It was seriously warm Friday night as we stood around the start line. One of the stewards said his phone stated it was 28 to 30 degrees Celsius despite it being 8 pm in the evening. The field was down on entries too around 212 but still some very good runners at the pointy end of things. Mallow was well represented too with the usual notables present and one or two new faces. My own expectations were very modest. I just wanted to get around in around 7.30 pace. This is a tough course, allied with the heat and my limited training, my target was a reasonable one. My friend Tim O'Connor new to the world of road racing shot off ahead of me and that was the last I saw of him until the finish. He finished in a excellent debut time of 49.10. I ran the first two hilly miles in 7.50 pace anticipating a faster effort over the next downhill 3 miles. I ran at a controlled pace hitting the next two miles at around 7.30 pace. To be fair I had no garmin but the stewards at the mile markers did a excellent job of keeping time. At mile 5 things started to get hairy enough with the mile passing in 7.30 facing into 2 very tough uphill miles. A number of runners were walking it at this stage and I must have overtook a good dozen at this stage with two runners in front of me proving elusive. A number of locals had set up impromptu water stations and in particular one lovely old lady was a great help. By mile 6 I was feeling shagged and that mile passed in 8.00 or so. The legs were feeling the burn but I managed to squeeze enough out to over take two more runners before the legs started to feel really heavy. By the times i faced the last pull at 800 metres I had nothing left to give and I lost some ground to some runners. The time for the last mile was 8.20 ish but I had nothing left to give and came in at 53.20 according to my watch. I think the chip time had me down for 53.11 but I didn't give it much investigation. I didn't match or beat my first race back in 2010 but all in all was reasonably happy with the workout. Last year I ran very comfortably in 49.51, a indicator of how fit I was.
Some of the lads from Mallow did very well indeed in particular club trainer Shane who finished 3rd. As I say a tough race and a good workout.
By Sunday morning I was feeling Friday's race during the long run. The lads picked a very hilly route - Caherduggan. All hills and pulls. I was last man in running 13 miles in around 2 hours. Not a great long run by any means but HR was respectable enough 147.
The chances of a respectable time in the Dublin marathon seem a long way away at the moment but I will persevere and see how things turn out by September. I really have little interest in turning up for at best a sub 4 finish.
Miles for week 33 miles. Monday 3, Tuesday 5 miles, Thursday 5 miles, Friday 7 mile race, Sunday 13 miles.
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