Buckets of Rain

https://www.strava.com/activities/15311629577

I haven’t ran a 5K in a long time. Nor have I wanted to run a 5K in a long time. But before starting into another marathon block, I wanted to once again see if I could put in some semblance of decent speed work and maybe produce a result on the roads that is befitting of the work that was done. Last June, and prior to beginning the block for Dublin Marathon, I ran 15:58 in the Bohermeen 5K and felt this really set me up, both physically and mentally, to tackle the training for the marathon. This time round I know I am nowhere near in the shape I was then, having struggled with injury for the first four months of the year. However, it worked before and thus it shall work again. Post Hoc, Ergo, Propter Hoc.

With that said, I flagged with Seán a couple months out that I’ll give the Athboy 5K a rattle before we start the marathon training and he was as obliging as ever. I researched the race a little bit before signing up and seen that if I could get anywhere near PB shape (a long shot), then I might actually be competitive in the race itself. For someone who is renowned at not being competitive, this somehow translated into motivation. Unfortunately I did not get anywhere near PB shape, I did not run anywhere near a PB and I was not competitive. Go figure.

I spoke to Andy Nevin about this race. He had ran it last year and told me that the start was quite fast; a long, slow decline into the town before you have a short and sharp climb out of it. When I arrived to pick up my number, I asked one of the stewards how to get to the start line. She gave me some pretty indiscernible directions that I knew I wouldn’t remember. What I did remember, though, was how she told me the start line had changed from previous years and is now up a BIG hill and not the long drag from previous years. This was apparently due to an issue with traffic control at the previous start line and the Garda had requested it be changed. Not thinking much of this, I set off on my warm up and came back to my car to get changed. Due to the indiscernible nature of the previous directions, I asked a second steward how to get to the start line. This time, the directions were much clearer and she told me where to go. But not before impressing on me the scale of the first downhill. My ears were pricked at this stage and I began the mile jog to the start line. After about 800m, I was at the bottom of the hill. Such was it’s steepness, I stopped running and walked up to the top. I found some familiar faces at the start line and, two of which (Graham and Sadanand), were planning to run 16:00 pace. Sadanand said to run with them and I considered this for a moment before asking what their plan was for the first kilometre. When the answer was non-committal to running even splits, with the implication that they would burst down the hill, I said I’d see how it goes.

1st KM – 3:10

Truly this was the funniest first kilometre I’ve ever ran. The lads shot off like a light and were thundering down the hill. There were mountains of people ahead of me, all running way quicker than they are able to, and a lot of them fully out of control. I did my best to be disciplined and not blow my load this early into a race, knowing full well that the majority of the field were in the process of doing so. The hill was so steep that it was uncomfortable to run down as I was trying to slow myself down and thus hammering my quads. The gradient begins levelling off slightly after 600m and then there is a lesser gradient to the 1 kilometre mark and you’re into the town. By the time the kilometre split beeped on my watch, I reckon I was closer to 100th than 1st. There was a lot of making up to do after a 3:10 first kilometre.

2nd KM – 3:16

The route turned left and there was a short but steep incline in the town. I had already started overtaking people at this point, having briefly ran with Ciara Hickey from Brothers Pearse for a couple hundred metres. I was hoping she would kick on but when I realised she wasn’t going to, I pushed on myself. This became the theme for the rest of the race as I was always chasing someone ahead of me and always running alone. It was stark the extent that people were slowing down already at this stage – either because they were blowing up or they planned to run it this way (or both). It meant the race was quite fractious and I found it hard to keep any sort of rhythm as I was never working with anyone and feeling like I was burning a few candles that I otherwise wouldn’t. Once we crested the short hill, and swung left out of the town, we were headed out to the country side for some good flat running. The watch beeped for a 3:16.

3rd KM – 3:18

I didn’t recognise anybody in my immediate vicinity. Literally nobody. There were a few packs of people running single file and I worked my way onto the back of a pack with Crusaders AC and Clonliffe Harriers singlets. I ran with these guys for a minute or so and felt the pace drop. I looked at my watch and we were down to 3:30’s so I moved out from them and pushed on ahead. A minute or so later, I caught the next group ahead of me – this time a St Abbans singlet and a Dunboyne AC singlets. Again, I ran with these guys for another 45 seconds or a minute and again noticed the pace was slipping. Either that, or it just felt so after I had surged from the pack behind. Either way, I was keeping an eye on the time and figured I would likely be on for a semi decent or respectable time for the fitness I have. So I pushed on again and the course turned right off the road and down a small, single lane boreen. Not long after, the watched beeped for a 3:18.

4th KM – 3:15

This was the hardest kilometre of the race. It was slowly starting to hurt, it was quite warm, there is still two kilometres to go and I’m alone. As well as all that, the running surface was absolutely shite and borderline dangerous. The sun was low and that meant it was hard enough to see where you were running due to being blinded. There was a grass verge in the centre of the road and either side of that, the surface we were supposed to be running on, was propagated by an abundance of potholes. I was unable to look ahead of me for fear of rolling an ankle; my eyes were firmly on the ground in front. When I eventually caught a couple lads ahead of me, it took me about 90 seconds to get past them as they were running side by side and there was no room to overtake. Eventually, we left the boreen and turned right back to the main road – just as the watched beeped for 3:15.

5th KM – 3:12

Hunting time. I know I’m going to make it home, now it’s about where can I finish and how quick can I go. There was one young lad ahead of me from Father Murphy AC and I was running with him for about 400m before he started a very fast kick for home and was gone. The only other person ahead of me at this point, that I could see at least, was Graham Gilshinan and I could tell he was running into some difficulty. He was coming back to me at a rate of knots and I did my best to get ahead of him. As I was closing on him, with about 200m to go, he caught a second wind and made a good push for home and coming in a couple seconds ahead of me. If I had another 100m or so I would have pipped him and, with that, a top ten finish. Unfortunately I had to settle for 11th place and 16:19 – a time that last year would have bagged me 6th. 11th is worse than 6th but both are shite compared to 1st. Maybe I am competitive?