I decided to venture down and see what kinda tempo run the boss does on a Tuesday Night. On arrival Richie's clock has been transported to the complex so we could keep track of our times. This should have set off alarm bells but when the boss says we are running a 5K time trial and you can run it at any pace you want. This code for flatout as fast as you can, and there are no prizes for guessing the course either. My PB for 5K is old and stands at 22:01. I decided that I would have a go at sub 21:00. We set off and I tried to pace myself off someone but no one was at my pace. Anthony went off in front was clearly sub 20 and then there was me. I had a discussion with Gary post DCM about not using a watch in races and trying to judge it by effort. While I did have my watch, but trying to hit the light button and run 5K pace was not working out. Pretty much time to put my idea into practice, so all I did was hit the lap button at each mile. Well it was a disaster in terms of pacing, I went out too fast 6:34 for the first mile and fell apart going up the hill on mile 2. 6:56 & 7:01 for mile 2 and 3 with 21:17 as the overall time. A bit disappointed and the HR figures where low so maybe I just didn't push it hard enough. There will be other days where having some other runners around in these sharp end races might make me shove on that extra bit. A new PB coming home was a little bit unexpected.
Finding Yourself
My first trip to West Cork to pace the Clonakilty Waterfront Half Marathon. Tom had asked me several weeks before hand about this but it wasn't until I got the pacer email with Mr Desmond's attachment about pacing the hills when it suddenly dawned on me to check the course profile. I had wrongly assumed that because it was on the waterfront we would be at sea level for most of this. I should have read the course blob, scenic views, the only time you get thoses is at the top of hills.This was going to be a tricky pacing gig, I was pacing 2:15 half and doing it solo to the pressure was on. Normally the pace would be 10:17 per mile but the course was not anywhere near flat,so I made up a pace band based on the following, 9:30 for downhill miles, 10:00 on the flat and 11:15 on the climbs, initially this landed at 2:13:30, so I added the spare minute to mile nines climb.
Printed off the band and made my way down south with Clubmate and novice pacer Brendan. Arrived and meet up with the usual suspects, and hit to the hotel after 10:30 looking for grub. The hotel obliged at this late hour one or two well maybe even three glass of hydration before getting the head down. Woke the next morning early with Tom in a bit of a fluff trying to make sure we were already to go before 8.I got my fryup this time unlike Dublin but the Coffee took too long to deliver (must have been coming from Java). Back to the room to get kitted out when Tom informs us that key to today's operation is getting the balloons home BANG, no sooner are the words out of his mouth but he burst one, balloon carrying duties are handed over to the novice pacer as no one else was stepping up to the mark. Off to the start where we meet up with the Eagle AC contingent, photos, loos breaks and soon its time to make our way to the start. The half is starting out the road a bit so all three of us make our way out. I lined up at the back and it looked like there was a small crowd, however this was not the case as most runners had left it late getting here and where all lining up behind us. I thought about moving back but already a group of about 50 were around me, so to hell with it, the faster runners have no else to blame but themselves when they get held up by us as they got to the start late. The gun went off on time and pretty soon there is a bit off shoving as faster runners come through us. The first 3 miles are pancake flat and in the still of the morning running along the waterfront sure where else would you be. The first climb at 3 miles was quite steep and I lost a lot of the group here, I even dropped the pace to 11:30 in spots but a lot gave up and walked. From here to Mile 9 is up and down but mostly down and some managed to catch up again. Had about Twelve on the climb at mile 9 and all made it up with me. However for some this exertion would catch them on the last three miles. I lost one on the downhill, knee gave up I think. Two more dropped out on the flat before mile 11. Two more tried to stop with a half a mile to go but a trick I learnt in Limerick was to place my hand on their backs which got them going again. A lot of runners who were struggling in the last mile came back to me but I told them that they had 30 seconds and keep going and not to stop. Most of the group had gone ahead and 5 or 6 had just dropped of me slightly. Got in in 2:14:28 just 2 seconds off requirement and spent the next bit roaring at the few stragglers coming in behind. Looking at the results later, any runner that finished 30 seconds after me got a sub 2:15 nett time and there was a gap of over a Minute to the next runner.Safe to say I don't think I could have paced it any better if it was a flat course and I still had my balloon so job done.
Afterwards hung around for a good bit as the atmosphere was great and endless Tea/Coffee and Biscuits and of course the famous Clonakilty Black Pudding and Sausages on offer. Soon it was time to head back to clean up and head home to Clare again. I didn't get to meet a lot of the Marathon runners as I was gone by the time they finished especially Thomas who was doing his 50th, glad to say he completed it and got his Silver Medal from Pat O'Keeffe afterwards. The weekend itself was top notch from what I could see. I would not have expected anything less from Bob and his team.
