Blog of Random Thoughts and Pictures

Tom Jordan 5 Miles

May 9th, 2014

The runs are coming thick and fast these days and up today was the Portlaw 5 mile run. I must admit I’m not too sure about these shorter than 10km runs but then again I should be running for pace so 5 miles it is.

This year the Portlaw run was on a new course and we had to walk a mile outside of the village to get to the top of a hill for the start line. It felt like I was being wound up, getting up the hill just to let it all out going back down again and sure enough once the horn went for the start I was off down that hill in a shot just like everyone else.

I controlled the enthusiasm though I’ve had these quick starts before and it never works out in the long run. Down through Portlaw was fun and really only mile 3 caught me out a little.

Hitting the 4 mile marker was funny as someone called for the time I yelled 26 mins and it reminded me that I was on track for my goal time so I went for it hell for leather in the last mile. That was fun as I left 4 people behind although they nearly all caught me on the line was maybe I went too early again!

All was well at the end and I grabbed a time of 32:42 which was 1:16 quicker than I did l last year. Now I was super happy with that result.

Bluewall Waterford to Tramore 7.5 mile

May 3rd, 2014

What a challenge, a run from Waterford to Tramore I just couldn’t pass off this opportunity to participate in such a long standing famous run in Waterford.

This was a wet and windy day and certainty made the warm up session an important part of the race preparation. The Bolton Street car park was the perfect spot for such a warm up and I wasn’t the only one thinking along those lines as the car park was packed of runners in their pre-race routine.

In fact I may overdone my time in the warm up area as I made my way to the start line on The Mall I was way back amongst the large crowd and it was tough going under starters orders as it was hard to gain a full race stride at the start.

2 miles into the run and the pace had settled down and I was in a good group of runners some of whom I recognised from previous runs so I knew I was on track.

What surprised me most about the run out to Tramore was the up hill nature of the road I felt as though I was running up hills the whole time (which I hate). I pushed hard at the 5 mile mark but on reflection it was too early because the crew I was with caught and passed me too easily at the 6.5 mile mark and it wasn’t until I got into the last 0.5 mile that some streng came back for the finish line.

In fact I was finishing even stronger when I heard Jonathan Brazil give a huge roar of encouragement near the end of the run.

In the last stretch and hurting

I had set a goal of 7 minute miles and I caught a time of 50:53 for the 7.5 miles which was 1 minute & 37 secs inside my goal time of 52:30 mins. I was hugely proud of achieving that goal.