Galway 5km Series - Week 4

My first race in my home town. I ran from home and had about 2.8km done before lining up at the start.

The course was the same 5km as used in previous years but this year the direction of the race was to be reversed. That meant a big hill within the first km, then predominantly flat or downhill for the remaining 4km. It suited me perfectly to get the hill out of the way early so I could get into my running.

The weather was quite windy but no rain. The start was just inside the entrance to a business park and we were soon racing. I hit the lead as we turned left onto the main road only to be greeted by the big climb. This was a real grind and I was surprised to be leading as my hill running is not good. At about 800m it flattened out and then a slight downhill section and the first km showed an opening gambit of 3:19. Time to put the foot down.

The second km had a few gradual uphill drags but it was fairly easy going. This km was covered in 3:09 and then it was time to hammer the long downhill. I focused on lengthening the stride and leaning forward and after a left hand turn at the foot of the hill there was a nasty little uphill section to take you up to the 3km marker. This was covered in 3:03 so 9:31 with 2km to go.

The 4th km was again pretty flat. Maybe a little more uphill than you would ideally want but I was feeling pretty good. A 3:10 so the chance of a PB was diminishing but still a decent last km would see me under 16 minutes. I really tried to lift the pace in the run for home, especially in the last section on the main road which was very flat. I crossed the line in 15:48 (a 3:07 last km). A good last 4km and another win under the belt. I really enjoyed the course although I have to say that being one of my local training routes.

I finished up with a 6.8km warm-down (another lap of the course plus a bit more). All up 14.6km for the day.

My little boy didn't make the race as he was too cranky and tired. Another time...