10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Streets of Killarney 5 Mile 2025

1. The Troggs

I think that it is interesting that despite how bad the weather is in Ireland, it is rare to run a race in ridiculous rain. It probably only happens three or four times a year. Friday in Killarney was one of those wet wet wet races. It was very wet, clouds down, no mountains, no lakes just rain and clouds in Killarney.

2. Running Weekend

I think that this race is the perfect excuse for a little holiday in Killarney. 5 mile race Friday evening, Park Run Saturday morning and miles and miles of trails and paths for a long run or short run on Sunday morning. It boggles my mind why anyone from Killarney would drive to Cork to do a run when you have that National Park. It’s a runner’s paradise.

3. The Opposition

I think that when you are a moderately old man with moderate levels of running talent then your chances of winning a prize in a race are entirely dependent on who shows up. I was hoping that the torrential rain would put off the one or two required to squeeze me onto the podium but unfortunately a collection of hardy men turned up in Killarney, the sight of the trio of Paul Moloney, Gavin Sweeney and Kenny Rogers meant that I knew I was not going to win any money to pay for the hotel.

4. Shoe Talk with Chris Grayson

I think that runners spend more time talking about shoes than they do about training. This is because of 2019 when everyone got faster without doing anything so we are all hoping that it might happen again. It is far easier to buy a pair of shoes than to do perfect training. Chris Grayson was very interested in my opinion of the Vaporfly 4. I’m still undecided, they are no better or worse which is not what I hoped for. I wanted faster without training.

5. Too Fast

I think that the start of the race was too fast for a moderately old man who hasn’t raced much in the last few months. I don’t do any fast training, so I rely on races to get used to 5 minute mile pace. The race took off down the path from the big big House at a ridiculous unsustainable pace. I left it go as I am a very wise moderately old man. I was left in eight position hoping that my wisdom would pay off.

6. Confidence is a Preference for the Habitual Voyeur

I think that the route of the race is excellent. It has a lovely mix of everything Killarney has to offer. Normally you would be able to see the mountains and lakes from the start but on Friday there was nothing to see but rain and grey clouds. The first mile goes around the big big house before taking in a bit of the park followed by two laps of the town where people come out of the pubs to watch people suffering. It’s great, every race should be like this, there is nothing better than being watched racing by people drinking on a Friday evening.

7. Wisdom

I think that my wisdom as a moderately old man kind of paid off. It took about two miles for me to move up from 8th to 7th, this meant nothing as there is no prize for 7th but it meant that I was running very perfectly and sensibly which is worth something. The Paul Moloney led front of the race was gone and invisible by the time I started the first of two laps of the town.

8. Sixth Place

I think that it is much better to be running for position than some arbitrary time. On the first lap of the town I began my assault on the 6th place of Darragh O’Leary which was very important as 6th is better than 7th. It took until the end of the first lap to catch him, I waited until he looked at the watch before making my gradual move by at an ever so slightly faster pace. There was still no prize for 6th.

9. Third Non Paul Moloney Cork Person

I think that it would have been great to catch Danny Mullins and finish as the third non-Paul Moloney Cork person in the race in Kerry. Unfortunately, I ran out of ability and time to catch Danny. The lapped runners make it much easier to keep a pace going as you are always passing people but despite not slowing down much from the start I made no inroads into Danny’s 5th place position and finished in 6th which was fine and where I had estimated I would finish based on looking around at the start line which is a surprisingly accurate method of estimating where you will finish in a race.

10. More than a Race

I think that sixth is a great position to finish in. It is very good because you don’t have that awful feeling like when you finish fourth where you nearly won a prize but at the same time you were close enough for people to see your name in the results and think that you ran ok which is very important. The rain had almost stopped by the time we finished which was nice, I collected the lovely race t-shirt, jogged over to the car to extract myself from the ridiculously wet singlet, did my warm down around the big big house and then jogged over to the hotel. A very nice evening even with the ridiculous rain. A race to make a weekend of.