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Running mad in 2010

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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,239 ✭✭✭Abhainn


    Congrats SJ on your 20th marathon. I'm not even half way there yet.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    This run made no sense. I shouldn't have been running hard but it felt pretty good. Heading out I had no plans for the run but a vague idea I was heading up a usual hill loop I do. I then thought that I'd try to keep my avg pace sub 5 mins per km, not the easiest thing to do on the uphills - and I didn't quite do it from the start so theres room for improvement. Reaching the top of the hill I was able to unleash on the downhill trail without any pains from the legs. It felt great and I was half wishing this was a race I was doing. I'll try do this run from time to time to see if I can match or better it...

    Split m (gain/loss)
    5:01 (+1)
    4:50 (+28)
    5:00 (+52)
    4:54 (+56)
    4:26 (+35)
    4:21 (+42)
    3:36 (-65)
    3:20 (-81)
    3:31 (-66)
    3:55 (+0)
    1:43 (-28)

    Total: 10.47k, 4:16 pace, 266m ascents
    99 days running this year
    897.56 miles total


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,518 ✭✭✭✭Krusty_Clown


    Didn't you have a couple great IMRA races shortly after your marathon last year? Have you a few races in mind?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,378 ✭✭✭asimonov


    Congrats on the result in the connemara marathon. 2010 is shaping up to be some year for you. :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    Cheers guys. No races in mind save enjoying the forthcoming imra races. I hope to get across the the Connaught champs even if I'm crap at running Croagh Patrick. Still I can do my penance as I do it.

    I see in the final Conn results I'm upgraded (don't know how) to 14th overall and 1st M40 :o

    Easy run this evening. Did 4k out and back from Ballinastoe towards Lough Tay and along Wicklow way. Beautiful evening for a run. Going to head over to Glendalough early in the morning to see some of the WAR race...

    8.05k, 4:40 pace, 270m ascents
    100 days running this year.
    Total 902.56 miles


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    After last week's efforts it was nice to have a free Saturday to do what I wanted. I decided late last night to venture out this morning early and see some of the WAR action on the spink. Picking donothoponpop early and making it to Laragh in good time, or so we thought, we were thrown a bit by not being able to park in the usual car park and had to go back to Laragh, which made it a bit of a rush to get up even part of the Spink in time for the advanced starters. The weather was out of this world (for Ireland anyway). It was great to see so many people in action and many were familiar faces.
    Took some pictures near the Brockagh centre of the start of the cycling leg. Dropping donothoponpop up towards Dublin :p I took a diversion to Roundwood to enjoy a hearty breakfast before hightailing it back up towards Djouce. Missed the advanced guys who were already off the mountain and onto their cycling last leg. I did manage to get a few nice snaps with the backdrop of Lough Tay. The views over the mountains were to die for. Back in Laragh I got some more snaps near the WAR finish.

    Took to walking the dogs with the family in the afternoon to further enjoy the summery day thats upon us.

    As evening closed in I set out on the bike and did an hour around the backroads, 22k's worth. Having seen the action today I'll need to brush up on my cycling and running endurance if I want to consider doing an AR event - like the Glenmalure WAR event - later in the year.

    10.3k, 6.44 pace (took it easy on the spink etc!), 401m ascents
    101 days running
    Total miles: 908.36


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    I speculated about doing an LSR today but decided to concentrate on quality rather than quantity so took to the hills above the village with dog in tow. Coillte are tree felling on the hills which makes the going slower than usual. I followed the Annacurra race route to the top of the hill, hung a left down around and up a trail which I knew was a cul de sac. Trails were technical and gorse covered in parts which made for interesting running. The ups were tough - head down, dig in... About turn and back down, around and up to the top of the hill for the 2nd time. Followed the quick trail descent thats in the Annacurra race - trails are bone dry which makes the going good and fast. This brought me around the back of the hill where Oscar the dog gave chase to his first ever sight of a fox. Then had to haul myself up the hill for the 3rd time. Tough, but good for me ;) From there it was downhill trail run all the way. Sub 4 min splits without having to try just letting gravity do its thing. Had to push it towards the end as I tried to work the avg pace down below 5 min/k pace. Just about managed it and well happy with that as a work-out. Home for coffee and bagels. Great having these hills on the doorstep. Not a sinner encountered the entire morning either.

