Turning a mule into a race horse.

Pacing Mule wrote: »

The race today was hugely personal for me as you guys know. The sweetener of the support and interest here in the results made this quite special. Both myself and Mrs Mule were running this. I will come back to Mrs Mule later. Arrived slightly late to the clubhouse having been caught in traffic from the 10k race start. By the time we had queued up for a toilet visit and dropped the bag in we just about made it to the back of the field for the starting gun.

What this meant for me was the first 2 miles were very heavily congested. I went into today with a goal of sub 1:50. I figured I would go out at 1:48:30 - 1:49:00 pace and if strong at the end come in a bit under, if not too strong have a little padding to make the 1:50 goal. The first 2 miles though were very frustrating trying to make my way through the pack and stay on pace. Used up a lot of energy I shouldn't have had to here.

8:05, 8:21

Settled into a nice and comfortable rhythm at this point. Miles were ticking by nicely and I was actually holding myself back a bit knowing that in the later stages of the race I would need the energy. The tail end of mile 5 was a bit tough, up the hill and over the first of the M3 flyovers were the wind really knocked the stuffing out of me.

8:06, 8:15, 8:11

A drop down off the M3 flyover was very gratefully met but I knew then that the next mile and a half back up to the club house was going to be tough. A steep little leg sapper and then a gradual climb all the way back. Great support out at the clubhouse and great regret that I was only half way around. During the climb up to the club house the legs started to get very uncomfortable and I could feel my calves setting up for a repeat of Enniscorthy. Didn't push the pace at all on this section. Was happy to lose a few seconds knowing there was still a way to go.

8:27, 8:17

Over half way now and the course started to make it's way back around to join the first loop. Soon I would be running on familar roads and knowing exactly what territory was ahead. Things were a little sore and a little unconfortable but I was ok.

8:14, 8:08

As most of you know I was running this as a fund raiser for Zack a little boy very dear to my heart. I saw him, his parents and siblings on the side of the road along with my own daughter. Had an urge to look strong for the crowd and I took off at pace passing out quite a few people - only to realise it wasn't them :eek::D Took me a mile to recover from that burst of speed.

8:04, 8:18

Mile 10 was approaching and I realised then that I had forgotten to lube up before the race. Thighs were chaffing, nipples were sore and there was still a good few miles to go. Time to dig in a bit. My watch beeped for 10 miles a good bit short of the 10 mile marker (the earlier weaving in and out causing this) I knew that at the 10 mile marker I had 5k to go and was focussing on this 5k time to see if sub 1:50 was on.

8:04

Quick bit of maths told me I could run about 8:45 for the rest of the race and take out 1:50. Was tiring now and it just wasn't as easy as the first lap at all. I knew the two climbs over the M3 were still to come and the uphill back to the clubhouse so I tried to push on a bit early in this to bag a bit of time. That said I couldn't muster up too much of a response and was starting to fade. Turned the corner at about 11.7 miles in and that short leg sapper kicked my ass again.

8:18, 8:34

At this stage there was one mile plus .1 of a mile + whatever my garmin had over cooked along the way to go. It was an uphill finish into the wind and it sucked badly. I wanted to give it a good go. At mile 6 first time around I had it in my head how I would take this so much faster next time but I was emptying the tank to stay on pace never mind go faster. Lost a few seconds here too. Firedance gave me a great shout out towards the end which gave me a bit of a boost too. The finish area couldn't come fast enough for me. Got to the final turn into the clubhouse and I knew I had sub 1:50 well in the bag. Because of this I had no real motivation to smash it down the finishing straight. Got passed out by one person but honestly didn't care at the time - afterwards was a bit disappointed in myself because I probably could have gotten an extra few seconds - which would have given me 3rd place in the handicap race.

8:43, 7:47 (final 0.2 on watch)

Finish Time 1:49:10 - PB by nearly half an hour

Unofficial PBs along the way for 10 miles, 15k and 20k too.

After the race I chatted with a few of the boardsies here who have given the entire fund raiser so much support. I can't thank the community here enough for this. It means more than you guys actually realise.

At that point I had to go out and find Mrs Mule. As a bit of background both of us were running today for the same fund raiser. However Mrs Mule had no experience in running long distances at all and to cover a half marathon distance was a huge ask for her. During training she injured her hip and back - basically due to stepping up mileage too quick. A week ago she was out of the race. A physio patched her up a bit and she went off today with the agreement that if it hurt too much she would stop after the first lap. Turned out it did hurt too much but the stubborn **$%£$ continued on in tears with the pain and reduced to walking most of the second half. I set off back down the course to help her home. Found her at mile 12. She finished dead last in 2:50 but she put in a tougher race than I did and I'm very proud of her.

Pacing Mule wrote: »

State the times so and let me loose on them ........:pac:

Pacing Mule wrote: »

OK - Will hit that 5k time within 8 months