Ain't nothing gonna break my stride....

HMP session

3m @ 8:40

3 x 1m @ HMP with 2min jog rec - 6:54, 6:46, 6:39

3.63m @ 8:30

Target pace for the HMP miles was 6:55. First one was into the wind and I had to work a bit. Think I went to sleep for the second one because I took a wrong turn and ended up in the Dunnes Stores car park. I had to duck under 2 barriers and jump a fence to avoid having to stop and turn around. The third one was probably a bit faster because I had turned out of the wind and I was keeping the effort the same. I'm finding the paces a lot more comfortable for the last few weeks.

We have 7 lambs that have to be bottle fed. A few of them were from triplets and the ewes can only look after 2 properly, one of them the ewe had no milk and one of them was attacked by a fox in the field. There's 5 boys and 2 girls and yesterday I was awoken from my afternoon nap by a loud baa-ing at the back door. The 2 girls had come up from the field looking for milk. How cute is that?

6m @ 8:40

Think I had the best of the weather for this. Early morning runs rock

April:

Run: 202 miles
Races: 1
Bike: 18 hrs incl 2 spins on the trails

4m @ 8:40

It was raining this morning - can't remember the last time I ran in the rain. Thankfully it didn't last too long. Claire came with me on the bike. I took the back wheel off last Friday after being on the trails. It was a bit tricky getting it back on again and I'm not too sure what I did but the gears haven't been working properly since. They keep clunking especially when I change up to the high gears. I got the other camelbak today. Claire is up for the challenge although she was a bit alarmed when she saw last year's route map. Dad recognised one of the hills and mentioned that his car stalled going up that one day

4:25:50

First lady :D:D

Saw this race on the web a few weeks ago and thought it would be fun to do. I know a lot of the countryside around there and the race starts and finishes in Kilfinane which is where I grew up. Mike was up for it as well and we decided to make it into a good training day for the Beast. I signed Claire up for it as when I knew she was going to be home and although she complained she was well happy to be going back to Kilfinane. We had such a lovely childhood there and I'd say we were up in the Ballyhouras 6 or 7 days a week either on horses or on foot.

I had a little peek at the results from last year during the week and a place on the podium looked well within my capabilities - had to keep telling myself "this is just a training run, this is just a training run". When we were waiting in the hall before the race I had a good look around and there was no sign of last year's winner so I said to myself if a win was looking possible the training run was out the window.

Lined up a couple of rows back and soon fell into step with Mike. I'd planned to run the first bit at about 4hr pace but it was quite hilly so I just went at a comfortable pace. Mike suggested we have a strategy of running 20min walking 2min and we kept to that as long as the walks were on uphill bits. The terrain was pretty much all off road and in places it was very soft and boggy. I loved it though. I think once you start doing mountain races it's very hard to have any love for the road because the mountain races are just so much more fun and the terrain is so varied and challenging that the miles just literally fly by. I hadn't seen any women in front of me at the start and it when we asked at a water point after about 6 or 7 miles I seemed to be first lady. I was using Mike to pace off. I couldn't stay with him on the downhills especially if they were very technical but I'd catch him again on the flat and going uphill. I knew he was going to implode sooner or later though - his longest run this year is the 8 mile run he did with me. I said my goodbyes around 10 or 11 miles on a steep uphill bit and for the next few miles I was running with a guy from Mallow and a guy from Wicklow. I was walking the steep uphill bits and running the rest. Was feeling very strong all the time. Around mile 20 I found myself on my own pretty much. I couldn't be bothered making the effort to catch up with anyone and I wasn't for slowing and waiting for company. Was actually happy out although at mile 22 it nearly went all horribly wrong. I'm pretty blinkered vision wise when I run and I missed the sign to turn off into the woods. When I got to the road junction there was no signs which I thought was weird because the course was really well signed. I kinda of knew where I was but I wasn't sure how to get back to the course. Ran down the road and after a minute I spotted a guy walking. It took me a few minutes to catch up to him and I asked if he'd seen any marathon runners. He said ya about an hour ago but they were running the other direction. FCUK FCUK FCUK. Ran back up the road and after about a 1/4 of a mile I could see people running along the top road. I could have slapped myself I was so cross. Put the boot down instead and got back into a good rhythm. I passed Mary Finn and she said to go on and good luck. She didn't think that there was any other women close. Phew thought it must be my lucky day and ran on down the road and turned up onto another forest path. Was taking a breather here and a different women comes up behind me. You're running strong she says. I'm thinking who are you and where did you come from. Muttered something and then ploughed on. I felt I had more pace than her and I soon opened up a bit of a gap. I wasn't taking any chances though and I put the boot down for the last couple of miles. Was still feeling strong and really enjoyed running into the village and crossing the finish for my first win. I got a lovely trophy and two fab running tops. Also got a long sleeved race tee and go fed and got a shower all for a measly 40 euro.

Thanks so much to the organisers, MMRA and all the wonderful volunteers who gave up their time in pretty miserable weather conditions. It was a fantastic course and I would 100% recommend it. Claire had a great time. She finished in about 5 and a half hours and would like to reassure everyone that she is well, ambulatory and has sustained no long term physical or mental damage

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