    16.66k, 4.58 pace, 642m ascents
    102 days running
    Total miles: 919.31


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    Ran yesterday and today but still find myself on page 4 of the ever busy training logs..

    A 2 run day. An early alarm call got me out on the trails for a short wake up run before heading to work. Loud birdsong in the forest. Not quite the dawn chorus but still great to hear.
    7.06k, 4:52 pace, 172m ascents

    Headed out again this evening to run the dog. Headed up the higher trails above the house, out 4k then back and faster downhill. Home to face into a double helping of lasagne. Happy days.
    8.16k, 4:37 pace, 241m ascents

    15.22k total for day
    103 days running this year
    928.77 total


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    IMRA race tomorrow so fairly easy day today. Short run at lunch centred on Deansgrange. Pretty good conditions for running. Long may it continue. At this rate I should top the 1000 mark before the end of the month which if memory serves is about 20 days ahead of last year.

    8.5k, 4:30 pace, 81m ascents
    104 days running this year
    934.05 total


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    Arrived out in plenty of time and did c. 5k of a slow jog by way of warm up. Lots of familiar faces in the turn-out. Great to see old faces back too. The return of faster runners could only mean lower results for the rest of us mere mortals :). I had words with one guy to tell him to ditch his mp3 player and headphones. Wouldn't have been safe to wear them in a race like this. Happily he took my advice...

    A huge crowd gathered before the start. I reckoned over 200 runners were in the field. I stood in the crowd expecting the start to be where it was last time but the 'go' took us in the opposite direction and I was caught unawares. Sprinting at the start of a race is not my thing, but I had to do it to get into a decent position before we started into the first climb and single tracks. I managed to get into a decent enough position but had the fast start cost me? The route is 2 laps of trails on the head. I adopted a strategy that worked for me before in that I tried to pace myself evenly on the 2 laps. Start too fast and you can fade on the 2nd. As it happened then I managed to gain some places on the 2nd lap. A couple of k of that was a close and enjoyable nip and tuck tussle with Timaay, obviously only returning to fitness as he's usually well ahead of me. Fair play to him, he held sway at the end and pipped a runner ahead of him again. Just saw the results there. Delighted with a 13th place considering the experienced runners around me. The indefatigable Enduro was 2nd despite the WAR at the weekend. Bazman was back racing and back to winning form.

    8.25k, 36:53, 4:28 pace, 211m ascents
    13th, 112% of winning time. 225 runners or so in the race!

    Warm up of 5.48k, 31:18, 123m ascents

    Total: 8.54 miles
    105 running days
    Total miles: 942.58


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    Comfortably paced hilly trail run in Annacurra after yesterday's race. Another race on Saturday up and down Tonelegee (twice), so might take it easy tomorrow.

    Total: 11.18k, 4:38 pace, 387m ascents
    106 running days
    Total miles: 949.53


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    Race today: Report to follow later. Had it typed up but it disappeared in Boards as I submitted it :(
    http://www.imra.ie/events/view/id/727/
    http://connect.garmin.com/activity/31058964 -> check out the map view of the race and the elevation.
    Reckon I was 6th overall which I'm chuffed with.

    Total: 9.69k, 6:56 pace, 714m ascents
    107 running days; 6 rest days.
    Total miles: 955.55


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    Arrived in good time with donothoponpop and did a bit of a warm up. A nice crowd assembled at the Wicklow gap for the off at 12 noon on the dot. A steep climb to the top of Tonelagee followed. Tough going it was too. A lead group of Jason, Brian and Peter had set off into the distance with the rest of us following in single file fashion. Half way up the running got too tough, for me at least, so I adopted a long walking stride without losing position. Zoran had reached the trig point ahead of me. I knew Dan Morrough wasn’t too far behind. Off the other side of Tonelagee down to Lough Ouler. Here, different strategies were put to the test. Do you go immediately down to the lake and run alongside it, or do you stay to the higher ground and only hit the lake as late as possible? I took somewhat of a middle ground option and it allowed me to pick up ground on Zoran who had gone to the lake early. We were met at the apex of the lake by Dan who had taken the latter option. We started the climb back up Tonelagee in close proximity. Running gave way to walking before too long again as it was very steep and the path as it was turned out to be quite uneven. I managed to gain a lead on Dan despite this and Zoran in turn had stretched out a good lead on me. He looked like he could catch Aaron O’Donoghue ahead of him again. At that time I reckoned Aaron was 4th overall in the race. As the gradient levelled out near the top of Tonelagee running became an option again. Touched the trig point at the top of the mountain and from there it was going to be a short but fast downhill to where we had started from. Opinions differed again as to the best way down.. do you follow the sheep trail we had followed on the way up or do you run as the crow flies across open mountain ignoring any trail (which wasn’t too obvious at times in any event). Some of the grassy downhill was really really fast. Legs, feet, body coordination needed big time when you are running downhill at this speed. I’m a poor master of these skills but I did enough to hold my position in the race and finished in a time of 46:59 (unofficial.. 6th overall I think?). A great, but tough race and good prep for next weekend’s Connaught championship races. A bit of a misunderstanding at the end nearly ended up with donothoponpop taking my M40 prize but I intervened at this injustice at the last minute. :D Looking forward to the next weekend race which have a great ambience, the smaller crowds and unmarked elements of the courses being in contrast to the overcrowded nature of the growing popularity of the Leinster League races. Thanks to the race director and helpers for a great event.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,608 ✭✭✭donothoponpop


