10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Charleville International Half Marathon 2023

1. Colouring Book

I think that a race is a lot like colouring book. The few days before a race it’s all talk about who’s going to run, who’s going to run what, what’s the weather going to be like etc. The Charleville Half Marathon page of the running colouring book changed many times before the race, there was a Ryan Creech but he was rubbed out, there was a sun, but that was also rubbed out too, the humidity stayed, however humidity is drawn in a coloring book.

2. Emmett Dunleavy Dew Point

I think that as one of the only people left in the county who is not coached by Emmett Dunleavy it is great that he puts his advice on Instagram. Emmett’s post on the impact of dew point on running performance was great and terrible to see. The main point of the post was that dew point 18 degrees, which is what was forecasted for Charleville, was worth nearly 3 minutes for a 70 minute half marathon. The only thing the post didn’t say was whether you are to adjust your effort or if you just run like you normally do and don’t be surprised or devastated when you are 3 minutes slower than expected.

3. Foggy Dew

I think that it was great to wake up on Sunday morning and find a thin blanket of fog lying over the county. The fog went all the way up to Charleville. It seemed a little cooler than the day before but the air was definitely heavy. I didn’t check the dew point as it’s a hard thing to check without using a phone. I decided that as it didn’t feel hot I’d just run it like a normal race and not adjust effort.

4. Efficiency

I think that the best thing about Charleville is how efficient the race is. The parking situation is the best of any race in the county with a multistorey car park 100m from the registration. I was parked and registered in 10 minutes which was just as well as I was quite late as was noted by the similarly late Rory Chesser. On the jog up to the start I did an interesting interview with the newest innovation at the Charleville Half Marathon full video coverage via Michael Meade.

5. Sweaty Start

I think that you could probably tell that the dew point was close to the Emmett Dunleavy limit on the start line. Everyone looked very sweaty after the warmup. The sweat was just lying there with the air unwilling to take anymore moisture. Club singlets were not as plentiful as normal with most people opting for the lightest possible fabric. What didn’t make any sense is the number of black singlets. Why do people buy black singlets? When we got underway it was a lethargic start, they must all have been Emmet Dunleavy athletes.

6. More Suffering

I think that after a mile the pace decided itself. I went through the first mile in 5:15 which felt like 5:30 with the downhill. A big group led by Michael McMahon formed around the 5:30 pace. Nearly everyone else in the group was wearing black singlets so I didn’t know who they were. After about three miles, not happy with the amount of suffering that 5:30 pace was inflicting, Michael McMahon started looking for volunteers to go faster. He found one willing person in Andy Nevin so off they went at what I estimated at 5:29 pace. My group of fellas in black singlets and Brian Murphy remained at 5:30.

7. 5:30s

I think that 5:30 pace is a very pleasing pace to run at. We cruised along the long flat straight road to Kilmallock at 5:30 pace. 5:30 pace is around 72 minutes which would have been great given the three-minute handicap that the dew point was giving us. It is interesting how you know a pace is right, it doesn’t involve checking a watch or looking at heart rate. It’s a feeling, it’s not something you can be taught it’s a thing you have to learn.

8. Water Stop Gap

I think that there should be an etiquette around water stations. I think that it is unacceptable to accelerate through the water stations. The worst example of this came in Kilmallock. My group had been reduced to Brian Murphy and a black singlet who turned out to be Derek Griffin. I was happy out in the group but when we went through the water station they sped up and got a gap which I spent the next mile closing. It was very unsportsmanlike.

9. 15K

I think that I was very happy until I got to 15k. After catching back up to Derek and Brian I felt fine. I was waiting for the hot feeling to start but it never did. When we passed the 15k mark I don’t know if the sight of Sean Hehir walking distracted me but I started to drift off the back of Derek and Brian. When we turned right out onto the three mile road back to the finish the lads accelerated through the water station again so I was left to run solo back to Charleville which was quite unpleasant and a lot slower than it would have been with the group.

10. Fully Coloured In

I think that the fully coloured in version of the Charleville Half Marathon looked very similar to what I had forecasted. I ended up losing about 30 seconds to Brian Murphy and Derek Griffin in the last three miles finishing nearly exactly on the 73 minute mark that I had forecasted due to the dew point and not due to my athletic ability. It was good enough for 10th place six minutes behind Michael Harty which wasn’t too bad. Hopefully next year both the dew point and the time will be lower.