Diamonds on the soles of his feet

I finally got out for a longish run last Sunday, the first in a few weeks.

I arranged with M to meet her and the kids at our (due to the recession soon to be ex-) gym in Leopardstown.   A distance on the sat-nav of 19k by the shortest route.    As i had to do 25-26k i took a detour off the suggested route.

I ran the first few k quick enough, about 5m30s per k up to 8k.   I wanted to keep my heart under 150bpm (just to see what happened, i know i can keep going a lot longer at that pace), so i started slowing down a bit and kept to 6m05 or so up to 16km, feeling pretty good.

Then, then i started hitting the hills of south dublin..... 6m29, 6m36, 6m25, then 6m50 arggh.  The pain was pretty severe.....in fact the pain was yucky.

I finished at the gym to find i had only done 21.7km, blast, do i keep going, finish out the miles, take no shortcuts, grind out the distance? - not on your nelly.  i took the cowardly choice of believing the hills made up for the missed 4k.......obviously i'm into that whole endurance running self punishment thing....hmmm, maybe not, lets see how it goes next weekend - 25k.

And the title? after about 8.5k i thought i was starting to get a blister. i kept running, trying to ignore it.  Eventually i stopped to investigate - to find a tiny diamante jewel out of one of my daughters many, many make-your-own-jewelery sets - had it gotten worse it would definitely been the weirdest running injury yet!

Kildangan 10k Race Report

I feel i've done a lot of races recently, but when my big sis mentioned that her local GAAclub was having a funds raising 10k i jumped at the chance.

Backstory first - I went out for a 10 miler last saturday week and had to give up after 4 miles; the pain in my right calf was pretty bad and i was also getting lower back and hip pain on my left hand side.... pretty sure it was the old asics i'm still using well past use by date.

I stopped running for a complete week - its always worrying that after a running break how the aches and pains go away, leaving you feeling pretty fit and healthy until the fitness starts to wear off.   Anyway after a weeks rest i went out sunday night for 4k to try out the legs.   I put on my old, old nikes and felt pretty good so I headed down to Kildare the Bank Holiday Monday.

The race kicked off a few minutes after 11.   I was not expecting any special time but i figured i'd try to keep with my super fast bro-in-law for as long as possible.

The first k started okay, i was feeling good and it didnt feel all that fast but i was wondering why i was breathing pretty heavily - we ended up doing it in 4mins30sec - about the fastest i've ever run a k.

i let the bro-in-law head off and i slowed down k by k, eventually hitting a slowest of 5m23s before picking it up in the last k at 5m02s for a new pb of 51m20s for 10k - chuffed or what!!

i suppose the odd rest pays off - all i've to do now is assess where my narathon training is going!!

Bohermeen Half Marathon

A few months ago running buddies suggested entering the Kivara Half Marathon.

As this would entail hotels and a full weekend away we decided to meet semi-halfway, in Bohermeen, Co Meath.

Short Version

Very enjoyable day.  Well organised, lovely atmosphere.  Great value for race and technical tee. Only downside - there must have been an issue with my chip as my time didnt register, and this seems to have happened to a lot of runners (keying in my surname showed about half didnt get timed or placed).

Long Version

I headed down with the clann early on Sunday morning.   The village is just past Navan and we were there in about an hour.

M dropped me off and headed back to Navan (we had to bribe the kids with McDonalds to get them to come.    I met the two lads at the clubhouse & collected the goody bag (cool tee, if a little too many sponsors names on the back!).

One of the lads was aiming for a PB, the other was, like myself, just treating it as a training run, but quietly hoping for a 1hr 50min. 

I myself was aiming for less than 2hr15min (very conservative) but one of the guys guessed 5mins either side of 2 hours.

We got changed & headed down to the starting line.   The start was deferred by ten mins (prob to let late comers get to the start).  

The race got underway.  Ultra Tall Boy & myself started beside each other but we were running our own races so we stuck the headphones on, shook hands and headed off.

I lost sight of him within the first mile & a half but didnt make any attempt to keep up.   I was running comfortably at about 9min5sec a mile (no Garmin so depending on the mile markers for timings).   I slowed down each mile for the first 9 miles, just enjoying the run, watching people pass by, passing the odd fast starter who couldnt keep their early pace up.

I ran well within myself for the first 9 miles, listening to a podcast, then some music.   I then decided to turn off the sounds and slightly pick up the pace.

I had an interesting moment around mile 9.    I slowly caught up to a woman in front of me.  As i went to pass her she saw me in the corner of her idea and speeded up.    I kinda smiled to myself at this, i havent really come across it before, and as i always run my own race i was surprised someone was putting this much effort in with 4 miles still to go.   Each time i went to pass her she pushed on a bit harder.....

Anyway, I proved to myself how small minded and petty i am.   I kept edging up behind her watching her struggle on.  Rather than just going past her I kept this up for a few mins, then, as a car came up behind me (roads were only semi closed) i put the foot down and went past her ( i wasnt too proud of myself with this behaviour. 

(I always reckon its better to ignore the other racers unless its the last couple of hundred yards, i dont see the point of killing myself trying to shut out someone with 4 miles remaining).

Anyway i kept the pressure on myself and finished at 2hrs1min so happy enough with that.   Weather was good apart from a cold start, strong headwind in some places and a short hail/sleet shower.

M and kids were back t see the end and C ran the last 200 metres with me, which made any aches and pains worthwhile.