Dumb and Dumber

That’s me when will I learn that I am not made of Titanium. Mile 23 in the lovely surroundings of the Demense of the National Park in Killarney and I am on the floor literally. I have done some hard races before but this is a pacing gig and its meant to be easy. Well it wasn’t and whose fault was that, mine of course. Roll back 2 days earlier, I had overnight accommodation lined up for a change which meant not having to drive down early before hand, that soon change as we picked up an early gig in Carrigaholt for 70th Anniversary of O’Currys GAA Football club the night before the race. Well the early gig turned out to be a late one which meant me home at 4 AM and still having to face into a 2 hour drive to Killarney. A bit more planning and I could have cut my drive in half If I somehow could read ferry timetables correctly. Arrived in Killarney at the appointed time of 8 AM after picking up two hours sleep in the car on the way down. Sure I’ll be grand have done this before. Set of with my pacing partner Norman whos always seemed to be in front of me by about a half a minute. The trick to paciong this race having done it before is to ignore the GPS watch and pace of the mile markers. Memory was a bit fuzzy but it soon came back that some markers would be out and they duelly where. Again don’t press the panic button and I trusted my pace. Ran with Eamon and Cathy and a few more for the first two laps. All seemed to be struggling with the warm conditions and the truth be known I wasn’t finding this to be easy at all. It was only on our third lap when myself and Norman hooked up again and we soon discovered our pacing bands differed which is why he thought I was behind pace and I thought he was ahead.  Third lap however both the heat and warm summer sunshine where finally got to me. Once we came out of Ross Castle loop for the third time I told Norman to hit away as I really didn’t think I could hold the pace any longer. Mile 23 came and I was just basically spent. Considered stopping but then realised I would be left here for a while and most likely have to walk/struggle to the finish anyway. So I just kept going, I could not hold the prescribed pace any longer and wasn’t even bothered either. Luckily we had no pacess at this point and Norman was going to get home on time anyway. Struggle to Mile 25 and discovered I was only down 30 seconds on 3:59:30 band, this lifted me and I managed to get my rhythm going again. We hit 26 where I had caught back up with Norman but suddenly we were down by more than a minute, panic stations, so we both picked up the pace which briefly made me experience a bout of dizziness, then I suddenly remembered that this marker was out last year so I dropped back again and fell literally over the finish line in 3:59:24. Chris clearly seeing I was in some distress helped me to where I could lie down, finally started to come around and a mug of Coffee with some chocolate soon revived the spirits. Quick shower afterwards and I said my goodbyes, still had to face a 2 hour drive home. Got to Farenfore and pulled in, slept for 3 hours in the car best sleep ever.

A Busy Week

From a running point of view I got a lot in last week. From my training side I did my biggest week ever in 75 Miles and not all where easy miles. Tuesday was interval session of 6*1K @ 5K pace off 75% recovery. Aimed for 4:02 for each but the last one my legs where gone ended up been 4:05 even with me pushing it. The next day was a 12 mile run which I sometimes do in lees road. Anyone who runs or has ran in there will know the undulating nature of the trails. Again another very tough session on the legs. This followed with a 2-3 miles with the C25K group that evening. Recovery day on Friday and Saturday started with the inaugural lees road parkrun which I was acting as one of the timekeepers and was followed later that evening by a 8 mile General Aerobic Run. I have started to make this a fartlek in Ballybeg Woods with and one minute get up as fast as I can climb on a slope of over 45°. Overall the session is not hard but the hills add the reminder of what it is like to be flat out without battering the legs to death. Sunday saw me finish the week with the small job of pacing the Tralee Marathon for the 5 hour bus.

parkrun comes to Ennis

I had been asked to have a look at a suitable course for the parkrun in Lee’s road Ennis. The run was to take place as much as possible in the wooded section and we could not use the cross country track as it crossed the entrance road. This would mean the course would be very undulating and no mater what way it went would have some tough short climbs. The finalised course had some reservations regarding the finish area so on Friday Night we changed it to allow it finish and start in a wide area but this meant 2 loops up a very steep hill. On the day we had 130 runners which was very good considering the 2 largest Primary schools had Confirmation that morning. No major issues on the day and I was well impressed by the concept, and hopefully this will go from strength to strength in the future. The course lived up to its billing only one runner under 20 minutes.

In Kerry again

My second year to pace this at 5 hours. Between 50 miles in the legs and only 3 hours sleep on Saturday as I was gigging to say the least I was not fresh. Recently with the C25K group if I don't wear 2 pairs of gloves my hands get numb. Several times when getting ready one of our pacing team tried to relive me of a pair but I was having none of it. The wind factor today would mean I was in for a long cold day. Got to the start and noted numbers where down on last year. My starting group consisted of 5-6 Kerry Crusaders ladies and a few lads willing to take a risk running with them. Soon we where off and moving along nicely. Mile One no marker not to worry, Mile two none again by the time I heard Garmin's beeping around me for the third time there still was no sign of a marker. Final saw the three mile marker but it was way out, now starting to worry as 11:25 pace is not anywhere near a natural pace for me. The fourth Mile marker appeared to be correct but we where now close to a minute up. Group was going along nicely plenty of chat. Got to the turn in Banna a nice section but on the day the wind was now in our face so I gave back the minute hear and in the climb back up to Ardfert. At this point I had noticed my group of Crusaders had got noticeable quieter and over the next 2-3 miles they fell away. Coming out of Ardfert there now was only two left in the group. Paul and Donie, Donie was chatting away but Paul had got noticeably quieter. The pull up to Chruch Hill would see him fall off the back. At this point we had caught a cork native with plenty of support. Even managed to snag me a Cork flag as they passed cheering in the car. The two guys where going well and picked up a bit as we entered Fenit. This left me on my own. From here to Tralee it was a lonesome run with a cold headwind and I was now glad my fellow pacer didn't snag my gloves as at least my hands where warm. Passed Donie at 23 his race was done. He had mentioned several time that he always fades at this point. Again proves if you believe its going to happen you will always be correct. I was at this point the most hated runner on the course. There was maybe 7-8 runners ahead of me dreading my approach, stealing the odd glance behind to see if I was catching them. For some reason all but one stayed ahead. I caught 4 of them but three passed me again on the way into Tralee determined not to let me catch them again. Pretty soon the finish was there and I crossed 4:59:20. The lack of a 26 Mile marker had me in a bit of a panic but Once I saw the finish I knew my pace was okay. Thought I was good snagging myself 2 chocolate Santa’s only to discover later some intrepid young lad got his hands on Ten of them.

