Streets of Galway 8K Race

Sometimes, you don't know why, but sometimes, things just come right for you, and you wind up being very happy with life. Saturday night was one of those times.

The day started miserably as it was raining heavy when we left Dublin and set out for the west and the two and a half hour drive over to Galway. It rained all the way, and I wasn't looking forward to the 8K race I had planned. The trip was for the Streets of Galway 8K, a road race around Galway City that I have enjoyed running a number of times in the past, not least as it gives me a chance to meet up with my team mates from Athenry AC, my running club. This year it would be a good gauge as to how well my training has been going. I ran a 5M race just 4 weeks ago, and I was looking for a significant improvement on that time of 43:16, albeit that was run as a training race.

Arriving at a wet Galway in mid-afternoon, I watched the Ireland warm up game for the Rugby World Cup, then the first half of the Liverpool match as I relaxed before the 7:30 start for the race. Met up with the lads from the club and proceeded over to the Claddagh and Race HQ. It was still raining, but there was hope as there were patches of blue breaking through, and lo and behold, just as the race started the rain stopped.

There were a LOT of runners, despite the weather, I believe I heard the announcer mention nearly 2000 had entered, and I made my only mistake of the evening when I lined up WAY too far back. There were no chips for this race, and so when the race started on the narrow road, it was nearly two minutes before I crossed the start line, so my Official Time would be well out form my watch time.

The race starts at the Claddagh, then crosses the river and runs into town and around Eyre Square and through the shopping area, generating a good crowd cheering as the masses ran past. The race then runs through the more residential parts of town, before heading down to Salthill and the waterfront as we run the last couple of kilometres along Galway Bay, returning to the Claddagh to finish.

I started conservatively, once I got running, missed the first distance mark, and at 2Km my watch said 10:03, which I had started as I crossed the start line at a jog. By now I had settled into a reasonable pace, and I got my head down and concentrated on running at this steady pace, picking off runners all the time. I don't believe that anybody went past me from that point in the race, I was running well, feeling strong, and happy that I could maintain the pace.

The middle of the race was one of simply keeping steady, feeling good, and running past people. I hit the watch at 6Km and I had covered the middle 4Km in 18:30, and I was certainly on to break the 39 minutes that I had guessed I was capable off. I didn't really set a target for this race, but the McMillan Calculators were showing a 39:07 target based on my last 5K race, and I had trained well for the last two weeks, so knew I was in better shape. But I hadn't realised how much better I was feeling.

With 2K to go, we were on the waterfront, and with the sun now creeping out, the rain had stopped and the beauty of Galway Bay alongside, with rainbows acting as backdrop, I was determined to finish strongly. My speed work with Karolina was beginning to pay off as I dug in and pushed from thereon in. I felt very strong, and unlike recent races I felt I had more to give rather than feeling tired as I neared the conclusion of the race. There was a mark on the road indicating 500m to go, and at that point I raised my game again, checked on the field in front of me, and ran through them. Normally i pick a couple of runners in front of me and try and reel them in, but today I was reeling too many in - I was flying (OK, I know it's relative to where I was in the race!) - I must have past 20 runners in that last 500, turning the 90 degree bend for the finish straight with 100 to go, kicked again and flew past a few more runners as I crossed the line, stopping my watch at 37:22 - a marvellous 8:48 for the last 2 kilometres, and WELL inside my McMillan predicted time.

The official time shows I ran 39:13, and placed 589th, but given where I lined up, and how long it took me to cross the start line, I actually ran 37:22 for the 8K, which for the non-metric readers, translates to a 7:30 per mile pace for the "almost" 5 Mile race. I was VERY happy with the time, and the run. The training is obviously paying off as the improvement in just a month has been dramatic. I have a 10 Mile race this Saturday, and all being well I will be under 80 minutes then - 14 weeks to go to Philadelphia, and things are looking good.