10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Amazon 5k

1. The Dump

I think that Tramore Valley Park is my least favourite place for a race in the world. It has no trees, this is my main issue, how can you have a park without trees. I doubt animals like it, a terrible place, so I was very motivated to go and run the BHAA race in the park with no trees.

2. Ungoablethroughable Tunnel

I think that 7.15pm on a Wednesday evening when some of the schools have gone back is a terrible time for a race. I had planned to go through the tunnel but I found out from Gruff that it was ungoablethroughable so I had to go over the Northside and down St Lukes which took ages. It would have been quicker to run from Glanmire to TVP.

3. Agent Graham

I think that Graham is great, because of the traffic apocalypse I asked Rhona to message Graham to ask him if he would get our numbers as we were probably only going to arrive five minutes before the start. It would have been fine if people hadn’t started giving out about the BHAA races starting on time but now they start exactly on time so you can’t relax.

4. Not Even a Mile

I think that I didn’t get enough of a warmup because of the traffic apocalypse. My warmup consisted of running over to Graham to get the numbers, running back to the car then running back to the start. Sometimes this sort of warmup can work as adrenaline kicks in but this was a race in TVP a place that sucks motivation from the soul because of the lack of trees.

5. There’s No Michael Harty

I think that it was great to see Michael Harty back in action, it was just terrible that he chose a BHAA race around TVP to make his comeback. I had initially only seen the two Barrys so I wasn’t exactly delighted to find out that first place had already been decided, all I could hope for was that he hadn’t registered like one of the Barrys.

6. There Was Two of Them

I think that it would have been a great race between myself and the two Barrys (Twohig and Donovan) if Michael Harty wasn’t there. Instead after about 100m the race was over and Michael Harty was miles of barren treeless landscape ahead. I was left to battle the two Barrys for second and fourth place. My initial thought was that fourth place was highly likely.

7. Cork Has Only One Track Club

I think that the Cork Has Only One Track Club are a great supporter of BHAA races, they had two runners in the battle for second place Ruairi Manning paced myself and the two Barrys for the first lap of the treeless park. It was the perfect pace for me, not too fast and not too slow. I sat behind one of the two Barrys and accidentally clipped his heels twice which is fine because of Anthony Mannix.

8. Bowling Ball Barry

I think that I did well to avoid a collision on the last lap. With about a kilometer to go it was down to just me and the two Barrys for second place. I was sat on Barry Donovan’s left should as we turned right just after the exit for Douglas. Up ahead there were two people walking on the path, they drifted across the path from left to right as we approached. I assumed that Barry Donovan would go right around them but instead he ran straight through the middle of them like a bowling ball. I had already gone right to go around them but as Barry had split them the person on the outside hit my watch with their elbow and stopped my watch. I pressed go on the watch again and sprinted after Barry who had got a small gap.

9. Teddy Bear Mountain

I think that I probably did as well as I could versus the two Barrys. I caught back up to Cork Track Club Barry as we approached the outdoor gym. I decided to try and get away from them before the teddy bear hill but it was pointless and the two Barry monsters tore off up the hill at a ridiculous rate leaving me to run home in fourth as I’m well used to doing.

10. 8th Fourth Place

I think that I don’t finish fourth as often as people think. This was only my eight 4th place finish this year which isn’t too bad and to make it even better Cork Has Only One Track Club Barry wasn’t registered so I was actually 3rd BHAA runner which meant I got a prize. Unfortunately, I had to leave immediately after the race so my Agent Graham had to pick up my prize.