Can I give more? The answer is usually yes

RedRunner wrote: »

Good luck tomorrow. What's the target?

Cheers RR, sub 75 mins is the goal, may look a soft target, but i haven't ran anything close to ten miles at 7.30min/mile pace in long time. I'm lacking a bit in speed endurance. If i come in under 75 i'll be very happy.

FBOT01 wrote: »

Signed up for this last night so hopefully see you down there. If not good luck and enjoy!

I'll keep an eye out for the shades, hopefully see you there.

1.12.38, happy out with that. How a race should be run.

FBOT01 wrote: »

Well done again. Great run and nice to meet you again, this time in the searing sunshine rather than the torrential rain we had after the 5 miler. Keep up the good work.

Cheers, happy with the progress. Savage running by yourself, your in flying shape.

Mullingar 10mile - 1hr 12mins 38sec(97th of 291)

Pre-race:
Got to Dalystown at 10am this morning to be directed into the carpark by none other than Gerry Duffy. Parked the car and made way to registration, all done without a hitch. Wasn't feeling the love to be honest this morning and the heat was making even more apprehensive about the race. Quick word with FBOT01 before he went on his warm up and back to the car before i done likewise. Serious amount of club runners about, probably the most club singlets i've seen in a race. Made my way to the start and met FBOT01, yaboya1 and belcarra. Belcarra had more or less same time in mind so we decided to go out together. Wished other lads best wishes and off we rolled.

Race:
Things were tight at the start and a bit of weaving before belcarra and myself found a bit of open road. From the Garmin link of the race i seen before, it looked more or less flat, once we hit the main road and seen the rolling road in front of us it gave the tune of the course away. No serious hills just rolling bumps. We settled in to our strides and the first mile went in 7.16, a lady Crusaders runner pulled up alongside and kind of annoyed me for next few miles, she would make a spurt every now and then and then pull in directly in front of me causing me to check my stride on few occasions:mad:. Mile 2 was 7.13 and everything was feeling comfortable, we turned off the main road here shortly after two miles down a quieter country road which was flatter than the the main road.

Crusaders lady again put in another spurt at about two and half miles and caused me to vere sideways to not clip her, had enough and put the boot down and pulled away from her and last i seen of belcarra till he finished. moved past a few other runners here and kind of found myself in no-man land. Mile 3 was 7.27, dunno what happened there as i was moving faster than the first to miles. Water station came up and grabbed a bottle, half in my mouth and other half over my baldy head, had four runners ahead of me and gradually set about of catching them. road again was rolling and a few runners came back here who started to quick. Was closing on the lads in front and mile 4 went in 7.23, everything feeling good and the sun had hid behind some clouds and gave me a bit of respite. the four lads in front were 2 x Mullingar Harriers and 2 x North Westmeath AC. Figured if i caught them i could work with them on the second half of the race. Came into the village of Ballinagore and mile 5 beeped in 7.12, quickest so far.

Caught the four lads here and moved to the front of the group and they followed me, myself and one of the North Westmeath lads shared pacing duties, passed by Ballinagore Football Ground which brought me back to my youth, won a Westmeath Under 16 county title on that pitch scoring 3-4 in the process, back to task in hand and mile 6 went in 7.21, road kicked up a bit here and the NW man i had shared pacing duties with put in a dig here so i went with him. The other 3 lads fell off the pace from here, so me and Paddy as his name turned out to be took it in turns at pacing things from here. We turned off the main road back onto a country road and mile 7 beeped in 7.05, Paddy asked me the time and i told him just over 50 mins gone, he nearly fell, he was targeting 80 mins and was going to obliterate that for sure. Another water table here and as before i drank half and put the remainder over my head. We came to a t-junction here and the 8 mile mark which went in 7.09, we turned left and my his twinged, first feeeling of discomfort.

Told Paddy that if he had anything left to go, he insisted we were going to finish together so i was damned if i was letting the man down so dug in and stuck with him. Pasted another few runners which gave us both hope and ploughed on, mile 9 went in 7.21, into the last mile and this time Paddy had a wobbler, he told me to go, no way i was leaving him now after sharing the last four miles together and the fact he helped me no end to keep going a mile before. He put the head down and we both dug in, told him if we kept going we would beat 73 mins, we came past Dalystown School and rounded the corner and could see the big Brooks finishing schute ahead. We both kicked a bit and a got a few yards on him, rounded the corner into the finishing straight and mile ten beeped in 7.05. Job done and a happy man, Paddy came in few yards behind and gave me the best hand-shake i ever got and thanked me for pulling him through, told him the exact same and that only for him i would have given up.

Post-race:
Waited around at the end to clap belcarra home, we both felt it was a great race and very well organised. He was happy with his performance and is coming back from injury himself. Met the speedsters that are FBOT01 and yaboya1 who both ran savage times and nailed new PBs for themselves(very well done again lads). Lads were well impressed with the race and said they would come back again for sure. Excellent race and how it should be done, cheers to all at Mullingar Harriers.

Daily total- 12.34miles

Done 6.05 miles yesterday to, nothing to report from that.

Song of the Week - AC/DC "Thunderstruck"

WTD-38.99miles
MTD- 105.84miles
YTD-493.87miles

belcarra wrote: »

Great race report and time there Tang!
I wasn't aware the Cru girl was annoying you so much! I was to'ing and fro'ing with her for the rest of the race.
Great event alright.

Cheers belcarra, good running by you yesterday to. I know you weren't overly happy but it was ten hard miles with no injury issues which means alot.

outforarun wrote: »

Very nicely executed. Well under the 75 and no slacking off once you knew you had nailed your goal. Nice speedy last mile as well.

Cheers outforarun, another good thing about the race was there were was plenty of people about running at similar pace, having somebody to work off was a big help. If i had been running solo i may have given in when i knew i had the sub 75 in the bag.