10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Cork BHAA Sterling 5K

1. Ringaskiddy Again

I think that Ringaskiddy is my favourite location for BHAA races. It’s only 20 minutes from Glanmire, has a good playground for Billy and there’s no trouble with parking like down the Marina. The only problem with Ringaskiddy is the wind and the hills but they can be useful for keeping the fast fellas away.

2. Saw Tooth Profile

I think that there is no way someone would start a new race with a route like this 5K. It doesn’t have a metre of flat road. If you look at the profile on Strava it looks like a bad saw. John Walshe said that the route hasn’t changed since he first measured the route a few years back. It’s nice to have races like this so we can see how much more terrible modern runners like me are. Mark Hanrahan ran 14 minutes on this course which seems impossible, especially without magic shoes.

3. Punctuality

I think that the Cork BHAA get a bad rap for not starting races exactly at 8pm. I was worried that they might start this race early to make a point so I made sure to get to the start 3 minutes before 8pm. Thankfully the relaxed atmosphere remains and we had time for a good chat, a few photos, clapping for Andy and Sarah’s wedding and letting the 223 bus pass before we got underway.

4. Around the Outside

I think that I was surprised at how fast the race went out. I knew from running it last year that the run to the first left hand corner at the ferry port was quick but I got a bit caught out by how quick the lads at the front went out. It took me until the downhill before the bend to get back up to the front group. Then I swept around the outside of the group to the front before I quickly realized that this was not going to be a normal race.

5. Block Headwind

I think that the wind made this race. Once we turned left at the traffic light we were straight into the magical combination that is an uphill headwind. I had no interest in carrying Viv and Co up the hill into the wind so I pulled up and found shelter for the next 2km. Luckily Ray from Togher was quite happy to run a steady pace into the wind up the hill so I sat in and waited for the wind and hill to go away.

6. Thank God for Ray

I think that if it wasn’t for Ray we would still be out running the section between Ringaskiddy and Shanbally. It was disgraceful stuff by the rest of us. No one was willing to run into the wind, everyone wanted to be like Viv and tuck in and wait. Normally I would be willing to try and make it hard but I’m tired of that tactic not working so I choose to be like Viv and sit in and wait for as long as it took which happened to be until Shanbally.

7. Shanbally Shenanigans

I think that there were a lot of people in contention for the win as we passed the 3k mark before turning left up yet another climb at Shanbally. Thankfully once we turned left we only had the uphill to contend with as the wind had disappeared. Gavin began to wind things up so I got straight onto the back of him and hoped I could hang on and that Viv wouldn’t.

8. Hang onto Gavin

I think that the hill out of Shanbally was just about short enough to allow me to hang onto Gavin. Once we crested the top of the Shanbally climb we turned right down a steep hill which was perfect as I was able to use Gavin as a pacemaker all the way to 400m to go. The Vaporflys behind started to get fainter and fainter so I began to believe that I had evolved into a master tactician and would turn all my fourths into seconds without any change in ability or training.

9. I Can Move When I Want To

I think that I got up the final hill much better than normal. Gavin disappeared the minute we hit the climb, it was very unfair how quick he went up it. If I could be like Gavin I would beat Viv easily, unfortunately I’m not and Viv pranced by silently before Aidan stormed by both of us just before the crest of the hill. I was moving a little better than normal up the hill so I held off my other finishing straight enemy Kris and ended up in my usual finishing position.

10. Usualth Position

I think that races that give prizes down to fourth are the best races. This was a very well organized race so I’m not surprised that they thought about recognizing the hard work that goes into consistently finishing in 4th position. Viv was extremely delighted about the bad beating that he had administered. He probably could have beaten Aidan for second but he runs mainly on hatred for me so he stopped sprinting all out once he had me beaten. I’ll just have to accept that he is going to beat me in 5ks, at least I have the other distances.