10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Kilbeggan 10 Mile

1. David McWilliams

I think that David McWilliams could do a good economics podcast on road races in 2022. The difference between road races in 2021 and 2022 is amazing. Every road race in 2021 had to be entered months beforehand, people were traveling from Gdansk to do road races and selling entries on Facebook. Now you can rock up 30 minutes before pay a few bob and race the locals, I’m not sure if it is better.

2. Commonwealth Games.

I think that we should adopt the UK attitude to running. In the UK it seems to be par for the course to do a race full tilt and then race the next day thinking nothing of it. Tally-ho old chap. Here you must taper for at least a week before a race and run no more than 5 miles the day before. Then you must perfectly pace your race running each mile at precisely the correct pace so that all the mile bars are the same height on Strava. Perhaps I’ve been watching too much commonwealth games but I think the UK are right.

3. Champion of The Glen

I think that doing a ParkRun the day before a race is dangerous. It is very easy to get carried away. I decided to do The Glen because it is such a nice route and I never get the chance to do it. I thought I would just run around but in the end I got a bit carried away and became Champion of the Glen, contrary to rumours on a podcast I was not running pushing Billy in the buggy, that was the week before in Tramore Valley of Desolation Park when we came 9th.

4. Streets of Galway

I think that I probably should have done the Streets of Galway instead of Kilbeggan. Someone had to mind Billy and that someone was me. I would have run around with the buggy but buggies are only allowed in ParkRuns so I had to settle for watching. I will do the Streets of Galway next year, it looked excellent, very fast, thankfully Galway is close to Kilbeggan so it was easy to go to both.

5. Different Magic Shoes

I think that this was the first race I have been to where everyone in front of me was wearing a different shoe to me. I was beaten by a Next%2, an Adidas Adios Pro 3, a Saucony Pro 3, an AlphaFly 2 and an AlphaFly. I still think that the original yellow and pink Next%s were extra special and that Nike were told to dial it back a bit. All the new shoes seem to have about the same level of magic, except for the Brooks ones, they seem to be nonmagic.

6. No Country for Young Men

I think that road racing is becoming an over 40s sport. In Kilbeggan the battle for third was about between 5 M40s and me. I know I look extremely tanned and young for my age but I am nearly always the youngest person at races even though I am actually nearly old. What is going to happen in 10 years time when I am very old and nearly 46? Will there be anyone to race me? Will the hybrid athletes emerge from the gym and suddenly take up running at 40? John Meade will be nearly 60 and probably still be beating me.

7. Lovely Wind

I think the wind on the road out of Kilbeggan was wonderful in the race. Due to global warming or the natural warmth whatever side of the fence you are on it was too hot for running in Kilbeggan. Thankfully the lovely headwind made it feel like February so a big group of M40s and me were able to run up the hill to the left turn at 3.5 miles in the village who's name I can't remember.

8. My Favourite Road

I think that the Kilbeggan 10 route is one of the better 10 mile routes The boggy road once you turn left off the main road is one of the best sections of road in any race. It has relentless little hills that you can see for miles ahead. They are great fun and if you are in a group you can see which of the magic shoes work better on the uphill and which on the downhill. The AlphaFlys look very bad uphills but very good downhills.

9. Downhill Wind Aided

I think that the last three miles of this race were very annoying. They should have been very fast, the wind was behind us and it is kind of downhill if you forget about the ramp over the motorway. When we turned left off the boggy road onto the road with grass running down the middle of it I suddenly felt the heat, then it felt like someone had thrown a bucket of water over me. I didn’t think I was slowing down as I wasn’t losing or gaining ground on the M40s up ahead but they were slowing too. Humidity is running's enemy.

10. Climate Calculator

I think that MyRunResults or PopUpRaces need to incorporate a heat and humidity calculator into the race results. A 10 mile race in August is like the Raheny 5 in 2022 and a 10 mile race in February is like the Raheny 5 in 2019. I found a basic one on google which told me that I was a lot better than my time which is great. Unfortunately all the M40s would also be a lot better too so I’d still have been 6th just faster and happier. I'll just have to stop racing in the summer.