Craughwell 10

A good sunny day with only a touch of a breeze which was perfect. After a 2 mile warm-up I lined up for the start and we were soon off and running. Mick Clohisey of Raheny took it out quickly, with Emmett Dunleavy of Sligo AC in pursuit, leaving me alone in third spot. As I settled into my running I was a little surprised to be running by myself in such a big race at this early stage, and as the first few miles ticked by I was basically left in time trial mode.

So not much racing to report - I felt great for the first 4 miles, then started to wobble between miles 4 and 6, and then had to grind out the last 4 miles. We were running into the breeze for the first half of the race, and then had the benefit of the wind in the second half. After passing 10km in 33:20 I was there or thereabouts for a 53 something but I had nothing to offer in the run home. It's very hard to remain focused when you have nobody in sight in front or behind, and even though it felt like I was slowing the mile splits were pretty consistent. That was until the last mile which seemed to last forever and I struggled with the final few drags crossing the line in 54:02 for third place.

Mick won the race in a great time of 50:14 with Emmett in second place in 52:21. That's great running so well done to them both. On a personal note I was initially a little disappointed but upon reflection I was perhaps being a little tough on myself. I only missed my time goal by a few seconds and that was all in the last mile, and what gave me some hope that I was moving in the right direction was that my 10 mile time was worth a 32:20 10km (according to Mr McMillan)...

As I suspected I was only really 10km fit so I need to continue to work on my strength and stamina which the threshold sessions will develop once I increase the duration. So more hard training in the next month and I'll be ready to conquer the longer stuff!

Here are the mile splits:

5:10, 5:25, 5:17, 5:26, 5:27 (26:45), 5:26, 5:25, 5:24, 5:27, 5:35 (27:17)

Total 54:02

A few photos. The start:

During the race:

The finish:

The top 3 (Mick and Emmett had already done their warm-down before I crossed the line...)

All up 22.5km for the day after a very slow couple of miles warm-down. And that's 82.9kms for the week. A few beers in the evening and that was that.