2013; Eat my dust Meno!

Met up with Meno, RK, Spagbol, Casanova and Mrsmelly bright and early but fashionably late of course. Not actually that late but very fashionable. What can I say, it comes naturally! Everyone was talking about goal times on the train. I was wondering whether I’d actually make it into my running gear at all. One minute I was thinking I’d have a crack at 1.25, the next I was planning 10minute miles. RK settled my grump (which was turning into a first class strop) and told me to just head out with the 90minute pacers and play it by ear.

So I did just that. It was a pretty tight pack and the road surface wasn’t great so I just tried to stay a few steps ahead of them. The pace felt good and manageable which surprised me given how wrecked and slow I’ve been of late. It was a nice surprise when I realised the first water station was at mile 4 as I thought we were only at 3 miles. Went through 5miles at 44.50 bang on target. I wanted to belt off then but thought it would be a bad idea so I stayed put. Some poor girl took a dive and tumble at one stage but it was practically into the back of the ambulance on the course so I didn’t feel like too much of an immoral brat for not stopping. And to the guy who insisted on playing tunes from his iphone on speaker while talking sh!t and giving out about the no-headphones policy, will you please consider others and at least put on a decent playlist. Had he come one step closer, he may have received an accidental elbow to the forehead. Actually I’m not that tall, so maybe slightly lower and slightly more painful. He was my main drive for pushing a few steps ahead at the 9mile marker although at that point I wasn’t going to gain a whole heap. I was the first of the group to finish though after sprinting that last few meters to take one guy out of the game so that was something for the day. RK and Brianderunner got me over the line with a holler – cheers for the support lads. Mrsmelly seemed to have left his support in the bin with all of remnants of the fruit shop he ate on the train! Fell into Aimman’s arms at the finish line – I was absolutely pooped, he was recovered and ready to go again having finished a good 23 minutes earlier!

Looking back I definitely could have pushed myself a bit more. I was pretty comfortable at that pace throughout (though I definitely couldn’t run a marathon at it anytime soon) and I suppose I was over conservative. The little bit of common sense I possess prevailed and instead of kicking on when I wanted to, I reminded myself that Connemara is my only concern at the minute, there’s plenty of time for an 85minute 10miler. Maybe next year. I was terrified I’d lose a limb or have a heart attack if I acted the silly – don’t forget that I’m in that place where everyone and everything is out to ruin my marathon!

Unfortunately I appeared then to have used all of the little bit of common sense up during the race so when the beer came out it was game over. Although it was all legal so that took the fun out of it a bit. However after a fun day at the office, digdig failed to perform and kept his banana all to himself despite my best efforts. Oh well, again -there’s always next year!

Brilliant day out, great race, wonderful company and a bit of craic. Definitely one for the annual calendar.

Garmin stats: 10.07 miles - 1.29.16 – Av pace 8.51
Official result: 1.29.16 – bang on Garmin!

mrslow wrote: »

Not so much!;)

Dunno what you're talking about!