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
Picking up numbers at the expo was extremely efficient so hats off to all the volunteers Pacer stand was mayhem not really helped by its size or location. Really busy handing out pace bands, explaining the role of pacers etc. It still really surprises me how some people can have goal times in their head the day before a race that differs by 30 or more minutes.
Post Race Knees up
Not really what's on the horizon for the other 14,600 runners, but the pacer meal was a great social event. Meet up with many old friends and even some new ones. The sport at our table was especially good when you have two corkonians trading punches across the table. We retired to the lounge where we finished off the vino. There were suggestions of a trip to the residents bar but that idea didn't float so we all got to bed at a civilised hour and everyone was ready for the job ahead tomorrow.
The race
As I had no salt tablets my plan was to eat a good auld Full Irish for Breakfast, unfortunately I had to make do with the more carb/healthy option as the fry did not materialise until after Seven. I did however seek out a banana or two for my mid run snack. I was really surprised that the backpacks which held the pacer flags/sails were quite lightweight and easy to secure. At first fitting they came across the nipple area but a little adjustment moved them away. Large quantities of vaseline applied to prevent chaffing and down to the lobby to meet up with the others. We set off at a little before Eight for the start for a quick photo shot and dropped off my bag with towel and dry top for the finish. Weather was a bit nippy at this point but at least it was dry. We took up our positions at the start and slowly but surely a large enough group started to assemble around us. Plenty of questions about pace and other things, loads of banter. Tom even had to show one runner how to operate her Garmin. At 9:20 we got the off, for some reason my GPS watch failed to pick up a satellite so it ended up been a dumb stopwatch for the day. No worries as I had a foot-pod polar as backup and two other able bodies with me in the shape of Tom and Dipak. Turns out we had well in excess of 200 marathons ran between us and as my tally only accounted for Ten so I and our pacees were in safe hands. The first few miles we found that the mile markers were a little longer so we ended up been down about 30 seconds Once we got into the park we were back on target though. Certain ladies in the group who had difficulties in the bladder department found that there was queues at the first set portaloos we met at mile Three. My suggestion of what they should do did not go down too well, it certainly got a reaction from some of the ladies. At this stage we had got to know some of our group, there was a good gang with us from West Waterford AC and 4-5 ladies from Dunleer running for Team Carrie of whom some had made an early request for a fag break, turns out they were still 20 a day smokers. There was even one lady looking for a date for some social event or another around mile 8. I will not forget the lady from New Zealand who took a shine to me especially in the finish area. Once we left the park things start to get that little bit harder for those around us as we hit the climbs around Inchicore, South Circular Road and the Crumlin Road. We hit half-way with 2:24:46 on the watches very much on target. Over the next few miles it was pretty difficult to keep the pace as it was downhill and with a tail wind. The time gained allowed us to give back some time on the climb out of Miltown and Roebuck Hill itself. It was just a matter of getting people up the two climbs without stopping. Once that was done most of the group still with us where with us till the end. We picked up other runners dropping back from the 4:40 pacers, who we just kept encouraging them to get a move on and start running with us. At Grand Canal Street we told the fresher runners around us to hit for home. From here to the finish we pretty much hit every mile on time but the congestion on Mile 25 cost us about 20 Seconds so we just had to pick it up a bit around Trinity College Great support around the finish and three of the West Waterford Girls and the smokers from Dunleer were still there with us at the end as we crossed the line.
The aftermath
Walked back to the hotel with Tom for a quick shower, and then to McGrattan's for the usual post race recovery drink, pints of the Black Stuff. Meet up with some fellow pacers and boardies, but as per usual at the end of the night putting names to handles was a bit beyond me. A great buzz about as Orna not only broke but destroyed sub 3 hour to finish 9th Lady. It showed with a lot of work it can be done, I was really delighted for her as were many others. The photo call with an ex RTE newsreader was probably the best bit of fun for the night. Rolled back to the hotel slightly after midnight happy in the knowledge that another one done. Following morning was a different matter, could not talk and had the usual post marathon pains, one especially in the head but as herself says self inflicted so just get on with it.
My first trip to West Cork to pace the Clonakilty Waterfront Half Marathon. Tom had asked me several weeks before hand about this but it wasn't until I got the pacer email with Mr Desmond's attachment about pacing the hills when it suddenly dawned on me to check the course profile. I had wrongly assumed that because it was on the waterfront we would be at sea level for most of this. I should have read the course blob, scenic views, the only time you get thoses is at the top of hills.This was going to be a tricky pacing gig, I was pacing 2:15 half and doing it solo to the pressure was on. Normally the pace would be 10:17 per mile but the course was not anywhere near flat,so I made up a pace band based on the following, 9:30 for downhill miles, 10:00 on the flat and 11:15 on the climbs, initially this landed at 2:13:30, so I added the spare minute to mile nines climb.
