Leader Of The (Mid) Pack

Sat 14/9 - Ratoath Half Marathon

Pre Race

Up early for brekkie in the dark, before arriving at a cold but sunny Fairyhouse racecourse. Plenty of early activity, with long queues for the toilets in the Jameson building. Fair play to whoever copped that more were open on the other side :pac:

Met Sheep on the way in, as well as some of my clubmates. I knew quite a few running today, including a work colleague and one of the barmen from my local. The only other Boardsie I saw pre race was coogy - didn't manage to catch Dealerz, Applegirl or Bluesquare at any stage. Short warmup before we made the short walk to the start.

1-5 - Striding Out

The aim was a PB. I would deem anything else to be a failure. Conditions were decent, and with a favourable course, I was confident of setting a new mark, even with not much training since Kilcock. I started just behind the 1:40 pacers, but soon overtook them as we headed towards Dunboyne, before turning left onto a country lane just after the 1 mile mark. There was a nice little group here - me, clubmate K, a Portmarnock guy, DF The Ref, and two women, one from Raheny. On the mostly downhill miles heading for Kilbride, we kept it at a decent pace, averaging about 4:20 kms. Too fast? We could still see the 1:30 pacers on the longer straights. Bit of debate going on about whether that was a good or bad thing. Sun was out, but there was a fair bit of tree cover too, and it wasn't too warm. Left turn into Kilbride about 5 miles. Systems check. Stride steady, no chopping. Form is strong. Breathing controlled. No need to panic. Yet?

6-9 - Ball In Hand

I took on more water at the station outside Sweeney's pub in Kilbride. Strangely enough, the drag here didn't really affect me at all, certainly when compared to last year. Caught up to a guy in a Decathlon top, who kept surging as I passed him, but after three or four attempts I'd got rid of him just by maintaining my pace. As we made our way along the lengthy straight road back towards Ratoath, the six had become three, with Portmarnock and the Raheny woman keeping me company in pursuit of a big PB. Past halfway, and we're still on 92/93 minute pace. I could see Evan Scully's pace group in the distance, so they were a bit of a marker too. I wasn't sure if I could make that stick for the duration, but we'd gone this far now. Yer man had a PB of 98, so both of us were way ahead of schedule going through 8 miles. Positive, positive, positive. Turning onto Glascarn Lane, I said "We're going to get this. Come on. Ball in hand". Surface wasn't great a lot of the way on Glascarn Lane, but myself and Portmarnock were still together going through 9 - the Raheny girl had dropped off us at this stage. Just over 4 to go. Half an hour.

10-13.1 - Round And Round

Off Glascarn Lane and back towards the racecourse, just before the 10 mile marker. "Parkrun!" says I. Surely I couldn't let it slip now. How slow would my "parkrun" have to be? But by now, I was finding the going much tougher than most of my 126 parkruns. Breeze against us now, as Portmarnock slowly pulled away, and I didn't have the gas to hang onto him. An old GAA teammate stewarding near the petrol station. Drags are hurting much more than earlier. Being passed now, which hadn't happened since the first mile. Decathlon's back again. Jeebus! Badly needed water as we turned back into the racecourse car park - I wasn't struggling with the heat or anything, I just needed to get some fluids on board. Nearly stopped. Don't.Stop. Round the back of the stand with still the best part of 2 miles to go. On the other side I spotted Sheep turning into the finish already. Some run there man. Meanwhile, even though in theory all I have to do is stay upright and the PB's mine, the drag up to the back straight is burning my legs. Couple more passed me. Top of the hill, now turn right and downhill, but straight into the breeze! 12 mile marker at the end of it. Not long left now. Passed by a SOTS lady coming around to the stand side. Can't stay with her, or anyone else. Is that 1:32 or 1:34 on the clock? Move it will ye! I tried to get a bit of speed going, before we made the first of two turns towards the short finish straight, in front of the grandstand. Clock said 1:33. Phew! No attempt at a sprint, so much so that I got passed by three on that short little stretch. A clubmate is trying to get me to push. Just let me finish :pac: Over the line, just ahead of the Raheny woman. Massive PB. I let out a roar, before sitting on one of the chairs beside the gantry. Just to catch my breath this time - no need for medics.

Time: 1:34:17 (1:34:05)
Position: 154/821 (34/104 M45)

So a PB of 3:25, beating a nearly three year old mark. Chuffed to finally get that. I knew it was doable after 5 and 10 mile PBs the last while, but would I have the endurance to make that pace stick? Thankfully I did this time. Spotted Sheep and quick feet on my way back through. There was a prize for 100th, and I'm certain that G had it when I looked at the results originally. On congratulating him on his Strava, it seems he was actually 101st? He got a PB anyway, so well done him. I got stuck into the goodie bag and some very welcome soup, while sitting at the end of the stand with my wife and her little niece. coogy found me here, and I would have liked to hang around longer, but our princess was getting cold, so we had to make tracks. Of course, as it later transpired, this race would only be the start to a history making day, as we were in Croke Park to see the Dubs beat Kerry to clinch the five in a row. Great to be able to do it all. One of the best days in a long time.

Sun 15/9 - 4.13 miles @9:40/mi - An Chéad Lá Eile

Drizzly Sunday morning, as I eventually put on the gear and shuffled up to Porterstown. Time didn't really matter - between the race, the football and everything else, this was always going to be slow. With the sound of Luke Kelly singing Dublin In The Rare Old Times in my head, I kept it very easy throughout. Job done!

Next

I have entered the Griffith Avenue Mile, but we'll have to see how the recovery goes in the meantime. Of course, that will be a different type of hurt, should I make the start line. Or will it? Sure it's downhill, short, and the wind will be at our backs. How could I fail? :pac:

Other than that, with 6 weeks to DCM, I've less interest in that one than I have had for a long while. There's also a week's holidays coming up, so no LR that week either. The weekend we're back, it's a choice of either Dublin Novices cross country, over the Munich hills in the Phoenix Park, or the 3/4 marathon in Longwood. Cross is leading at the moment! Thanks for reading. J.