Connemara half marathon and Club 4 mile race

2 races this week. In fact my first 2 races of the year. The Connemara was run in atrocious weather conditions even by normal standards- wind, rain, cold and windy. I was glad I was doing the half and not the full or the ultra. I had planned to run it a relaxed steady pace and despite the first mile (uphill on the Devils Mother) taking 9.30 I settled into a steady 8.15 to 8.20 pace. As expected the tricky parts at mile 10 and 11 were always going to slow me down but I didn't falter and that pleased me . The last mile did go on for ever but  crossed the line in reasonable shape for a modest 1.51.30. Job well done and a good weekend meet up with my buddy Aidan McGee. He ran the full and was glad to get around. Later on reflection I actually enjoyed the weekend away doing the half. If you are doing Connemara you get more bang for your buck doing the full or the ultra but the whole thing gave me a source of internal satisfaction despite my time being slower than 2011 (1.44.37)

I rested on Monday (Easter holidays) and ran a 4.5 mile run on Tuesday afternoon at a relaxed effort.

Rest day Wednesday and a club 4 mile race on Thursday in Doneraile park. This would have been my first short race since August 2017 but it was about time I started to face up to proper racing again. This was a unusual event as it was hosted by Mallow Ac runners for Mallow Ac runners and considering it was free to club members it would have been a shame not to take part. The course is tough and while coming slightly shorter than 4 miles (3.93 miles) I was hopeful of coming in around 30 minutes. This was a challenging goal for me at the moment and considering the field of runners that were taking part I was content to do "my best". The first mile is a fast one (7.15) and I knew I was out of practice when I was struggling for breath at mile two. I pushed on past a good few runners but by mile 2.5 I was toasted. Denis, Steve and Neil zipped past me and Rachel was persistently un catchable. The last mile took us down the opposite of Garlic Hill and then a lung breaking run up the hill behind the Big House and a downhill run for the finish. I clocked in at 29.40 but when adjusted for 4 miles it was probably closer to 30 minutes. My splits for the mile 2 to mile 4 was around 7.30 to 7.35.

I sat down on the grass with the other club members having a good natter with the rest of the crew. My time wasn't very good but as a exercise in getting out there and getting racing again I was delighted. I really enjoyed myself this week and it felt nice to be racing. Hope fully the bug will start biting again. Progress will take time but maybe just maybe.......

P.s I ran a very stiff 10k around Charleville on Saturday.

a hour forward

It's the end of March so that means the clocks go forward and it marks brighter evenings and the beginning of summer sport in this country - GAA cycling soccer and road running.

I had a lot of early running starts this morning. Tuesday up at 6.30 am for a 4 mile easy jog. Wednesday at 6.20 am for a 6 mile run with a 3 mle tempo portion in the middle. The tempo wasn't very good  but that was to be expected but job done (7.23, 7.35 and 7.45). Thursday I was up at a ridiculous time of 6 am (parent teacher meeting that evening) for a 1 hour jog on my favoured cooleens route. It's a fast route but the early start didn't suit the legs too much but the run was solid enough - 7.3 miles/ 8.13 pace.

Friday and Saturday made running impossible as Aoiffe was away up in Dublin on a course so the long run was on Sunday. I still don't know where I am going with these but did 13.2 miles at a good solid pace - 8.25 with 1 hour 51 minutes on the clock. I spotted club colleague Paudie runnng 20 miles at a wicked 7.30 pace. Monday (today) was a 45 minute walk to stretch out the legs around 3 miles of so in the company of a work colleague.

Around 33 miles for the week.  I enjoyed the running week. I am running Connemara 13.1 in a few weeks. Looking forward to it. I will treat it as a meet up with a friend.