Sunday 02/03 – Bohermeen 1/2 Marathon – 1:21:46 PB!
So it was time for my first real test, the Bohermeen half marathon test to be exact. I headed off to county Meath on what started out to be a nice Sunday morning but as we got closer to the sleepy village of Bohermeen, the rain came bucketing down, of course. I got a lift out with a Donore club mate, Shane and we arrived with plenty of time to spare so we just sat in the car cursing the elements. I met up with cousin Bryan (who’s doing Rotterdam also) and we jogged off for a 2 mile warmup in the miserable cold and wind. Suddenly it was minutes to race time which caught us off guard so we threw our jackets behind a wall and legged it to the start line. Before we knew it we were heading off into the rugged countryside of Meath, the rain suddenly a distant memory and focus was on the road ahead.

Mile 1-5: The adrenaline was pumping and off I went with the crowd at a nippy pace but soon settled into my own pace, running a 6:13 for the first mile, that felt fine as the optimistic goal pace of 6:10 suddenly felt do-able. Effort felt hard for the next few miles as expected, I always seem to take a while to adapt to running at pace but I wasn’t in pain, just a matter of getting the miles clocked and finding that comfy zone, currently it was comfortably uncomfortable. I had quite a large field ahead of me so I made it my business to make targets ahead and pick them off one by one. This strategy works well for me over distance, I find starting conservatively and later making gains mentally encourages me and I tend to finish strong. After the 1st mile, I don’t think I was passed once during the race but must have made up at least 20 places. It was a 2 lap course not much of which I remember but passing over the first motorway flyover, in a cruel twist of fate, my lace came undone which of course was my own fault. I was left with the option of losing 20 seconds tying it or deal with it flopping around and potentially tripping me up for the rest of the race. I was on a downhill so I took the sensible option, stopped and tied it. I had worked hard to catch up and take a runner ahead of me and he just breezed past me, so I guess I was passed once. It was a nightmare those few seconds tying the lace, my cold shivering hands clumsily fumbling with the laces knowing I’m losing valuable seconds. I got her tied and stormed back at the few lads ahead of me, it was a nice downhill section so within a few minutes I had made back the places and settled back into a sensible pace. The final time was skewed a little since the watch decided to stop for a few seconds when I tied my lace.

Mile 5-10: The nowhere land of the race. I can’t recall much, I was tiring and feeling the pace difficult but still holding around 6:15, sometimes getting dangerously close to 6:20. Getting to the start of the 2nd loop was nice, the crowd was great and gave me a good boost. I was still picking off runners ahead of me but I wasn’t satisfied with the pace, maybe I’d set my target too high and part of me starting thinking I’d be satisfied with a 1:23 result, bla bla bla first big race in a year bla bla, so many thoughts. My other cousin Shane (Bryan’s bro) was cycling the course giving us some great encouragement and would cycle up beside me telling me I’m closing on on Bryan, how many places he was ahead of me, I was able to smile and it really helped having someone there pushing you on. Suddenly I was approaching mile 10 and spirits were lifting, I felt a strong finish brewing.

Mile 1-13: Maybe it’s because I was only 5k from home but I was also feeling strong, my form was good, my back straight and so I focussed hard and kicked into another gear pulling off a 6:05, 6:03 and 6:03 for the next 3 miles. There was a cluster of 4 runners in front of me and then cousin Bryan ahead of them having opened a big gap. With just over a mile to go I reckoned I could take the 4 guys, they were tiring but Bryan was too far ahead, a nice little challenge. The last mile was a tough uphill and the legs were weakening, I knew I was pushing it to my limit but I held the pace. I took 3 of them and then the last guy and I were head to head for the last 1/2 mile or so but I kicked on more and pulled away. I know positions don’t count so much in these road races, it’s not exactly XC but I love making these short term goals and the feeling of getting away from someone is nice and so motivating. I made up a of a lot of time in these last few miles, finishing in an extremely satisfying 1:21:46, average pace of 6:12 min/mile and smashing my PB by over 3 minutes, couldn’t really ask for more. The plan seems to be really working, the endurance and speed are both there and the finishing strength evident from my resistant training. I’m glad I made the long trip up to Meath, it seemed worth it getting a strong indication that I’m on track for a sub 2:50 effort come April. One month of hard training to come so, some fine tuning to do so it’s back to work tomorrow, and also I start real work tomorrow, that’s gonna be weird.

The Splits 

A nice 2 mile warmdown afterwards and a cup of hot soup, lovely job! Hopped on a train back to Cork and now it’s time for a Reese’s Nutrageous PB treat 🙂