10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Courtmacsherry 10K 2024

1. Millstreet

I think that it’s a great pity that Courtmacsherry and Millstreet are on the same night. I’d like to do both races as they are both excellent and both exactly one hour from Glanmire. I went with the one that I hadn’t done before as it was at the seaside, and I had visions of a lovely sunny evening with chips after the race. It had nothing to do with the knowledge that Barry Twohig, Brian Murphy and Mark Walsh were Millstreet bound.

2. GAA Rowing Club

I think Courtmacsherry is like a small Kinsale. I’d never been there before so it was nice go and do a race somewhere new. The problem with doing a new race is that you don’t know where to park. Courtmacsherry wasn’t exactly designed for cars so I took the first car park I saw with a marshal and jogged the three quarters of a mile to the impressive GAA like rowing club to pick up the numbers.

3. Grade A Path

I think that one of my favourite things to do is to spot nice paths for running when I’m driving. One of the nicest paths I’ve seen anywhere in the world is the path between Timoleague and Courtmacsherry. It looks like the road around East Ferry just with a footpath. The sort of path that would make you pull over the car and take the emergency running gear out of the boot to go for a run.

4. Chips, Chips, Chips

I think that while the weather was perfect for running it was not perfect for chips. There was almost no wind which was probably very unusual with a light mist like drizzle perfect for cooling larger frames like myself and Michael Herlihy.

5. Crouching Eagle, Sitting Duck

I think that having finally learnt how to race I will never lead a race again for the first half of a race. When we got underway in Courtmacsherry I was delighted to see Nate take the lead with the two Michael’s Herlihy and McMahon tucking in behind. I took up position with the master tactician Viv patiently waiting to pounce.

6. Mount Timoleague

I think that the first three miles of the race were very pleasant. We ran along the flat winding windless road with the nice path on our way to Timoleague. I did nothing except stay behind Nate and the two Michael’s hoping that no one would go any faster. As we went over the bridge that brought us to the only climb in Timoleague Nate put in a surge, so I asked him to keep it calm as there was a long way to go. Michael McMahon was not happy with this, nor was the other Michael who continued the surge that Nate had started.

7. The Bridge

I think that I was lucky that Viv was in the race. When Nate and the two Michael’s attacked on the climb I was quickly dropped, I wasn’t too worried as I was still with Viv and the gap wasn’t too big. I left the gap open for a bit to try and get Viv to close it but he wasn’t willing to help so I had to catch the breakaway on my own. It took about a kilometer to close the gap which served two purposes in that it got rid of Viv and increased my chances of tormenting Michael Herlihy.

8. Four into Three

I think that I must have the world record for the most 4th place finishes in elite level local Cork road races. I am like the John Meade or Mark Walsh of 4th place. If there is an opportunity to come 4th I will take it. Normally if I was in a group of 4 after 8km of a 10k I would assume that I was going to end up 4th but for some reason I felt very good in Courtmacsherry. I began to think that I could drop the other three whenever I wanted. Even Nate seemed to be breathing a bit. So I began to ready myself for the final kilometer by gently elbowing Michael Herlihy out of the way to get up onto Nate’s shoulder.

9. Undistilled Hatred

I think that I was extremely unlucky to have to race the two Michael’s in the last kilometer. Nate waited until about 400m to go to begin his run for home which we all knew was going to be impossible to follow. I was left to battle Michael Herlihy who returned with interest my elbows from earlier. While we were elbowing each other we had opened a gap on Michael McMahon who I presumed was finished as his breathing was no longer audible. Incredibly as we got within sight of the line the sound of Michael McMahon’s breathing returned as he used pure hatred instead of oxygen to fuel his assault on both myself and Michael Herlihy’s interlocked second place. I had used all my hatred at this point and couldn’t summon a response so ended up fourth, ten seconds behind Nate, four behind McMahon and two behind Herlihy. If it was a session, we’d have called it a draw.

10. Did your Dada beat my Dada?

I think that while I was unlucky not to beat the two Michael’s I was lucky they turned up as they helped immensely in ensuring that I beat Viv very badly which was wonderful. I was also incredibly lucky that there was an M35 prize with the same money as there was for third so losing to Michael Herlihy had no financial consequences. Then to cap it off the only athlete I will ever coach Rhona came third in the women’s race. Please don’t contact me for coaching, I’m totally oversubscribed, Kieran McKeown and John Kinsella are the people to contact.