First Race in Two Months

Seemed to have crammed in a few things this weekend. Friday night saw Dee an dmyself head to the theatre to see Dandelions, a comedy starring Pauline McGlynn and Deirdre O'Kane, along with Keith Duffy - Names that probably mean very little to readers, but if you have ever seen an Irish Comedy called Father Ted, then Pauline played Mrs Doyle the housekeeper, "Will you have a cup of Tea", Deirdre is one of Irelands top stand-up stars, and Keith Duffy used to be in a boy band. The play was very funny, very Irish, and aimed more at a female audience, but worth the trip into town.

Had to run up north on Saturday to see my mother, my normal weekend trip, but after cutting her grass, I headed back home in the afternoon and relaxed in preparation for my Rcae on Sunday.

The race was the first of the Adidas series, building up to the Dublin Marathon in October. There is a series of races, 5, 10 and a Half-Mary, all in the Phoenix Park, and all aimed at marathon preparations. It was a grey, damp, summers day, and after negotiating the traffic to park, I chatted away to a few familiar faces, although despite the wonders of text messaging, could not catch up with my training partner until after the race.

I had no high expectations, having done so little real training since Prague, and having last week cut in half with the stomach bug, so my head was saying that around 40 minutes would be OK. I ran 36 minutes earlier this season for the same distance, but things are nowhere near that level at present. The race started 30 minutes late, and along with around 2,500 others we set off. The course was relatively uneventful, and as I train in the Park I was well used to it, so knew what to expect.

First mile was 8:00 dead, and felt easy, running smoothly. Second mile flew by in 7:45, and I could easily see myself getting under 40. I knew that there was a steady climb over the second half, so feeling comfortable at this pace, the time was going to be grand. Mile 3 crossed an open stretch of the Park, and suprisingly, the wind whipped up here, but this was offset by a down hill before we turned back into the shelter of the trees, and the climb back. Mile 3 was 7:41, and all was going well. My breathing was fine, my legs were fine - oops - Speak too soon!

I don't know what it was, maybe the climb, although it was by no means steep, just a gradual climb, but somewhere in this mile, my right calf decided to tighten up with cramp! I have often suffered from cramp during a marathon, but not at Mile 4, more usually Mile 24, so it was both a worry and suprise. I had to draw to a walk, and try and stretch the cramp out, managing to keep walking, but each step was sore, and I saw the Mile 4 marker and looked down to see that the walking had cost me over a minute, as 9:10 was showing. Around 100 yards past the marker, I felt the cramp ease, as if some magic sponge had whisked the tightness away, so I started to jog again, gradually ctaching those who had passed me as I walked, and had passed the usual comments.

The cramp was cleared and although I knew I shouldn't push too hard, and my time was going to be unheralded, I picked it up, and ran home strongly, pass ing some 20 or so folk in the last 200, fairly sprinting for the line, and "running" 8:02 for the last mile, which given I had walked the first 100 plus, wasn't too bad - Overall time 40:38. Nice thing was I heard my name over the PA praising my sprint finish and gaining a spot prize for my effort - A glass vase!

Kieran was waiting for me at the finish with water in hand. He had run around 38 which he was happy with, given his own problems off late, and we walked back to teh Race HQ and took leave of the great refreshments on hand. I can't be too disappointed with my time, given how little training I have undertaken recently, but I am worried as to the cramping over such a short distance. Now it's time to knuckle down to some serious training and proper preparation for the 26.