The weather had been atrocious all day. Heavy rain and wind but by the time I arrived at the race, by some miracle the skies had cleared and conditions looked pretty good. Still very wet under foot, but no rain. Just the wind to deal with...
After a 3km warm-up, I lined up at the start and we were underway. The first 100m was uphill and then it became a lot easier, either flat or downhill. I was at the front with one other guy and the first km passed in 3:05. Soon after that I had opened up a gap and was running solo. The terrain was undulating but fairly flat and still feeling good I reached the second km in 3:14.
After a left hand turn I realised that there was a couple of new runners closing in on me. Slowly but surely they drew level so I was now part of a group of 3. There were a few surges at this point but they were all covered off and that's how it remained until km 5 (3rd km 3:17, 4th km 3:17, 5th km 3:20, 5km in 16:13). I was now concentrating on racing and the times were becoming less important.
After another left hand turn I was surprised to see that the group had been whittled down to 2. Thankfully I was still part of the 2. The next section seemed really tough due to a stiff headwind. The pace had slowed with kms 6 and 7 passing in 3:22 and 3:21 respectively. I was still running stride for stride with the other guy and I was thinking that we must be due an easier section...
Then another left turn and thankfully the wind was now on the back. I suddenly felt a lot better and tried to pick up the pace. I'd opened up a slight gap and the 8th km passed in 3:19. From there on I just concentrated on putting the foot down. The course was still flat and a quicker 9th km of 3:15 and it was time to grit it out to the finish. I could still hear the runner behind me but I was confident that I had enough in the legs to hold him off. But the last km was a killer. A very long uphill drag that must have been close to 500m. Then one final right turn and a further uphill section to the finish. Very glad to see the finish line with a last km of 3:16 and a time of 32:46. A very pleasing win and some good racing.
I finished up with a 3km warm-down. All up 16km for the day. I missed out on a PB by 2 seconds but the win more than made up for that. The wind was tough today as you seemed to be running into either a headwind or crosswind for the first 7km. I would love to have another crack at this course on a still day.
Hats off to the organisers. Everyone I spoke to had an enjoyable race and plenty of food and drink thrown in at the end. A few beers now to celebrate. Maybe a huge session being the last day of the world and all that...
5 comments:
Congratulations on a nice win. Uphill for the last kilometer does not sound like an appealing course to me. Impressive that you had such a good finish.
Well done Matt, excellent run in terrible conditions. I did a trail marathon in the Burren and spent mostof the time trying to pull my shoes outta the bog!! Ronoc
Mate, I think you should try ditching the watch in races and run on feel.
Great stuff Matt! certainly enjoying your racing thesedays. Sorry for all the questions but just one more ;)
Do you have any good runners in your family? Were there any relatives that had talent for running or any other sports? Interested to hear what you know about this.
Thanks again Matt.
Tom, I may try that. Will let you know if it happens.
Scott, no runners in the family. In fact no decent sports-people on my Mums side, though my Dad was a half decent footballer (soccer), and his brother was a very good footballer (who could have turned pro). So it must be from my Dads side. I think my Dad would have been half decent if he had given it a go. He once did a 20 mile charity run off no training in around 3 hours. That's the only running I can recall. He was a very good darts player but I don't suppose that counts for much!
Post a Comment