    A bit of a misunderstanding at the end nearly ended up with donothoponpop taking my M40 prize but I intervened at this injustice at the last minute. :D...
    ...to deprive me of my first win in anything since the cub scouts "two laps round the pitch" Challenge. You will have noticed how quick I was to point out the error as I grabbed for the prize table...

    Great, great, course. If I hadn't had been saving myself for Limerick Marathon next week, I'd 'a had ya.;)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    Headed down towards Bunclody this morning for the 2nd of the trail series of races being hosted by Slaney Olympic. Body a bit tired after yesterday but a social race appealed to me more than a solo recovery run. The field size was quite small, less than 40, but this is a nice contrast to the crowded popularity of the Weds imra races. Did a c. 5k easy warm up beforehand. We then started with a mainly downhill 1st 2 miles. Around mile 3 was a slow but going-on-forever climb back up trails before you could let yourself go a bit on the descent for mile 4. Thats when my legs were really feeling it. Miles 5 and 6 were fairly undulating back to the finish. Finished 5th and 1st M40 in 40:08. Don't have the ascent figures to hand but it must have been pushing 300m. Very happy with that result and I'd have done well to have done better even if I hadn't run yesterday. Didn't know the guy who finished first, but he pipped Keith Heary into 2nd. Keith then set off running home.. another 8 miles! A Ferns runner was 3rd and Raphael Salazar, an imra regular, was about 15 secs ahead of me. Revenge for me pipping him in the recent Debra Ireland Wicklow mountains half marathon.

    This was a lovely route on the Carlow side of the Mount Leinster foothills. A few imra diehards made the journey down and all enjoyed it. Roll on the next such race in a few weeks time. Dark clouds rolled in just after we finished and there was a torrential downpour afterwards, so good timing to finish when we did.

    Total: 15.46k (9.67k of race), 4:09 race pace, 233m ascents
    108 running days
    Total miles: 965.16


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    Woke up this morning before the alarm call and headed out for a trot around the trails as the birds were waking up. These early morning runs are exhilerating and are a good antidote to the start of a working week. Birdsong and the sounds of nature waking up with the sun gently rising over the hills is fantastic.

    This evening I hooked up with d'pop for an easy run around trails at Annagh Hill near the old Wicklow gap which has incredible views over Wicklow and Wexford and I can see the appeal in this route that d'pop runs on a frequent basis. Some of the k's we ran at the Limerick 4 hr pace. This was helped by some stern uphill work - not quite recovery, but hey. A lovely run and with good company the time goes quick.

    All going well I'll reach the 1000 miles this week before I head west for the imra Croagh Patrick pain run.

    Total running today: 10 miles, c 450m of ascents between both runs.
    109 running days this year.
    Total mileage: 975.19


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    A mixed run at lunchtime. Easy at first, made difficult by a strong wind. Met up with a friend of mine who was doing 400s on the track near Cabinteely. I couldn't match his pace as I was on tired legs but I did about 5 for the hell of it before heading back to work at a decent pace. 10.3k at 4:21 pace.

    This evening got out before rain clouds rolled in for a road and trail run to Aughrim and back at a fairly easy pace. 6.6k at 4.44 pace.

    Total running today: 10.5 miles
    110 running days this year.
    Total mileage: 985.69 (nearly there.. 2 more days)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    Volunteering at the imra race tonight so no race for me. Instead, did some easy kilometres around the hill and trails of hellfire beforehand. Lots of short tough hills as can be seen from the pace.

