Streets of Galway

This is one of the best races on the calendar. Always well supported and plenty of quality at the pointy end of the field.

A 15 minute warm-up and a few strides and soon the race was underway. Conditions weren't great - overcast and humid, and it was going to be a tough run along the prom as we had a headwind to deal with. A little bit of rain just before the start to make the course a little slippery, especially along Merchants Road...

The leaders took the race out very quick and that left a group of 8 or so chasing. I was leading this group and by the time we reached the Cathedral the race had settled down. There were 5 runners a good way ahead with our group behind. Around this point the lead female made a break from our group so I went with here. To my surprise I quickly passed her and managed to slowly work my way ahead of the group.

Through halfway and feeling pretty good but I had it in the back of my mind that the tough section into the wind was still to come. By the time I got onto the prom I had the 6th position pretty much sewn up, and I wasn't making any inroads on 5th (about 20 seconds ahead) so it was a case of gritting out the last few kms.

I was starting to struggle and was pleased that the wind was less of a factor after making the final right hand turn just before the 7km marker. I lifted the pace as best I could and crossed the line in 6th position in a time of 26 minutes exactly (chip time).

Quite happy with that all things considered. Okay it was 24 seconds slower than last year but the conditions and lack of people to hang on to would explain most of that. Interestingly comparing my splits to last year I was actually 3 seconds better at 5km this year compared to last (16:10 vs 16:13). My finishing 3km was much worse though (9:50 Vs 9:23)...

All up 14kms with warm-up/down. A good day for the Galway City Harriers winning both the team prizes.

Out in the evening for a few celebratory beers.

Splits:

1km 3:07
2km 3:18
3km 3:18
4km 3:09 (12:52)
5km 3:18
6km 3:17
7km 3:22
8km 3:11 (13:08)

Total 26:00