Irish Runner 5 mile June 30 (marathon race series)

Really enjoyed the race today, did it in 47 mins and was in the 40-50 pen just in case you were wondering!! first time I ran using miles which i found better than km today coz i only had to get to 5 markers as opposed to 8 so mentally i think it suited me better!
Havent signed up for the july race yet but ppl seem to be skipping it. Whats the reason for that?? Once I do a race i always feel motivated to sign up for another!

I'll be away but one thing I also think is the idea of progression. A 10k is little step up on a 5miler. This will mean those novices like myself wouldn't really be that enthused in spending money on it. Thats why most are skipping it and focusing on the 10 mile later.

I enjoyed it overall. Was a bit late getting to start so was about halfway up 2nd wave, wanted to get nearer the top of it. Did 41:20, but traffic meant first mile was 8:40 instead of 8:00!! Passed lots of walkers in first mile, I was zig zagging trying to get round people.
Had to slow to a walk at the first bend on Chesterfield, too sharp and too crowded.
Looking forward to 10k....will arrive earlier though!!

my 3rd time doing this i taught the waves were ok have been worse in the past . really enjoyed today finished in 33. 22 so happy enough well done to all involved great race

(Edited post from my own log - took out the boring bits )

I had a good start to the day. Up early for breakfast and feeling good. My wife and 6 year old daughter accompanied me to the race - they dropped me off and went in search of parking which they found on the left hand side of the north road just before we turned right to head towards the popes cross. They got a great spot parked facing onto and just beside the road which meant they could sit in the car and see me run by before heading for the finish line. You may have seem my little one with her head sticking up out of the sun roof cheering everyone on. Apparently quite a few people were waving back at her.

I joined wave 2 - 40-50 min expected time which is where I should have been. However there were clearly people in this wave who shouldn't have been anywhere near it. I was navigating around walkers before we got to the mile 1 marker and I found the congestion all the way to the bottom of the kyber to have cost me time. Now that said I was still running at a pace that was pushing myself so I can't blame the crowd too much on losing time.

I ended up beating my 5 mile PB by 1:09 - 2:15 depending on how you look at it (difference being the previous PB was based on Endomondo which measured the course short - full details in my own log for anyone interested )

Interestingly enough I noticed an anamoly in the results according to TDL. I apparently placed in the top half of men (1435 of 3619) yet in the bottom half overall (2618 of 4046 on chip time and 2185 of 4046 on gun time) That makes no sense. If there were 3619 men that would have left only 427 women in the field which I'm fairly certain there was a lot more. Even if every woman out there beat me home (which a lot did to be fair ) that could still only drop me back to 1872nd place at worst so something is wrong with the results. In fact clicking on any female result gives a gender position of xxx out of 2632. 2632 women 3619 men but only 4046 participants.

In summary I've had a good day. My little one saw Daddy out running (and even made me a special medal too ) No matter what way I look at it I've had an improvement time wise - and compared to 6 months ago I'm light years ahead.

A special thank you to all the marshalls and volunteers today.

Enjoyed the race. Concur with a lot of people about people starting at the wrong place. Started a few rows back on the first wave but was still passing a lot of people over the first few miles. Came in at just under 30. Very happy with this. I really like the t-shirts. Much better fit than last year and a nice colour too. They are quite a different size from last year though so I can see why people would be miffed.

I gave this race a 4, I thought it was great. It would have been a 5 had the t-shirt not made me look like I need a sports bra.

Was my first race ever today and really enjoyed it. Finished in a time of 36:20 which I was delighted with as well cos I had set myself a goal of under 37.

Got the small t-shirt too and really like it...fits perfect.

Fair play to all involved for organising it and thought it was run really well.

First time that I ran in this series, I thought it was well run, tough course but I expected that, I actually thought the last two miles were better than from what I was warned.

I finished just under 40 and was delighted as it's my first 5 mile (in twenty years as I've returned to running after a long absence) and started at the front of the second wave. Matched my Docklands 8k time.

T shirt was a bit snug but looks like it's good quality, better than some I've picked up recently.

Overall I thought the event was well run, couldn't see any toilets but trees and big open spaces are good alternatives.

The wave start was reasonably good, yes there were a few brave souls who ventured into the front wave only to learn that running isn't as easy as it looks, but overall I didn't have to worry about too many in my way so it worked for me. I find it entertaining to see those that thought they belong up front with the elite after a few weeks of boot camp retiring early and having to do the walk of shame as they face the runners only minutes before they thought inferior.

On where you start in a race for the average runner like me I find it better to be mid way back, if people are overtaking me I lose heart, if I overtake it pushes me on.

Thinking about the Swords run, didn't enter but might consider it, have entered the 10 mile, I've the DL Bay between now and then so could do with another.

Hi folks,

Just started running two months ago and did my first ever race today in the 5-miler in a time I was relatively happy with (and one I hope to build on in future races - definitely been bitten by the bug over the last couple of months!). Overall the experience was very positive and I look forward to the next one.

However, reading up on this thread, I have to say that it brought me down a little bit. The elitist ****e that some of you are talking is absolutely unbelievable. I absolutely get that some of you are frustrated by people starting in the wrong wave - it's understandable that you're worried about losing time having to weave through people, or whatever. But these disparaging remarks about 'joggers' and 'walkers' and 'f**king idiots', I think one person even said.... would you ever cop on! Either you must have been born running out of the womb, or you forget the first race you ever ran in. You were a beginner once, too - so don't forget that.

Not everyone is at a high standard of running - some people take these 'small' 5 mile runs on as a big challenge, and conquering them is just as much of a milestone to them as it is a practice run for you. Who do you think you are to talk so disparagingly about amateur/hobbyist runners? They have just as much of a right to be there as you do, and if they're in the 'wrong wave', then maybe you should petition the organisers to make the wave system more clear to entrants than it is.

Some of the comments on this thread really irritated me. Maybe you should organise your own elitist race for 'serious' runners who don't want to waste time running around plebs or beginners.

People say the waved starts are great but I disagree. I don't see the point in having a group of runners who are going at a slower speed starting later. What really needs to be done is for the start area to be divided in to less broad time zones. Rather than having it down as sub 40, sub 50 etc, they could have clearly marked signs up at two minute intervals. This would avoid someone who is planning to run under 40 minutes starting beside someone who is planning to run it 10 minutes faster. Anyone who is running the race would have an idea of the time that they want to run within a few minutes at least. Lumping everyone in to areas where their expected finish time varies by 10 minutes is only going to cause issues.

These big events are never going to be the place to get PBs. And anyway, me worrying about knocking a minute off my PB of 42 mins would have the lads doing it in ~30 mins rolling their eyes!!
Everyone has their level, and even if I started at the top of wave 2 aiming for a 40 min finish its not unknown for me to have an off day and run it in 45! Would I be a nuisance then to the hundreds that would probably have to pass me?
So I dont get too worried about these things, there are plenty other of smaller events where the only excuse for not hitting your target is your slow legs!!

For what its worth, I started mid-way thru the first wave and had zero problems at all - I thought it was really well done actually. But clearly there were problems wave 2 and 3, which is disappointing.

As I said in my report, "As I was going into wave 1, there was a large lady going in ahead of me, and the steward asked her what her goal time was, super politely, and she "only wanted to get around" so he explained the wave system to her, and she was perfectly happy to go back to wave 3"

that's how it should work - but if someone looks the part and goes into a wave there is not a lot you can do.

re: Walking early, don't forget these folks could be doing a Geoff Galloway Run-Walk thing, where he preaches that you should start walking a bit right from the start of races, and helps many many people compete marathons!