Oughterard 10km

Yes, I struggled with the pronunciation also. Moving on.

I dropped the kids at the out-laws and arrived in good time to register and do my warm-up. I ran the first 2.5km of the course to get the legs moving, then doubled back to the start area. My initial thoughts cannot be repeated here. Lots of rolling hills.

We started a bit late, but were soon underway. For the first 500m I was running side-by-side with a GCH teammate - Barry. As we made the first turn up over the bridge, I took the lead and continued to push the pace. The first km came and a quick glance at my watch showed 2:54. That can't be right, so I moved on. Then the hills started. Lots of them. I was trying to keep the legs moving but it was difficult to get into any sort of rhythm. The second km split showed 3:44 - I didn't think it was that slow but hoped the 1km was short which would mean I was averaging just under 3:20 pace. Battling on behind the lead police car, I was still going mainly up, but not as steep as before. The 3rd km was timed at 3:33 which felt about right. Still more long drags and by 4km (3:30) it seemed to flatten out. Then it went steep downhill. This felt a lot better and the legs were now moving nicely, and despite running quick, you could almost take a bit of a breather. The 5th km of 3:08 meant that at halfway I was 16:48. Time to push on to the finish.

By this stage I imagine I had opened up a good lead. So it was a case of racing the clock. The 6th km was also quick (3:14) which highlighted another downhill section. As we approached 7km things had flattened out again, as we had almost reached water level. So I was hoping the final stretch would be mainly flat. The 7th km of 3:16 showed I was still travelling nicely. Then it started raining. And got quite windy. Straight at me. Not good. Keep working hard was all I could do and by 8km (3:24) I had slowed a bit and was looking forward to seeing the finishing line. There were a few little hills to contend with, nothing too bad and by 9km (3:24) I was kicking on towards the finish. The last km we ran back up into town and I crossed the finish line in 33:24 so a 3:17 last km.

Pretty happy with the race. Yes, it is a tough course. On a par with the Lane Cove 10km, but once you get through the first 4km, it was a good finish.

Finished up with a 2km warm-down then had to dash home to pick up the kids. Another victory for the old boy. This has set me up nicely for the half next week.

17km for the day and 96.4km for the week.