I picked this race out a few weeks earlier as a potential target. Nice flat course, good timing on a Thursday (instead of a tempo) and the thoughts of a sub 16 5k are always lingering, threatening and pestering. On the morning of the race, the coach told me not to kill myself, I’d run 23 miles on the Sunday and 19 Tuesday so despite a day off before it, the legs were always going to be somewhat tired. This kind of took some of the pressure off for me so I was just going to go out and give it a good hard effort with no expectations of a sub 16.
Got down to the marina after work, familiar stomping ground of my 20+ milers every Sunday. I registered before heading off with a buddy for a 20 minute warm up. We were running the route in reverse and the head wind was pretty severe, it wasn’t filling me with huge positivity and the body just felt very tired. Still I just reminded myself that this is not a goal race and good substitute for a session so on we trudged up to the start line with minutes to spare.
I looked around on the start and didn’t really spot any runners I knew had the capability of going sub 16, I was kind of hoping I could find someone to work with. Even more surprising when you consider first prize was a week holiday in Europe.
Mile 1 – 5:15
So eventually the race started as most races do. A large gaggle of greyhounds shot out as usual, probably 20+ ahead of me but within half a mile it was probably down to about 7 or 8. I was moving comfortably and slowly gaining ground on the group. We had to make a very sudden and quite dangerous turn onto the marina walkway but I was lucky there wasn’t too many people around me. Onto the familiar walkway and I looked ahead to see 4 maybe 5 ahead of me. It was around now I told myself I could win this if I played it right. As we ticked onto the first mile I was feeling good, didn’t even glance down at the watch as I didn’t want to even know about my time. To be fair the watch might as well have been in the car today because I didn’t look at it until I’d crossed the line and was more than happy to just run the race by effort, much more enjoyable than the last 5k in that sense.
Mile 2 – 5:22
I was probably sitting in 4th or 5th now but without increasing the effort I was gradually moving my way up the field as some of the eager runners were starting to tire. We headed quickly up and down the pedestrian bridge flyover which was the only real hill of note. Coming off the bridge I felt the pace naturally increasing and made my way into 2nd place. Ahead of me in 1st, maybe 10-15 yards was a M40 runner, Roy, didn’t know him at the time but a well established local runner who once won the Cork marathon in 2:30 under my own coach. I noticed how I was gaining on him slowly and my effort was still nice and steady. The wind was not on our side for this mile but I knew the final mile would be a lot quicker with the wind behind us. My plan was to stay patient, level with him by the end of this mile and then put in the effort to try take the win. We started to turn and I felt the wind now behind my back, much better. I drew level and matched his effort for a while before I decided it was time to go and try win this thing.
Mile 3 – 5:07 (+ 0:28 for 0.1 mile)
I had no idea what pace I was running or what sort of time I was on for but this was completely at the back of my mind. I focussed on the cyclist ahead as I pushed on and started opening up a gap on Roy. He wasn’t going anywhere quickly, I could hear the footsteps chasing me down, I needed to work harder. I was able to force it a little more though really starting to hurt now. I could see the corner ahead of me for what felt like miles, I knew once I rounded the corner I was only 400 meters from home so that was the target. Little did I know that Roy had been passed by a Polish guy and he was stealthy because I had no idea how close he was, I heard no footsteps now. I knew I was close now, I was praying for the finish but sustaining a good effort and was confident I had the win. I turned the corner for home and saw the finish gantry, I found another gear and pushed hard all the way to the finish. To my surprise the Polish guy was only 5 seconds behind me without me even knowing he was there so in that sense I’m lucky I kept the effort going until the finish. I checked my watch to see a 16:13 which I was actually delighted with considering this was more of a tactical effort. Official result was a 1 second PB which I think is good going in the heavy period of a marathon cycle.
Always nice to pick up a decent prize but I was happier with the effort and this has given me a good boost going into Charleville next week. In terms of actual effort, this didn’t feel as hard as the last 2 5k’s so I think the sub 16 is there for me soon, maybe not this year but I think with some focussed sessions I am almost there.
I joined a friend afterwards to do some of his marathon paced miles (6:40 m/m) so we ran the route again and the legs felt really good. Overall definitely merited the trip down to the marina and a free holiday in the bag, good evening!