Ballycotton 10

Life has been hectic in the last few weeks with Work commitments taking over from anything else as I had to prepare for my exams which took place last week. A week of studying and a week of exams, five in five days, meant that training was not top of my agenda. But Friday saw the last exam and relief allowing me to travel down to Ballycotton in East Cork, for the Classic 10 Mile road race. This is a race I have run three times previously, and it takes place from a remote fishing village about 20 miles from Cork City in the South East of Ireland. I have no idea why, but this race attracts 3000 entries for a race where the weather can be suspect, and the roads are tight.

This year, we were expecting the worst as a major storm front was forecast to blow in on Sunday evening, but incredibly, upon arrival in Ballycotton, we we welcomes by a dry, still day with teh sun shining brightly - it was chilly, but not cold, almost a perfect day for running.

As I knew I wasn't in the best shape with, effectively, the last two weeks off, I hung back fom my Athenry Team mates and was looking to run around my marathon pace, and see how I felt. The first mile from the start is down hill, so I hung back with the pack, which wasn't that difficult given the numbers trying to traverse the narrow village streets at the start, and eased into my running. That first mile was completed in 8:39, nice and steady, and we left the village and out into the country. The view as you run this race are great on a day like today, with the headlands of the bay glimmering in the sunlit afternoon, and the green fields showing the best of Ireland off.

Mile two was a quick 7:59, again a little downhill here, and I checked back to ensure that I was within my 8:25 average pace goal, and Mile 3 was am 8:18. The first three miles and the last three, in reverse, are the same in this race, and just after Mile 3 the loop into the country takes place which is relatively flat and amongst the fileds. I look around at my running partners here and take stock of the various shapes and styles of runners around me. I realise what a diverse range of folk we are that run, and how anyone can do this if they put a mind to it. Mile 4 soon came along, at 8:24, and Mile 5, the halfway point was an 8:13.

It was just after halfway that the wheels nearly came off. My right leg started to go to sleep! I can't explain this sensation, it happens from time to time when I run. It usually goes away again after a short while, but its kind off like Pins and Needles, just a numbing of the lower part of the leg. I have no issues with circulation or anything, I have had it checked and nothing can be found. Whether its the camber of the road which effects it, I'm not sure, but today I had to drop to a walk and stamp my foot out, a strange sight I am sure to those around me, but after a while it started to "wake up" and I was back running again. This resulted, not surprisingly, with the slowest mile of the race, a 9:05, but I was back running again and Mile 7 saw the loop completed with an 8:12 mile.

I was trying to do the math in my head as to what I needed to finish under 84 minutes, my target, but was also aware that those last two miles were uphill, so needed to conserve my energy to ensure a strong finish, but I was disappointed to see an 8:37 mile at the 8 mark, and thought this would be tough. I was tiring and the climb back to the main Village road was taking its toll on me. I hit 9 miles with a slow 8:55 and thought my target was shot.

But sometimes, you can dig deep and find energy reserves that you wern't sure were there. The day before I had been running with Keiran in the Phoenix Park and had stopped a couple of times during the run as I was feeling full of indegestion, but as we neared the end of the run, we sped up and had a tremendous burst of energy, and as Kieran said, "It got the run over". So, I thought of that as I hit the rolling rises and dug in to get the run finished, and started to pass people who had been passing me over the previous couple of miles. I kept pushing, with the cruel twist that I knew the race ran through the village where the crowds were, but there was still 400m to go and I kept pushing, kept passing, got cheered on by a few of my Club Mates, and finished with a race best split of 7:28 for the last uphill mile - I got the run over!

A total time of 1:23:50, inside my target, but not exactly a perfect run of even splits, and now I sit back having run my last race as a M45, with the knowledge that as I step up a class on Wednesday, that every race in the next few weeks will be a new PR, at least in my new M50 category. The first race is on Sunday coming, and a St Patricks 5K here in the city - Here's hoping for a more consistent run and a sub 24 show.