Claregalway 10km

Nice to be able to walk from home to the start line for a race! After registering I did a short warm-up and a few strides and it was time to get this over with.

Weather wasn't great. Similar to the Streets - overcast and humid, and quite a strong wind which would make the section along the main road very tough - especially so as it contained a nasty 600m climb. Two 5km laps made up the course and after a decent week's training I was looking for a good run.

From the start I tucked in behind Jason Fahy and Mike O'Connor as we exited the industrial estate to turn onto the main road and up the hill. The pace felt quick and by the time we reached the top of the hill it felt like I had blown a gasket. I tried to hang on but by 2km I had been gapped. From there on in it was a real grind...

Through 5km in 16:28 and the 2 leaders were way up the road. They seemed to be having a really good battle. But that was the last thing on my mind as I hit the big climb for the second time. I would have been better off walking....bloody hell I was struggling. At the "summit" I managed to lift the pace again and I even strung together a few decent kms - but I just wanted the race to be over. I cruised the last km and crossed the line in 33:30 for 3rd place. Jason won in 32:18 with Mike finishing second in 32:54.

Disappointed with that. I can't draw too many positives from it. Some decent training and a poor race. I'd like that to be the other way round. The conditions weren't great but I'm consistently racing the same courses slower than last year - this time by over 30 seconds. I'd like to run that pace for the half in 2 weeks time and based on that performance there is no way that's going to happen...

I ran a decent warm-down to give me 16.6kms for the day.

Here are the splits:

1km 3:22
2km 3:15
3km 3:12
4km 3:17
5km 3:22 (16:28)
6km 3:45
7km 3:24
8km 3:13
9km 3:18
10km 3:22 (17:02)

Total 33:30

A few Coopers Sparkling Ales later and I was feeling a little better about myself...