eric and the fella from Bandon ever so slightly. I was able to follow with a little assistance from Kris.

6. Aggressive Meade

I think that John Meade brings his A game to BHAA races. There was a viciousness to John Meade in this race that I haven’t seen in a while. It must have been the extra few days of elite level training in Font Romeu. Once we crested the second of the two mini hills and turned left I went past John, Barry and Kris with the aid of the slight downhill. I thought I was putting in a good effort down the hill but as we approached the deadly bends, I felt a push from John Meade before he bustled by as if I was slowing him down and he had no time for my level of running.

7. White’s Cross Bullet

I think that John Meade’s second two miles of the race were very impressive. After bustling by with unnecessary levels of aggression John Meade locked onto the back of the fella from Bandon in the third mile. It was a sight to behold to watch him hunt down the Bandon singlet almost as if it was an affront to his being for someone to threaten his record of finishing on the podium in every BHAA race since 2008. I was left with Barry Twohig who I hoped would help me to stay well clear of Mike all the way to the line. As we approached the three-mile mark I’d almost written Mike off as he hadn’t been seen or heard of since the first of the two mini hills.

8. Barry Gone

I think that if Barry hadn’t put in such a vicious surge just after the final left turn onto the main road I’d have been safe from Mike. The last mile is deceptively uphill and particularly nasty when there is a headwind. Barry took off after John Meade and the fella from Bandon leaving me floundering and terrified of Mike. I began to think too much about my knee and slowly but surely I heard the ominous sound of a large man in a yellow singlet wearing Asics magic shoes approaching before he stormed by delighted with himself.

9. Vicious Assault

I think that Michael Herlihy should be disqualified from the race. As per section 17.2.2 of the World Athletics rules any athlete that makes deliberate avoidable contact with another athlete with the sole purpose of gaining an advantage should be disqualified. The vicious assault came in the trail section just before the finishing straight. When Mike passed me he immediately slowed up very quickly as he no longer had motivation so I retook the position. Then as we entered the short trail section, he tried to cut up the inside of me. As we are two oversized athletes there wasn’t room on the narrow trail, so he dug his arm into my back and levered me out of the way forcefully. Fearing another terrible fall in my already wounded state, I had no option but to let him by and hope that I could get him in the home straight.

10. Lucky Number Seventh

I think that I was lucky to get through the race unscathed. I probably could have overhauled Mike on the sprint to the line but we had caught up to the fella from Bandon who had been dispatched by John Meade and Barry so Mike had extra motivation to the line. In the end I was happy enough to let Mike have this one, with there being only 3 seconds between us and in my wounded state it felt almost better than a victory. I was going to lodge an official complaint about the physicality of John Meade and Michael Herlihy, but I decided it was best to say nothing. No one would have believed me about John Meade anyway.