    10.19k, 5:39 pace, 449m ascents
    111 days running so far. 6 days rest.
    Total ran: 992.02


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,608 ✭✭✭donothoponpop


    Total ran: 992.02

    Sellotape your feet to your legs tonight, just in case.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,514 ✭✭✭jlang


    Got a little worried when I saw you with the crutches after the race, but luckily a false alarm. Looking at the results (up very quickly again) it seems a lot of other regulars also sat this one out whether too short, too fast, too crowded, too close to CP, too soon after Tonelagee, football on, ... . Only problem I have left is now, as you didn't run the race, I'll have to find someone else's garmin-enabled race report so I know how many miles to add to my log. I can't believe it was 6km - with the amount of walking I did, I would have to have been flying when not going uphill.

    Preemptive presumptive congrats on hitting the 1k Mi as it could be a day or two before I log in again.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    Closed the deal on the 1000 miles this evening. I'd done an easy run this morning to wake up, which left less than 5 miles to do this evening. Got out and purposely ran one of my favourite routes, as if to embed in my mind where I was when I reached the target. Paused half way around to admire the view back across Wicklow with Lugnacoille resplendant in evening light.

    By a lucky coincidence I reckon when I reached the 1000 I was careering down a downhill with a smile on my face doing a fairly effortless sub 3:30k split, which is a rare event. Happy days, accept for the bloody midges flying into the eyes.

    I miscounted my rest days in recent days. I've only not ran 7 days this year so I'll reward myself in the coming months with more rest days. My objective at the start of the year was to enjoy my running and I've certainly done that. I've been very fortunate that I haven't had any injuries to speak of and I've been able to put in decent performances in races I've done so I hope to be able to continue that.

    2 runs today:-
    am: 5.83k, 4:46 pace, 102m ascents
    pm: 10.23k, 4:22 pace, 273m ascents
    Total miles for day 9.98
    Total mileage so far this year: 1002
    112 running days. 7 rest days.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,672 ✭✭✭racheljev


    Congrats Mick, fair play on the challenge, savage running!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,102 ✭✭✭BeepBeep67


    Mighty!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,608 ✭✭✭donothoponpop


    Well done, ya loon:p


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    Staying around Delphi for IMRA Connaught Champs weekend. Briefly in Westport so have 5 mins of connectivity. 7k ran around Doo Lough yesterday in the shadow of mighty Mweelrea and Ben Gorm. Absolutely stunning. The drive to Westport this morning was tremendous. Some rain showers but Croagh Patrick peak clearly visible - always a good thing when doing a mountain race. Its less than 7k in distance but a lot of pain and fund to be endured during it :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    A great running weekend in the west. Reports to follow. Courtesy of the marvel that is the imra website I was able to pull out my times for the 2 races and compare them with previous years. Happy to say I've improved in each.

    MY TIMES - MICK HANNEY – CROAGH PATRICK
    YEAR CAT. TIME % POSITION RUNNERS
    2010 M40 58:52:) 123% 12 64
    2009 M40 64:18 132% 19 50
    2008 M40 66:06 147% 26 78
    2007 M 66:12 135% 16 42

    MY TIMES - MICK HANNEY – BEN GORM
    YEAR CAT. TIME % POSITION RUNNERS
    2010 M40 71:16 120% 7 32
    2009 M40 76:56 125% 9 24
    2008 M40 77:48 132% 11 34
    2007 M 86:21 135% 15 26


