Buckets of Rain

17:20 – 164th.
https://www.strava.com/activities/13064024297

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, but not much has really been happening in terms of my training. I have been ticking over and following the plan but I have also been inching towards a month off, when I travel to Vietnam, and I am off the back of the marathon so I have been in a strange twilight zone phase. And I have been enjoying it. Spending time catching up with friends over pints; eating a load of shite I normally wouldn’t; catching up with more friends over more pints; basically living that opulent and decedent lifestyle that does not allow you to train and compete at a high level.

That is all good though. I have been locked into training with numerous races throughout the year, including the marathon in October, and it feels right to ease back now. The trip to Vietnam will be a perfect reset ahead of starting again at the end of January. The prospect of an extended break gives rise to anxiety about being unfit and at the same time excitement about getting fit.

The above is for the future. For now, there is serious business to attend to. And that is the Jingle Bells 5K.

(Honourable mention to the National Novice Cross Country, from where this post’s photo was taken, where my body succumbed to the mud and my face melted on the home straight)

Jingle Bells has always been a good race for me. I set a 1 second PB there in 2022 when I was off a marathon block and I had a good run there last year when I was starting to get some fitness back after suffering from anemia. When the marathon was finished this year, I did expect to give Jingle Bells a good rattle and take some time off the PB but due to the above mentioned opulence and a legit storm on the morning of the race, I abandoned any notion of a good time and was purely looking to this as a bit of craic.

There were murmurings all week that the weather was to be bad and as the days progressed, it became clear it was to be very bad. The country was given notice on Thursday that a proper storm was coming on Friday and this would run into Saturday. Parts of the country had a red weather warning (basically meaning hide in a bunker) and the other half had an orange weather warning (don’t be standing under a tree but no need to fill the fridge). Dublin fell into the latter category so technically the race could go ahead but the organisers didn’t make a call until the morning of the race to say it was on. There was a fair amount of pearl clutching by some people as Donore Harriers contemplated whether to cancel or go ahead but overall I think they handled the exceptional circumstances exceptionally well.

Because conditions were not favourable, and I am not fit, this race was set to be a bit of craic. I met Barry in Chapelizod and we warmed up by jogging in a few different directions to suss out which way the wind was blowing. It was blowing every which way but the straight on Chesterfield Avenue was going to be the big challenge. We went through our pre race routines separately and just a couple minutes before the gun was to go off, we tried to find a good position at the start line. The road is quite narrow and there was no space at all near the top end, with groups of people each side lining the grass embankment trying to get onto the road. We made the decision to begin further back in the field, giving us even less of a chance of running well. We were crammed in like sardines when the gun went off.

1st km – 3:46

It took me 22 seconds to cross the start line, longer than it took me to get over the start line at Dublin Marathon. When I did eventually cross, I was the 583rd person with the privilege. The first kilometre was just a dash to find any sort of positioning I could. I knew from before the gun went that it would be tremendously difficult to find anybody running a similar pace to me but I didn’t envisage getting caught up as badly as I did. I was weaving in and out of groups of people, hopping onto the grass and then back onto the road and having zero rhythm while doing it. I was trying to keep in contact with Barry at the same time but there were too many people and we eventually lost each other. At this stage the wind wasn’t too bad, largely because I was caught in such a large bunch of people. The watch beeped for a 3:46km – the slowest kilometre I have ran in a 5K or 10K race in a number of years. Fuck yeah!

2nd km – 3:38

When I seen the 3:46, I audibly lambasted myself. There is no reason for that, regardless of the circumstances. There was no time to rest on the laurels of the slowest kilometre split in years, there was work to be done. We were now on Chesterfield Avenue and the wind was insane. I was still way back down the field so there was no group to share any of the work with. The very large packs were bunched together to try shield from the wind and that meant I had to go wide and take the wind head on to make any ground up the road. My tactic was to target someone up ahead, catch up to them, sit on them for a few seconds and move onto the next. I felt like I was moving quite well and the surging tactic was working. The few seconds of recovery on the group I caught was important to ensure I wasn’t just redlining the whole way. Just before the Ashtown roundabout, the watch beeped for 3:38.

3rd km – 3:31

Now that was taking the piss. I thought I was moving fast and it was only a 3:38! The wind was really bad but that is just really poor. I knew that once we turned at the roundabout, the wind would start to become less of a factor and would soon be to my benefit. I decided to keep the same tactic as before and just pick off runners in groups and keep moving up. I was also hoping to find someone of a similar standard to me but was unable to. I was alone. Even when I made surges, nobody was coming with me. The third kilometre is down the Ordinance Survey road and most of the runners were tucked into the left hand side beside the curb. There was an unlimited amount of runners ahead of me. No matter how many I overtook, there were more. It was like they were spawning after a stealth kill in the jungle in Metal Gear Solid 3. Once again the watch beeped for a disappointing 3:31.

4th km – 3:15

It had been years since I ran a 3:31 in a 5K but at least I had run that split in a 10K. It’s definite progress in this race. And now there was even more progress to be made. It is around this point where the course starts to go downhill and the wind was now on our backs. Everyone was starting to run faster, almost proportionately, so I was still picking off the same amount of people as before. Only this time, there were some people who were with me. One woman in particular from DCH who I went around mid way through this kilometre and then all of a sudden was on my shoulder. She was closing fast. The watch beeped for 3:15.

5th km – 3:07

3:15 is good. Well, it’s ok. But now it was time to make hay. This last kilometre is actually so much fun. I would wager that there isn’t a faster kilometre in any race in the country than the 5th kilometre in Jingle Bells 5K. Nobody is checking the watch. Everybody is letting loose. It’s a mad dash to the finish line. I was pretty happy that I had the turn over in the legs at this stage considering I haven’t moved at that pace in good number of weeks. The gradient and the wind definitely helped propel me but the legs still had to move. When we hit the last 200m straight before the finish line, I still had plenty of running but was overall happy to cross the finish line in 17:20. I cannot remember a time when I ran in a 5K race and finished with 17:20. It’s hard to work back how much time the wind cost me but it is telling that nobody broke 15 minutes at the upper end of the race – a rare sight. I am definitely nowhere near peak 5K shape, I am carrying a little bit of timber and I have been drinking a fair few pints as of late. The time is the time is the time. The racing aspect was really fun, though. Being person number 538 crossing the start line and finishing in 164th position can be spun many different ways, one of which is me being a master racer who just ran out of road as I was destined to place high in the field. That is a narrative I like.