Looking Back

Red sky at morning, sailor take warning

Got up at 7 AM on Sunday. Had promised a mate I would look at his PC before the race, but the race time was moved forward so this was the reason for my early rise. I ventured outside to a glorious bright morning and a red sky. A perfect day for running I thought to myself, grabbed my running gear, did not bother to bring anything warm as today I would be racing and that would keep me plenty warm enough. It turns out that those ancient sailors where indeed very clever fellows after all.

Loopy Loopers

The annual gathering of crazy runners to honour the spirit of Eddie Murphy happened again this year in Sixmilebridge. One hundred or so lunatics took to the streets of the Bridge in various shapes and sizes and all had different goals from 13 to 52 miles. My  goal was to beat my PB for the half marathon, which while I did achieve this, not by the margin I had in mind. Our sanity or rather lack of it was future enhanced by the fact that no one willingly left the course even with the abnormal Baltic whether conditions that arrived mid morning and gradually worsened as the day progressed.

Racing Again

On arrival @ 11 just before the marathon start the course was already busy with the double marathon and 30 milers. Picked up my chip and number and got changed, it was a this point I began to realize that we where in for a wet and windy race. However on my warm-up lap I suddenly hit me it was going to be damn cold as well. I went to my car and the only warm piece of clothing I had was a old hat belonging to my daughter. As ridiculous as I looked I still did not win the prize for most ridiculous headgear. My race plan to start out @ 7:30 lasted for about 2 miles. After that I managed to hold 1:40 pace up until Mile 9. At this point my arms where frozen solid and I found it extremely hard to push the pace on the downhill section into the wind and rain. From here to the end of the race I managed 7:50-7:55 mile pace at a struggle.

Photo by Jason Fahy

On reflection my lack of recent races cost me the sub 1:40, the whether conditions did not help but I was badly prepared, and had I revised my pace to suit the conditions I might not have fallen apart from mile 10 on. On a positive note I got two new personal bests. An improvement of over four minutes in my Half Marathon time to 1:40:47, and my Ten mile chip split was 1:16:16 which is an improvement of over one minute on my previous best. I survived the race in one piece and with the exception of some muscle soreness have recovered well. So back to base training and I might tackle my 10K PB over Christmas.

The real Hero's

All the volunteers on the day that made it possible for us to participate in this race. Given the conditions there where presented they excelled in every department. Kept traffic under control given the circumstances of Clare GAA, ignoring the fact that there was a race planned and proceeded to arrange the Clare Cup final in Sixmilebridge that afternoon  The conditions for running where horrible but also not to forget the cheering and support for the marshals along the route. Clare Civil Defense did an excellent work on ensuring the health and well being of any runner who required attention. Again top marks to Tom and the B.M.O.H for putting on this event but been able to ensure it was completed successfully  safely and without major incident  given the many hurdles they faced in the lead up to and on the day itself.


November 18th
         13.1 Miles Race 1:40:47 @ 7:41 pace, HR 163