Smashed It! - Sub 25 by end of September - TICK!

In life, if you want to be successful you have to set goals that are challenging, but achievable. Well, a couple of months ago, when I started to get back into my running after the enforced lay-off, I set myself a goal of getting under 29 minutes for 5K by the end of September. To be fair, this was a soft target, and I quickly revised that down to 28 minutes, and then subsequently set the real challenge of 25 minutes for the Rathfarnham 5K Road Race, which took place this morning.

Training has been picking up nicely, and my weekly Parkruns have seen my time coming down, on what is a really tough course at Waterstown, and I went into this Race with a strong belief I could achieve 25 minutes, but it was still unknown territory. Thanks to Dublin Bus not getting out of bed on a Sunday morning, I had an unusual warm up, by walking the 6 Km to Terenure College, the base for the race. It was a beautiful morning for walking, and for the race, and an hour after leaving home I was at the College and getting armed up for the run. Walked the first Km of the course, before jogging back to the start and having a good stretch. This is a very popular race on the calendar here in Dublin, with over 1100 entrants, and with a reputation as a fast course, some of the top runners in Ireland were out limbering up - and then there was me :).

It was naturally busy at the start, and I had a lot of bobbing and weaving to do in the first kilometre, as ever, but gradually started to get into my stride on the down hill gradient in the first couple of Kms. I checked my watch at the 2Km mark, and it read 9:58, which was just about on target, given the first few hundred metres would have been slower paced. The route starts the long drag up Terenure Road, which although it looks flat, is actually a gradual uphill gradient, and is 30% of the race, but I was going along nicely, and the third Km was completed in 4:54, and at this point I felt confident that I would make it within my target.

Turning back to the road along the Dodder towards the finish, I knew it was downhill to home now, but my legs were beginning to feel the pace. The 4 Km mark came up, with a 4:55 Km, and 19:47 on the watch, and all I had to do was keep going - And I did. Nothing spectacular, just digging in, picking off a couple of runners on teh way in, and finally crossing the line with a 4:52 last Km and a watch/chip time of 24:39.

The stats were: Overall 510/1106; 373 male out of 556; M55 Age Group 18/28 - Age Grade 63.18%

All I can say is, I set myself a goal that was a big challenge, and achieved it. Now the hard work has to start over the winter months to improve on that. With a full year of training, I wonder what I can actually achieve? I do know I have to give a great thanks to Waterstown Parkrun for the difficult course helping me feel very comfortable on the flatter course today. Next target, in the short term, will be to get the Parkrun time under 25 minutes, and increase the training to see me through the Half-marathon at the end of the year. In the meantime I have a 5 Mile Race next Saturday in the Phoenix Park to look forward to!