Often becomes easy when the easy is often..

skyblue46

I'll see you for a warm-up on Tuesday?

Lazare

skyblue46 wrote: »

I'll see you for a warm-up on Tuesday?

For sure, had planned on hooking up with you.

Baby75

well done at the parkrun and good luck on Tuesday night

Lazare

Baby75 wrote: »

well done at the parkrun and good luck on Tuesday night

Thanks v much N.

In the middle of the toughest part of the block.

Avoiding beer on a weekend.

Lazare

I did it.

19:56.

Over the moon.

Swashbuckler

Unrealllll

Baby75

Well done C, great running over the moon for you

eyrie

Ah brilliant!! Exciting stuff, that's fantastic. Well done!!!

chickey2

Well done! Delighted for you.

Hedgehoggy

Well done! Great time!

Lazare

Hedgehoggy wrote: »

Well done! Great time!

Great to see you there, how did you get on?

Lazare

Thanks so much ^^^^, I'm a very happy fella tonight.

The Black Oil

Lazare wrote: »

I did it.

19:56.

Over the moon.

Print.
Stick on fridge. :pac:

Lazare

The Black Oil wrote: »

Print.
Stick on fridge. :pac:

Haha, I may do.

If I didn't start 8 secs after the gun I'd be sticking my finisher pic up :P

Hedgehoggy

Lazare wrote: »

Great to see you there, how did you get on?

Happy enough. Got in under the 21min which was the target, but could have managed my pacing btr... Shot off way too fast but happy to have clung on I guess!

Nice to see ye there and hope ye enjoyed the sandwiches!

skyblue46

Hedgehoggy wrote: »

Happy enough. Got in under the 21min which was the target, but could have managed my pacing btr... Shot off way too fast but happy to have clung on I guess!

Nice to see ye there and hope ye enjoyed the sandwiches!

Yeah I saw you in a pic close to the finish alongside one of the Raheny girls who got in under 21 so guessed you had a good chance alright. Really well done. 30 seconds is a huge PB.

mister paul

Congrats C. Good to meet you afterwards.

Hedgehoggy

skyblue46 wrote: »

Yeah I saw you in a pic close to the finish alongside one of the Raheny girls who got in under 21 so guessed you had a good chance alright. Really well done. 30 seconds is a huge PB.

Ran alongside her for a good bit! Helped me keep the pace up over the middle bit!!!!!!

Lazare

Hedgehoggy wrote: »

Happy enough. Got in under the 21min which was the target, but could have managed my pacing btr... Shot off way too fast but happy to have clung on I guess!

Nice to see ye there and hope ye enjoyed the sandwiches!

Excellent stuff, delighted. Was hoping to see you afterwards to find out. Great to hear.

Egg sambos were awesome

Lazare

mister paul wrote: »

Congrats C. Good to meet you afterwards.

You too buddy, best of luck with choosing that plan.

Wubble Wubble

Delighted for you C, all those early morning sessions finally paying off.

Now, the most important part of it all.....get that report up

Lazare

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Delighted for you C, all those early morning sessions finally paying off.

Now, the most important part of it all.....get that report up

Thanks J, it's so satisfying. I'll try get a report up tonight.

shotgunmcos

Boom! <20 Nice one, well done!

scotindublin

Had to laugh at this after our talk about race reports last night! A perfect 6 word report right there.

Brilliant achievement C and plenty more to come over the summer.

Lazare wrote: »

I did it.

19:56.

Over the moon.

Lazare

scotindublin wrote: »

Had to laugh at this after our talk about race reports last night! A perfect 6 word report right there.

Brilliant achievement C and plenty more to come over the summer.

Haha C, thought I'd just cut to the chase. :P

Actually do want to post up a bit of a tl;dr about it and the journey to it. Not looking like I'll have time tonight to though.

Really great to spend a bit of time with you last night, you're such a sound guy. I was so happy to see you'd done it at the end. Really inspiring stuff C.

Lazare

I'm still buzzing.


Tapered from a week out, all short recovery paced stuff bar some strides and 800 at race pace on Thursday.

Had an easy night on Friday, had a couple of beers but bed early. No beer & early nights Sat and Sunday had me feeling amazing. Took a half day on Monday and Tuesday off. Monday night was tough though. Was helping my wife get a college project over the line, her big day was Tue too. Was very irritable and irrational, proper taper madness. She asked me to paint a model spiral staircase with red nail varnish and I was convinced the fumes were knocking double digits off my Vo2max Mad stuff.

Got to bed late and had a rough sleep. Felt wrecked on Tuesday. Mother in law saved the day though, she came up to look after the kids and I rocked off for an hour's sleep at about 3pm.

Had a good laugh after when I told our whattsapp group I just had a nap, Omeceron replied 'good man, that's what the Kenyans do' :pac:


Left good and early, listened to my go to playlist on the way down to get revved up, went over all my training in my head convincing myself that this was doable.

