10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Hilliest Cork BHAA 5K in History

1. Don’t be Late

I think that I must have a terrible reputation for lateness. I am not the reason that BHAA races start not exactly on time, I may be a contributory root cause but I am not the root cause. I must have featured highly on Lizzie’s clipboard list of things that could delay the race as I received a personal message warning me about the starting time. It worked as I was there a full 45 minutes before the 7.30pm start time.

2. Signs, Stewards and Gazebos

I think that the race was thoroughly organized, project managed almost. It was like being at an airport. There were stewards everywhere in orange jackets who knew that they had a job to do and who were determined to do it well. There were signs where to go and gazebos with signs for where to register. Nothing could possibly go wrong and it if did it wouldn’t stay wrong for long.

3. Olympians

I think that it was great to have three Olympians and four people who have run in the world cross country at the race. Sonia was there to start the race, Lizzie was there to organize the race, Donie was there to watch and I was there to run the race. Although no one asked for a photo with me for some reason, apart from Mark Walsh who was forced to take a photo with me by Mick Dooley who said that if I was a make of car he’d buy one tomorrow.

4. 236 Feet

I think that the route for the race would make a great race for the television. It was fabulously hilly, in fact there was no flat, it was either up or down. It was a simple route, two laps of the campus. Each lap had two hills, a mini hill to the entrance of the campus and a humongous hill at the left-hand turn after SuperValu. Altogether it came to 236ft of climbing which is more than the previous hilliest Cork BHAA 5k Novartis and should have suited John Meade perfectly which is probably why he turned up.

5. The Start

I think that the start of the race was more like a race in England. There were lots of people who had imaginary clipboards and at least one megaphone each who knew how the whole thing was going to work. I imagine that they even had a walk through of the whole process before the race it was that well organized. I have only experienced this level of organization once at a race in Oxford where everyone was walked up to the start based on expected time. It worked well, very calm.

6. GAA Jersey

I think that when the race got under way I was horrified to see a GAA jersey leading the race out. My initial thought was Lizzie has got some good fella down from Dublin, dressed him in a GAA jersey and non-magic shoes to torment us all. Local elite level Cork BHAA club runners fear nothing more than being beaten by a GAA player and she would know this, so it was within the bounds of possibility. We all know that the best athletes are in the GAA but normally 70 miles a week is enough to beat raw talent. The GAA player was putting it up to Mark and Gavin up front, John Meade was in trouble and myself and Tadhg who would make a great midfield duo for any local club team were struggling majorly to hang on.

7. Aggressive Tadhg

I think that Tadhg might have thought that he was actually back playing GAA because of the sight of the GAA jersey. I had spent most of the warmup motivating him so he was determined to beat me badly. Every time I dared to pass him there was a big reactionary surge. The first time up the humungous hill I went to go by him at the top but he was having none of it and nearly ran me off the road into the ditch. I approve greatly of these tactics. It is great to see. What wasn’t great to see was that the GAA jersey was still up the road ahead of even the great John Meade.

8. The Humongous Hurtful Hill

I think that the second time up the humongous hill was too much for me. If I was a person who makes excuse and I am, I would say that I was too tired after the hilly 10-mile race in Dublin. Tadhg wasn’t going to let me past anyway without a fight so I decided that it was best just to stay a bit back from him but close enough that he would keep going and perhaps we might catch both John Meade and the GAA Jersey.

9. Sodium Alginate

I think that it was a great pity that the race didn’t finish at the very bottom of the hill instead of halfway down the hill. I could probably have won the race if there was more downhill as according to Strava I was the fastest person down the hill. In the end I finished sixth a respectable amount behind Tadgh, John Meade and the GAA Jersey who to make it worse was wearing a pair of New Balance Rebel V3s which aren’t even magic shoes, Gavin and Mark Walsh were a little bit further ahead again but not too far. Once we finished the race, we were offered water in the form of a washing machine capsule which was unusual. Apparently, it’s the same stuff that they use to make Maurten gels. I didn’t try one as they looked scary. Trevor Woods smashed one on his head like an egg which seemed unpleasant but fun.

10. Phew

I think that it was a relief to find out that the GAA Jersey was actually a normal runner like the rest of us and not a fella only doing 10 miles a week who decided to do a 5k for the craic which would be a major issue for our egos. His name was Colm Fitzgerald and he’d beaten me in the Cork Marathon two year ago so it was all ok. We were nearly as relieved as Lizzie who did a great job at project managing the race along with all the stewards. They should do it again next. It was very good, different but not too different.