Lovely day out, again! Drove down with Mick in his
person-carrier with James Corbett, Dee McGrath and Philip Magnier
in the back too.
Was a much nicer day than last year at the same venue. This time
around, there was no wind, on-shore or off-shore. There was no
rain, only sun. The roads were dry and most importantly the
circuit was going clockwise, not anti-clockwise as it was last
year. That made the last mile and a bit, all downhill whereas
the first mile last year was all uphill. Easier finish vs.
tougher start?
Looked much like the same crowd as last year too. Bumped into my
one remaining "Unknown" from the race in Athenry on St. Stephen's
Day. Roger Rushe of Tuam. How come he didn't register and what
number did he run with there, if any? Anyhow, I promised that
I'd forward him his well-deserved Athenry 10KM hat in the post.
If I'm still running sub-45:00 10KMs at 68, I think I'd deserve a
woolly hat too. Nice to be able to fully dot the i's and cross
the t's on our race at last!
Warmed up as before. Still had a few niggles in my right
achilles and my left knee area.
The first mile was flat in the direction of Miltown Malbay. The
one mile marker was before the right turn to go in-country.
Bumped into my old friend Siobhan at this stage and tried to hang
onto the back of her as she was going well. We met at three
miles in this race last year and I beat her in by a small number
of seconds. Didn't know what kind of shape she was in but
thought that it was better if I could keep with her through the
second mile. Didn't get the split for two miles for some unknown
reason. The third mile was undulating, with it mostly being
uphill and the road being quite rough in places. By this stage,
Siobhan and myself had caught up with two other lads and a bit of
a mini-battle soon ensued.
The older of the two lads was zig-zagging up in front of me quite
a bit through the third mile. I'd catch and pass him and he's
burst a gut to go ahead of me again. Didn't know whether to be
more amused or annoyed by this slightly juvenile behaviour.
Got to the top of the hill, about .1 miles before the three mile
marker and decided to try to inject some pace into our little
battle. I pushed on once I saw that we were going downhill all
the way to the finish.
Since I never look behind me when I'm racing, I don't know
exactly what was happening behind me and the fate of the three
who were with me between miles one and three.
The last mile was one of the most, if not the most, gut-wrenching
miles I've ever run. I could wait for it to end. I kept wishing
for the town of Quilty to magically appear over the next little
bump in the road.
During this last mile, I skinned two further runners on the road
without being passed myself, for once. The first was a woman and
then with about a quarter of a mile to go, I passed a man. I
didn't realise it was John McSweeny until I was almost past him.
I don't know who was more amazed: me for passing him or he being
passed by me!
We eventually reached the turn that leads up to the finish and I
sensed that John was coming back at me. I put on as much of a
burst as I could possibly muster to stumble across the line still
two seconds ahead. I think Tommie Joe Whyte might have let the
cat out of the bag by cheering on John coming around the corner.
That may be why I "sensed" John silently trying to reel me in
over the last 200 metres.
A new four-mile PB, the previous being set down in Killimor last
September (the day of the All-Ireland Football Final) of 26:37.
Last year, I clocked 26:41 here in Quilty. None of the niggles
that had haunted many of my training runs since Christmas gave me
any trouble during the race itself.
Mick shattered his own four-mile PB, clocking an excellent 22:44.
James Corbett ran 28:10, Philip Magnier, 28:44 and Dee McGrath
30:11.
We hung around for a while after the race, savouring the
post-race atmosphere in the pub in the middle of the village. I
also got to see my beloved LK hurling team oncede 11 points in as
many minutes before half time in the National Hurling League
against Tipp in Limerick on TG4. That obviously improved my mood
no end.
This race was a good workout for the weekend's Ballycotton 10M.
Onwards and upwards, slowly!
6:30.36
6:53.69 - average
6:53.69 - average
6:01.97
--------
26:19.71
James.