Run with Ray 5km

I arrived just in time to pick up my race number. I did a bit of a warm-up (approx 2km) and made my way to the start. Just going back a bit, the concept for the race was a tie in with the Today FM radio station and one of their DJ's Ray Darcy who was promoting running on his show. A 5km race was organised in 5 different locations around Ireland all to be run this week with Ray running each day. Today was the turn of Galway. There were close to 800 people registered for the fun run so a good crowd. It was all about getting out there and having a go. The course itself was an out and back 5km route along the coastline.

Anyway, soon we were underway running into a very stiff wind. I took the lead after about 100m and tried to push on. But it was bloody tough. After a couple of minutes I only had a few metres on the field and I was ready to give up. My mind set at this point was to simply get to the turnaround point in one piece and hope for a much easier second half.

There were no km markers during the race so there was no feedback on pace. After about 1km I was joined by the lead cyclist and I tried to stick as close to him as possible. A roundabout, followed by a few twists and turns and it was time to make the turn for home.

What a difference that made. I was now flying. I'd opened up a bit of a gap so I just focused on running relaxed. There was quite a bit of traffic as I was running against all the runners coming the other way. There was no issue though as the lead cyclist and volunteers had done an excellent job of keeping the path clear. Soon I was making the final turn and after a 400m dash I has crossed the finishing line in first place. The clock in the finishing gantry showed 15:50 which I was really pleased with. That joy was short-lived as my own watch showed 16:05. Yes, the official clock was 15 seconds slow! No big deal though. I'd say I was running about 20 seconds per km quicker in the second half of the race so that gives you an idea of the wind factor.

I had to rush off at the end to get back to the kids. I had a brief chat with a few regulars then had a 1km jog back to the car. All up 8km and a great experience.

In the evening I did an 8km recovery run to flush out the legs. Time 35:37. I'll take it easy Thursday and Friday, rest on Saturday, before the 10km on Sunday.