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    This was my 4th year in a row to take part in this great race. The weather gods were good to us as after some rain showers beforehand we were greeted with sunshine for the most part during the run. 64 registered runners took to the line beside the pub at the main road at Murrisk. Vivian O’Gorman gave his usual pre-race line about ‘if you want to enjoy the view, stop. Don’t try do it while you are running!’. We headed off, up the tarmac lane and up the steps passed the blessed virgin statue at the foot of the mountain and onto the pilgrims path up the mountain. The speedier and hardier runners stretched off away from me as I started I thought pretty slowly and conservatively. You can start fast on a run like this and suffer later, so slowly does it. Along the rocky uphill path you go. In the lower part of the race I picked off various runners that had started perhaps too fast to sustain their pace. Onwards and upwards through the rock strewn trail. Pilgrims heading up and down the mountain stood in silence mainly looking at the eejits running up the mountain. Up ahead I could only wonder at the power and pace of the lead guys that were way ahead in the distance already. I was happy enough with my pace but still before too long the calf muscles start to send soreness messages to the brain. As it got progressively steeper and messier underfoot it was more efficient to switch to a walking stride and despite this I made progress in keeping up or passing other competitors and not losing any places. As the path flattened out (ish) in the middle section I got a trot going ahead, running alongside another runner I didn’t know, each of us egging the other on a bit. The final climb, for me and most is unrunnable. The rocky scree cone that ascends steeply to the summit is a true test. Using big stepping strides I made whatever progress I could upwards. Descending and ascending pilgrims were having difficulty on this section. Some of them had younger kids and dogs with them – pure madness. Needless to say they probably thought what we were doing was mad, and that’s probably true to a certain extent. I was quite a bit up the scree cone when the first descending runner went dashing past down in a scramble of rock and peddles. Brian Furey from Rathfarnham. Gave him a well done shout and continued my uphill slog. Over the next few minutes more descending runners past. Some I knew, some I didn’t. Before too long the gradient eased and you could make out the gate which marks your arrival onto the flat bit where the church is. Managed a bit of a run clockwise around the church. Said hello to Finbar who was manning the summit, taking summit times. I was c. 40 mins to the top… for all of 3.65 or so k up. Downhill down the scree I went, judging my steps with as much care as I could manage, balancing the speed and the risk. This isn’t a surface or a gradient you want to fall on. Lets just say it wouldn’t be forgiving. Made it down this section having gotten past one or 2 descenders on the way. Picked it up on the gentler section in the middle taking care to lift the feet and not stub the toes on loose rock and gravel. I’d fallen here in previous years. I past one of the lead runners (Jason Kehoe) on this section. He was standing with some people, taking a drink of water and I could only assume he’d come a cropper on his downhill. He didn’t look to worse for wear and he acknowledged my shout. Downwards I went over the rocky, technical ground. A couple of shouts of courtesy to pilgrims to tell them of a descending runner approaching as I went. In the closing k I was aware of another runner hot on my heels and for a few moments he appeared in my vision as we ran shoulder to shoulder. I was determined to hold whatever place I had so I upped the pace, not an easy thing on very rocky and technical downhill ground, but faster I got. I made it to the gate near the bottom of the hill before him and reached the steps which I took 2 at a time before reaching the tarmac lane. Almost comically my sprinting legs seemed to have a jelly-ish quality to them after coming off the hills, so running with any pace along the road wasn’t too easy. A quick look around though satisfied me that I had built a lead that wasn’t going to be overtaken. Waved at the family as my OH took a photo as I passed the visitor coffee shop. 200m on from that the race was over. Checked the time. 58.53. Did a double take. That was my first time beating 60 mins here. I’d never come near 60 mins really before.. my best being 64.18 from last year. Chuffed with that. Good enough for 12th place and 3rd M40. Race was won by the 1st to the top Brian Furey. Diarmuid Collins, winner of the Wicklow way trail race, was 2nd with Peter O’Farrell, last year’s victor, in 3rd. A great race in a special place. You couldn’t quite call it enjoyable.. certainly not the uphill.. you’ve to work bloody hard at it. The downhill is a mixture of fun, fear and adhenaline in equal measure. I finished the race without so much as a cut or scrape which is always a good thing on Croagh Patrick. Various others had the cuts and bruises to show for it. Jason had suffered a dead leg having come down heavily on his quad muscle. Hopefully he won’t be out for too long with that. Definitely an experience to be recommended. For those interested in these things I wore inov-8 X-talon runners and found them very effective. They are very light and have little cushioning but they grip well.
    7.28k, 741m ascents, Time: 58.53, Pace: 8:05
