Best to start with yesterday as it's fresh in the memory.
I woke up early to see that my car was clamped so a 30euro taxi fare to Marley park
and I signed up for the Dublin plod half marathon.
This I knew would be a difficult course as I had trained on the course a few times.
The gun went and the early pace felt very easy as all my races of late had been over 5k & 10k distance.
As we reached the hills I started to breath a little deeper now but two of us where well clear.
Aongus who I had ran with on the Irish team in Snowdon two years ago I knew was a beast on the uphill so I would have to work hard to stay within distance of him.
After 4miles I began to struggle with a stitch and the hills.Aongus was now 90seconds plus ahead.
Mile 9 I made a surge on the downhill and began to close.
Mile 10 I had caught him and lookign at my Garmin i was clocking 4.25 per mile and I put the hammer down as I past him.Aongus in fairness responded and again i had to find another gear and slowly I stretched away.
Mile 11 i knew I just had to stay on my feet and could enjoy the finish.
My time was 85.55 and a new course record.
Friday the 13th:
Headed down to Tullamore for a 5k with my mate Gary O ' Hanlon.
we where too busy chatting and missed the turn for Tullamore and ended up in Athlone.
Fair play to the organisers who held the race by 10minutes as we ran up with no warm up.
Gun went and i was flat as a pancake from the off.Struggled home in 5th place in around 16.40 and gary got pipped at the finish for the win.Great feed on after the race and I would highly recommend the race.
I have had two good session of 16 x 400m and 6 x 1km reps over the last two weeks.My training kept to 55-70 miles per week.still running with the pram once a week.
Dublin Marathon is still on the cards once the body stays in one piece.
Don't forget to sign up for the lakes 10k in September.Picture from last year and thanks to Darren for the racepix t-shirt.www.racepix.com for all your racing pictures.