Met Sean and C (Scotindublin) in the car park and we had a look at the map of the route, Sean giving great guidance. Went for a warm up recce of the last 2k with Sean, then on up to the start area. Just shy of 4 miles total. Met up with Murph there for a nice nervous chat about our expectations.

Did a couple of strides then got into the pack with Sean. Was a bit concerned about how tight it seemed. Looked like we were gonna be forced to run a bit in this knee high grass verge. Not good. Just then there was a bit of commotion as the lead car was trying to inch through the packed crowd.
This worked out great for us, the car caused the crowd to part and we got sucked in in it's wake and ended up in the middle of the road about 20 feet back from the start. Perfect.

Gun went and we took off. Was congested but it was fine, everyone around was running my pace or faster, no getting hemmed, no hold ups, no dodging.

Checked the watch and I was bang on, 4:00 pace. Slight drag up the dual carriageway but felt really comfortable.
Sean arrived at my side after 400m or so. No words. Can't afford words.
We turned the bend, which wasn't as tight as I had been warned, no slow down at all. First km beeped 3:59. Brilliant.

Everything still felt comfortable enough but I knew the pain was in the post. Sean had moved on from me by about 20 yards, I let him go as I was still bang on pace and on target. Km 2 beeped 3:56. Inner fist pump. This is on. Jesus.

Pain came around 2.5k. Got held up a touch by a car on the road and a line of runners I couldn't get past. Got by them then and turned to see Murph on my left shoulder, I muttered hello D, but probably sounded more like 'mauhayoo desh'. Km 3 beeped 4:02.

Real pain now. Flicking between doubt and belief. We're into familiar road now from the warm up recce. I'm telling myself how close we are. Can hear the MSB 20 min pacer helping his comrades right behind me. It's helping me. Try to glance around at him to, I don't know why, nothing is making sense, my brain is boiling. I want this so bad. Watch beeps 4:06. Balls.

It's downhill from here. I can do this. So much expectation, can't let everyone down. I'm thinking about ariana, kellygirl, baby75, everyone here, don't want to fail, don't want a damp squib after all my hard work. Want it so bad.
I make some quick calculations and incorrectly deduce that I need a 4min last km to get there. I pick it up and dig deep. 3:55 on the watch. Then 3:53. Humpback bridge that feels like a mountain. People all around me gunning for it, we're animals. Pain. 500 to go. Kick. Pain. I can do this. 3:50 on the watch. Can't stop checking the watch. I'm looking at the distance and the pace. Weirdly, not the time. Stride by stride with a girl who's also kicking hard. Gantry comes into view and 20 is flashing, not counting, flashing. I'm confused. Guy on the mike is shouting 'give these guys a round of applause, the last of the sub 20s' about the guys ahead crossing. I don't know what's happening. Crossed the mat and pressed the button.

Looked down at 19:58, punched the air and let out a roar. Then died. 19:56 chip.

Km 5 clocked in at 3:51. Turned out I needed a 3:54 last km. I'm not sure how I would have handled it had I not got the maths wrong. Who knows.

Met Sean straight after for a fist bump after his incredible performance, then C came along dripping in sweat with a massive smile on his face after cracking 18. Singer then joined us again with a massive smile after a cracking pb.

Day of Irish pbs came early. What a night. Drove home with tunes and fists pumping.

I'm so so happy. I said upthread that I wouldn't be too disheartened if I didn't crack it at BH but truth be told, I would have been. I've put 20 weeks of hard work into it and had a lot of patience. To actually pull it off gives me immense satisfaction.


I want to thank all you guys, on here and in our little whattsapp group for giving me such great positive vibes, encouragement and self belief.

Believe.

Lazare

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Do you have the faster road racing book by pfitzinger and that other fella?
It's the route id probably go down if I wasn't lucky enough to have coaching. Gives you the option of keeping up mileage.

P, you've no idea how much of a game changer this post was for me. I can't thank you enough.

Kellygirl

Ah brilliant C. That’s a great read. I wonder did the nail varnish fumes send you a little mad

I know what you mean about thinking about others during the race. It keeps me going or gives me an extra shove sometimes too.

Lazare

Kellygirl wrote: »

Ah brilliant C. That’s a great read. I wonder did the nail varnish fumes send you a little mad

I know what you mean about thinking about others during the race. It keeps me going or gives me an extra shove sometimes too.

Haha, they probably did

The weight of expectation is definitely a great driver. Obviously everyone will always be 100% supportive either way.

Kellygirl

Lazare wrote: »

Haha, they probably did

The weight of expectation is definitely a great driver. Obviously everyone will always be 100% supportive either way.

Of course but you don’t want people disappointed for you either.