It was a cold winters morn…no wait it was a warm spring evening myself and Jenny headed out to Fota wildlife park, a really smashing evening with the sun still spitting the rocks at 7pm and everyone in great spirits. Parking was a breeze and everything being kept in order by the excellent organisation of Eagle AC. I was excited yet nervous, this was my first race since the disastrous Rotterdam marathon so I was out to banish some 26 mile demons, over 4 miles.
We got our race numbers and headed out for a 20 min warmup around the park and a chance to have a little recce of the course. It was hillier than I imagined but what surroundings for a race. I’d never been here before but there was something nice about warming up though the wildlife park, the Ostriches racing you behind the fence, wallabies, peacocks, kangaroos wandering around freely and the buffalo and zebras roaming the prairies. For 12 euro, I’d already got my moneys worth on the warmup.
After a couple of strides, it was time to line up and get going. There was a pretty impressive turnout, 789 runners in all and a great atmosphere in the air, still pretty warm too at 8pm. I lined up near the front with the Leevale lads and suddenly we were off. This was my first 4 mile road race, it’s a tough distance to gauge, I hadn’t a clue what to aim at but I set the goal high at around 22 mins, requiring a 5:30 min/mile pace, I’d go out hard and see how I go.
Mile 1
First section was all downhill so felt pretty comfortable and as usual got caught up in a faster pace than I should have. A quick glance at the watch saw me hitting 5:15 pace before I relaxed and settled into a more comfortable rhythm. A lead group quickly formed, there were about 6-7 in there and they were flying, see ya lads. I was leading a 2nd group but was quickly passed by about 4 runners who opened up a 10-15 meter gap on me, I was ok with that and said I’d just keep them in sight. A difficult climb at the end of the first mile knocked me back a little but clocked a 5:32 and starting to feel difficult.
Mile 2
I felt I settled a bit into the 2nd mile, it was a lot flatter but being out on my own, it was a little difficult, still I kept the lads in front of my in view though they had spread out now and I could see 3 lads ahead of me. I clocked a 5:42 and when I saw that, negative thoughts started consuming me, I’m slowing down, how am I going to keep this pace up? I decided to just forget the watch and stop worrying about pace.
Mile 3
I was really feeling the heat now, I could hear runners closing in on me from behind and was just waiting to be overtaken but this also spurred me a little. One of the 3 lads that was ahead of me pulled up with an injury, well that’s one out of the way I thought. This patch felt the most difficult but I just kept going, we were running up a drag and I felt I was slowing but suddenly I realised I was gradually reeling in the guy ahead of me. I concentrated on just this guy and just before hitting the 3 mark, I had taken him on a corner and felt that familiar strong finish brewing. A disappointing 5:51 for this mile and I think I was lucky I didn’t see that on the watch.
Mile 4
We hit the mile 4 mark and now I had another target, the runner in front of me though he was a good 20 meters or so ahead, was also slowing. I felt energised knowing it was the last mile and the pace gradually picked up. A nice downhill gave me some brief respite and I charged on from there, taking the runner ahead of me with about half a mile to go. I knew there was a difficult climb coming, the same one from the first mile so I eased slightly for it knowing there was still a good 500 meters to go after it. I got through the climb still feeling good and I gave it socks for the last stretch. The finish was way further than I expected, I was heaving and giving it everything and finally the line came into sight. I had nobody around me or in front of me, which was strange but it meant I could soak up all the cheers. I crossed in 8th place in a time 22:39, final mile of 5:32. Happy.
Overall, I was delighted with a top 10 finish but disappointed in my 3rd mile where I felt I lost a lot of time, I would have hoped to be closer to 22 minutes but with some more focus on the track over the summer I can improve. I can’t be too hard on myself, I have nothing to compare it to really, I’m definitely heading in the right direction and I’m really happy with that last mile effort and strong finish. Based on this race, I should be able to “renew” my 5k PB in 2 weeks time at the John Buckley 5k here in Cork.
I chatted for a bit with clubmates, had a cup of tea and headed for a lovely 3 mile cool-down around the park with the OH Jenny (who ran a brilliant 28:29 for only her 3rd race ever) and we really got the moneys worth out of this event. A top top race (alright Jamie), so unique and I can see why it’s so popular, everything went like clockwork, hope to be back next year.