    Splits: 7:38, 12:04, 7:15, 14:48, 6:26, 5:01, 4:43, 0:54 The splits are laughably slow, but they give a sense of the difficulty of the climb, and the terrain underfoot which is difficult to run fast downhill on aswell!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    Ben Gorm overlooks Killary harbour and Leenane. It’s a magnificent mountain in a magnificent location. It’s a difficult but great hill race route. It’s made all the more difficult as it usually follows the day after Croagh Patrick race when everyone is, lets just say, not quite 100%. At least a few of the starters are walking wounded from the previous day’s race. Added to that this mountain is always wet. Even after continous weeks of dry weather this mountain is like a sponge – it has still soaked up all the rain from the previous months so quite a bit of the run will be wet and boggy. A nice morning weather-wise. We could see the mountain top – always a good thing. We’d a heavy rain shower before we started but no more rain during the race. Sunshine with light wind. Happy days. Around 30 starters congregrated near the Aasleagh falls on the border of Galway and Mayo for Turlough, the race director, to give the race instructions. This race isn’t marked but it’s a pretty clear route – when you have visibility as we did, and I had the experience of doing this a few times before which should help.
    The start of this race is comically slow. There’s a drag of a 10 minute of so climb up boggy slippy long grassed ground which for most is more a walk than a run. At the end of which you steeply descend for a few hundred slippy metres before you cross a small river. Off left gradually ascending boggy ground. A bit like yesterday I felt I started slow, but no real problem there as even at a mixed walk and slow jog pace I progressed through the field somewhat. And this is a medium distance race which won’t be won or lost in the 1st 20 minutes. A line of 8 or so runners were off ahead of me not to be caught, on the uphill at least. The boggy ground gave way to more rockier climbing as we made it towards the ridge line that we would venture left on. The ridge is a bit of a rollercoaster, with lots of ups and some downs, with rocky and boggy areas in between. All the while climbing though and on the right there was a vertiginous drop to the valley floor below. Not for the light hearted when the wind is a blowing. Views to die for and which could kill you if you weren’t careful. Gaining ground I was aware of Eoin Brady in his tell tale UCD yellow vest in the near distance. As I progressed steadily upward I was conscious that the gap was closing so this gave me a bit of a target to aim for. The ridge shallowed out and the leading runners were already running past on their way back down the mountain. Always a nice assurance that you are going the right way. Brian Furey was in the lead again, pursued by Diarmuid Collins, Tom Blackburn and Peter O’Farrell. Then Theo Mooney and Zoran Skrba. I realised at that point that Eoin was 7th and I was 8th. We turned at the peak in close proximity and I was gaining ground on the downhill. I remember seeing Eoin’s runners before the race and he had regular road shoes on. Not what you need to be wearing on a race like this and I was happy with the grip I had from my inov-8 X-Talons. Running along the ridge on the way back I overtook Eoin and without running very fast I was stretching out a lead. Passed by a few of the back marker runners as they headed out to the peak on this stretch. Down and up the ridge we went until I could see the fence line over in the distance where I needed to aim for. Off the ridge and down across the boggy glen. Slow enough going at times as the ground was slippery and precariously rocky at times. The legs were holding up though and I felt good. Across the river at the other side and up along the steep fence line trying to ensure no slips on the grassy muddy ground. I had a brief look around me at this point to see Eoin about 150m back down the hill. That gave me a bit of impetus to push on over the hill for the mad descent to the finish. Running downhill cautiously I still took a few soft tumbles in the boggy ground towards the end. Turlough was capturing the finish on video so coming soon to youtube I expect…
    I finished 7th in 71:16 or so.. some 5 minutes faster than my time last year and 1st M40. Its difficult to compare years races on a route like this but I daresay the route was comparatively dry this year versus other years. Very happy with my run though. This was followed by the almost mandatory soak of the feet in the river at the Aasleagh falls surrounded by the wonder that is the scenery in these parts.
    Behind me in an almost photo finish Kevin O’Riordain managed to overtake Eoin Brady for a fine 8th place.
    Brian Furey won, with Tom Blackburn 2nd and Diarmuid Collins 3rd. With 2 wins in 2 days Brian wrapped up the Connaught Championship in convincing style and with form like that he will take some beating in hill races this year.
    7.99k, 8:54 pace, Time: 1:11:10, 710m ascents
    Ridiculously slow splits follow: 13:32, 14:25, 10:34, 7:01, 4:55, 6:58, 6:46, 6:55


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    Ben Gorm - we ran to the top from the other side. To run it this way would have been a bit steeper but shorter.
    4574781976_110f0cf886.jpg

    An impression of the running terrain on the trail up towards Croagh Patrick...
    4574781366_c9215830af_b.jpg

    Nearly there...
    4574782558_a6737bc298_b.jpg


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,441 ✭✭✭Slogger Jogger


    Picture courtesy of John Shiels / Action Photography. Full set on imra site...
    4576359210_1e0e5d3ec5_o.jpg


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