Running is Mental

30th Anniversary Sonny Murphy 10 Mile hosted by Kilnaboy AC was on this Sunday. One of the old four Munster Spring 10 Mile races. However since the series has stopped this race has had a reduced number of entries mainly because of the time of year its ran and the nature of the course. While the course is your usual scenic route its is undulating and hard. A lot of runners avoid it because of this and that its not PB material.  Another low set of numbers again for the run must have the organisers scratching their heads. There was 107 entries on the day and the vast majority of these where club runners, so for some reason this race is not appealing to the non club runner. If the race is to continue then Kilnaboy AC need to address this as I like many other club runners would hate to see its demise.

Not racing the watch

I didn't really have the appetite for a crack at sub 70 as Connemara was still a bit in the legs but I was going to race this. A local runner who I have a history with beat me narrowly in this race 2 years ago so today was about extracting a victory. Plan stay with him until mile 8 and the go for home at the water station by running through it. Even with so little runners at the start my target lined up at  the very front with me 3-4 rows back, he took off like a bat out of hell and I got caught in traffic. After a mile he had opened a 200 meter gap but it wasn't getting bigger anymore, the only issue was we were going under 7 minute pace. With the breeze behind us this wasn’t too difficult so I was quite happy to be able to hold the gap but I was now on my own which was a worry with the head wind breeze that we would encounter soon. Once we turned right after mile 4 he was starting to open the gap mainly because I was easing back the pace slightly. I was now starting to worry that maybe I was not going to be in a position to challenge him later in the race. I kept going at race effort and if he beat me then fair dues. Passed halfway in 35:05 and the pace was starting to become a real effort when suddenly my foe was coming back to me big time as in he was walking. Flew by him and he ended up with a DNF. So game over what do I do now, well I decided to keep up the race effort but the combination of a stitch (glupped down 2 cups of water too quick) and the long drag up to Corofin with the stiffing breeze saw the pace drop that through mile 7 I was 50:24. On the climb up I was passed by a runner from Galway, so I put the head down and I stayed with him. There after we had a mile of passing each other out, I surged on the downhill section through Corofin, he caught me on the flat, I skipped the water station and kicked on but he again closed the gap and passed me once more. As I had ran the last 2 miles in the warm-up I made the plan to stay behind up the hill before the 9 mile marker, switch to left hand side as we crested and kick open a gap. He was better on the hills so I needed to end this before the final climb to the finish. Executed to perfection as I finally managed to open the gap which he could not close. Kept the pedal down until I could no longer hear his footsteps behind and then dropped the pace to 7:30 for the final climb to the finish. Crossed the line in 1:12:20 slower then Dungarvan but very happy with how the race transpired. My foe for the last 2 miles was Brendan Kennelly from GCH who shook my hand after he came through the finish line. I have no doubt that should we meet again I will be in his sights. That's racing for you, sometimes you don't have to beat the watch to have a good one.