Time for test number two before the main event in 3 weeks and this was an ideal race, my first 10 miler and right on my doorstep, well, a small train journey away. With a low weekly mileage behind me I felt well rested to give this race a good shot and realistically I was expecting to finish in the 61-62 minute bracket though in the back of my head I was always thinking about a sub 60. My half marathon time 3 weeks ago equates to a 61:30 10 miler according to the McMillan calculator which is generally quite accurate. I didn’t expect to have improved by enough in 3 weeks to get under 60 so I was prepared to be satisfied with a 61:xx.

Up early on Sunday morning and prepared a light breakfast, a bowl of porridge with sliced banana and a coffee. I headed out the door just before 10am and ran 3 easy miles down to the train station to get the blood flowing. The start wouldn’t be for over 2 hours so I wasn’t worried about tiring myself out before the race. I arrived to Mallow 20 minutes later and met up with coach Jim and another lady from the club who had both gotten the train down from Dublin to do the race. We headed off to race HQ to count down the time, have a coffee and a chat. We eventually headed off, warmed up for another mile or so by jogging to the start line. I bought some blister pads in a chemist nearby (precautionary) and suddenly it was 12:30pm and we were ready to go. I realized before the start that there was a 60 minute pacer so my race plan was to simply keep this guy in view as long as I could and not worrying about pace on my garmin, one of the downfalls of my Bohermeen 1/2 marathon I felt. That should get me in and around the hour I figured. Jim had told me to go for the 6 minute miles and see how long I can hold it, seemed like a fair plan.

Mile 1-5

Bang! Off went the gun and as is common in a lot of races with large crowds, there were a load of jokers in the 60 minute section who were nowhere near that pace but insisted on starting near the front, slowing the rest of us down. The sections are clearly marked with intended finish time, don’t people realise it’s chip timed, angry face. Anyway I found a nice steady pace, about 20 yards behind the 60 min group which was probably 30-40 people, I knew most of them wouldn’t last. The first mile felt surprisingly good, I was still a good 20 yards off the pacers but happy where I was and feeling my way into the race. I soon worked into step with an Eagles AC runner in mile 2 and both of us ran together for about 2 miles closing in slowly on the pace group ahead. We ended up passing a good few souls who were starting to drop like flies and yet it was still so early, you’d wonder why they were dropping off the pacer after 2 miles. We had caught the group by mile 4 and and worked in with them. By this stage the group was down to just 10-15 people and the pace actually felt like it slowed a little. I was still feeling great at this stage, fully relaxed, breathing was fine and the legs felt fresh, I was in the zone and wondering what the catch was. As we approached halfway, I realised I was about to break my PB for 5 miles, in a 10 mile race! And I did just that as we hit the 5 mile mark in 29:31, the question was could I do it all again? my head said yes, is feidir liom!

Mile 6-10

Mile 6 just flew by, I was still in that relaxed zone like I could go forever but I only had to do 10 miles, 10 should be enough. At this stage I sort of knew I had the sub 60 in the bag, I really felt confident so then I dangerously started thinking, how far under can I go? no wait, should I just stick with the group? Hmm. After 6.5 miles (also had just beaten my 10k PB) we came to a slight uphill and the whole group seemed to slow. I didn’t plan it but I soon found myself out in front of them as I felt strong going uphill so I kept the pace. Looks like my legs have decided for me, let’s go with it. Once passed the pacing group, I made a vow with myself to not let them pass me, how soul destroying would that be, plus I just really wanted to finish ahead of them, think of ALL those places I’ve just made up. A lone guy out of the group completely dressed in black came with me, I think he was itching to leave the group too and it was nice to have the company and somebody to work off, though not a word was spoken. We really took off from the group, the audible trampling of the stampede fading with each stride until we could no longer hear it, how nice that felt. The guy’s breathing was really all over the place which made me even more conscious of controlling my own, thanks mate.

By mile eight I was still feeling strong, I didn’t know my pace or time and I didn’t even want to, I just kept running fast and it felt good. We caught and surged through a group of about 5 ahead of us, breezing though as they were visibly struggling. The confidence just kept on growing, there was one guy on his own ahead of us we made our next vict…target. We caught him right on the marker for mile 9 and at that stage I said “see ya lads” as I knew I had a good finish in me. I worked up one more gear pulling away from them and making it my business to get to the line as quick as I could. The last mile was difficult I won’t lie, and my right calf was starting to pain but I knew I was putting everything I had left into this, clocking a 5:34 mile to finish. I think my buddy started catching me a little but I had enough of a gap and crossed the line, checking my watch twice as it read an incredibly surprising 58:46 and 33rd overall out of a 1000 strong field. This was a result I would never have contemplated at the start of the day but such is the beauty of this sport, the hard work is paying off. Thrilled.

What a thoroughly enjoyable race, one of my favourite so far. There was never really a point where I felt bad, no negative thoughts, no worrying about pace and maybe that was the difference as it was a serious improvement on the 1/2 marathon effort 3 weeks ago (based on today, my half time should be around 1:18 according to McMillan). Average pace was 5:51 min/mile and I think I got the strategy spot on, nice and steady early on, picking it up finishing strong as always. Coach Jim came home 1st in the over-70’s as expected running sub 75 mins, what a man and he was delighted for me when he heard my result, the plan really coming to fruition now and I’m seriously impressed with his training. 3 weeks now winding down the miles to the main event so as usual back to the grind tomorrow and we keep going.