10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The DePuy Synthes 4 Mile

1. Divide and Conquer

I think that the months of June, July and August are the best months for my chances of an elusive victory in a race. The modern runner is unlikely to run more than one race in a week so any week with more than one race on means there’s always a chance I’ll turn up and win. I would be better if I was good enough to win the races by being faster but that would require significant training and minding of oneself which I’m not willing to do.

2. Parking Cones

I think that this is the second year in a row where I got the best parking spot for this race. The trick is to find the gap in the traffic cones. If there are no cones it’s fair game. It turned out that my spot was the startline which was unexpected as last year the race started a bit further back the road.

3. There’s No Gavin

I think that I was very disappointed to see Gavin O’Rourke. Gavin is a lovely fella but I’d prefer if he had minded himself for Courtmac or Millstreet like everyone else was doing. It was only when I got to the startline that I realised he was there. Naturally I was expecting John Meade to hop out of a bush right before the start but I suspect he stayed in the bush when he saw Gavin was there.

4. New Order

I think that my new tactics are working well. I have decided that I am not leading a race for the first mile ever again. I don’t care how slow it is you won’t see me at the front. I am going to be like Viv and John Meade and sit in and wait. Luckily there is always someone willing to take the race out, on this occasion we had Jason in his Dell singlet to take myself Gavin and Andrew Hobbs through the first mile.

5. Hammer Drop

I think that it would have been much better if Gavin had at least let me follow him for three miles. The kick he put in coming off the bridge onto Haulbowline was frightening but probably not surprising seen that his 1500m PB is about a minute quicker than mine. Strava says it was 4:50 pace which is probably why I was finding it particularly difficult to keep in touch

6. Halfway Around The Park

I think that I did well to keep some what in touch with Gavin in the park. Unfortunately as we reached Spike Island the elastic connecting me to Gavin snapped and I was left solo at the worst possible point in the race just as we turned into the headwind that we would face for the final two miles.

7. Thistlefly

I think that I encountered an unusual issue exiting the park. There was thistle growing out of the kerb which I hit with my Vaporfly as I was nimbly and elegantly jumping from the kerb to the road. So for the last two miles I had the rather unpleasant combination of a thistle embedded in my foot running uphill into a demoralizing headwind with no one to race and no hope of catching Gavin.

8. Millstreet or Courtmac

I think that in the third mile of the race I began to think of Friday night. I was tempted to look back to see how much of a gap I had to see if I could save some energy to beat Viv or John Meade on Friday. But I’m not allowed to look behind so I just ran a good effort to make sure I’d be ok.

9. The 223

I think that the bus helped me get to the finish a bit quicker. Gavin had a bike to pace him home so it was just as fair that I had a bus to break the wind for the last few 100m. I got to the line less than a minute behind Gavin which wasn’t too bad, in second place which was great as I like prizes.

10. Podiums and Prizes

I think that it is amazing how the spread at a Cork BHAA race disappears. Do anything more than a 2 mile warm down and there will be nothing left, not even something you don’t like, everything will be gone except bananas so I had a banana while I waited for the photos and the prizes which were great and over before 10pm which was even greater.