Eddie Murphy 2013

Clon comes to Clare

Myself and Paul wanted to run the Eddie Murphy on Sunday so we were duly handed the responsibility of looking after the Directors Run on Saturday. After a few doubts whether we would have enough to run the marathon race we eventually had Thirteen starters as well as Seven from the club in the half. Looking at the lineup for the start it appears a certain Mr Hillard must have been giving out free tech tops again. I thought we had travelled forward in time by three weeks and were actually in Clonakilty judging by the attire most runners had on. There was however one proud 10 in 10 finisher top on display. The rest of the day was looking after our small group with water, jaffas and support. The other job was counting laps, which just drove me scatty and thank god we were going to have chip timing tomorrow. There was a brief discussion afterward about tomorrow pending runs, my contribution was along the lines that if I was ever to do an ultra which I didn't see happening any time soon, I would go the whole hog and do a 100 Mile race. Famous last words.

Less than 100 but over 26.2

After about three hours sleep due to a gig the night before,  I have a small Breakfast and make my way to Sixmilebridge.In the darkness there are only a few lonely souls setting up the course for the day and registering the brave Double Marathon Runners. I have an early start so that I would be available for giving a hand later. Its not long before we start and there are about nine of us doing the marathon with the Double Marathon runners. During the week I had one very good session where I did 13 miles @ 8:30 pace and felt really strong but then I followed that up with a five miler and 9:30 pace my legs where like lead weights. I decided the plan was to go at 9:30 or 4:10 pace. Well best laid plans. First lap was just over nine minutes so I took it easier on the next lap or so I tought same again a little over nine minutes. This went on for several laps so I finally conceded that this seemed to be the most comfortable pace for me. The miles laps moved along very quickly as they always do in this race. The thing I like and many others like about the one mile loop is you are always passing or been passed by someone. Even though I at no stage ran with anyone it never felt lonely. Got to mile 19/20 and I just felt like I was only after starting the run, it was then that a mad idea entered my head. I suddenly realised that no one from the club was running the 30 miler or the Double Marathon. Well you can't host a run in Eddie Murphy's memory and have no club member at least have a go at an Ultra. I was going so well at this point that I decided there and then to do another four miles and go for it. I let Richie and John on the clock know what I was doing and off I went with a new plan. Cross the marathon in sub 4 and run on feel after that for another four laps. Finished the marathon in 3:58:09 and set off again, laps 27 & 28 were indeed a new experience. At the start I asked Jim McNiece why he had a selection of shoes in his box. His answer was dry feet make comfortable feet. I now knew what he meant, at the start of lap 27 my feet were sliding around in a pair of shoes that were soaked through at this stage. I tried some running repairs but it didn't really sort it out. Luckily I remembered on the next lap I had a dry pair in the car which was parked near the start. New dry shoes I set about upping the pace for the last two laps. On the last lap going as hard as I can the 30 mile leaders cruise past me, my one bad moment of the day was here, Thoms greets me and I bitch about how easily he just passed me and I was flat to the boards. Anyway finished in 4:33:35. Another great thing about this race is you get a split for every mile, the results showed two very positive things to me. My first 25 miles had 5 mile splits of 45:30,45:17,45:28,45:27,45:27 which showed that I consistently knocked out sub Four hour marathon pace for most of the race. My last five mile split was 44:26 but that was because of the shoe pitstop and knocking out mile 29 and 30 in 8:03 and 7:51 respectfully. Putting in those times on that course after 28 miles has really given me the confidence to kick on and get a sub 3:25 next year for Boston.

The Aftermath

My day didn't finish there, spent the rest of the day doing a mixture of tasks. Surprisingly I was able to move with some degree of efficiency and was able to contribute to the proceedings just as things started to get busy with Half Marathon runners starting to register. The banter was good and some new faces were adding their own mark to the race. Some even managed to render our MC speechless for a while, which was the greatest achievement of the day. From a racing point of view the Half Marathon was the race to produce this year with the front three been pretty close throughout and it was only decided on the last lap. The day flew by, the weather obliged slightly and it wasnt long until all that was left was the few lonely souls doing the cleanup and putting the village back together in the darkness and rain.

Sixmilebridge would wake up on Monday morning as if nothing at all had changed, but those of us who were there on Sunday experienced something unique and have a special piece of Tipperary Bling to show for our efforts