Miguel PdL

Back to picturesque Mount Juliet, Kilkenny for the first run of the season. I’ve been looking forward to this all winter long but disappointment has struck in as I’ve picked up an injury breaking in my new runners.

I know they say break in new foot wear slowly and I thought I had. I placed at least 20km in them but on a rare fast leg of a training run just one week before this race, pop went the left calf muscle.

As I had registered for this event ages ago I was determined to do it and so had some intensive physio on coming into the event.

Now it has been constantly raining for the past few weeks and a big storm has just passed so there was also a wonder as to whether this race would be run at all. Turns out on the morning registration desk the 10km was fine but the half marathon had to be cancelled, the course was flooded.

And sure enough as I made my way down to the start line we had to walk across a section of wooden pallets over a flooded road within the Mount Juliet grounds. Those that had come for the half were super disappointed and the consolation of running the 10km didn’t appear to appease a large section of the crowd.

Finally under starters orders and who’s there on the start line only Sonia O’Sullivan, Irish European/World/Olympic medallist and it was super cool to be able to run with Sonia for 2 kms and then that dreaded hill came into sight and sure enough it defeated me. I tried I really tried but it was just so steep.

The rest of the run was normal enough and I didn’t feel the calf muscle that much and closed the event with a time of 43:49 which isn’t too shabby and 3 minutes within Sonia’s time (which I’m sure was just a training stroll for her).

When I look back at my previous run here I had a time of 43:55 so a few seconds clipped off.

I leave Mount Juliet limping and not feeling too good I hope this isn’t a bad sign for future runs.

I’ve been running this race for the past 2 years, and I find it a nice one to finish off the season with.

Given my recent injury from the last race I was unsure if I’d put in enough training for this last official run, but when morning came I felt good and the weather was fine too, so no excuses I had to be up for this run.

There was a super crowd at the start location, but I grabbed a nice spot by the timing van, which meant that people had to file back towards the back of the starting pack once everyone was called to the line. Some lady, quite possibly the Major of Clonmel said a few words at the start which for the life of me I couldn’t hear and I was near the front !!!!

Anyway under starts orders and as per usual the race started off at a great pace, but I really felt steady in the first few kilometres and in fact the incline at the Poppy Fields didn’t faze me at all, so it’s from here I knew I was up for this race.

There’s a good bit of down hill and flat from this point so kept the steady pace up, until I came to the dreaded long up hill stint on the Marlfield Road ! Once again the mental block kicked in, I must find a way around this, but my pace dropped way off on this hill. Got over the crest and it still took me a little while to truly get back on pace and then I just got it stuck in my mind that there was some one right behind me, right off my shoulder and it drove me on.

The last few km’s were great, I felt the pressure of someone behind me and I just didn’t want to be passed and so it proved to the line, the chap behind finished just 6 seconds behind.

Overall I finished in a time of 43:24, which placed me in 12th place … holy crap I’m over the moon with that result, given there were over 270 runners/joggers/walkers. The time was 2:22 quicker than last year, which again I have to say I’m really happy with.

Time to ramp down the training a little, take a break and aim for new start in December.

The summer holidays in Devon, which were great by the way, stopped me from participating in the Rathgormack 5 Mile Race mid July, but I kept up the training runs over the break and I was back and ready for the 5th and final run of the summer series organised by the Carrick Roadrunners.

This race was hyper-local given that it was in Piltown and even part of the course was on a regular training route of mine so I was excited and determined about running this race. More so determined as I bombed at this race last year and wanted to make up for that.

On picking up my number at the registration desk I was greeted with a pleasent surprise as I was presented with a money off voucher for Outfield Sports (Carrick-on-Suir) given that I was about to complete 4 runs out of the 5 run series.

I tucked that voucher away and made for the start line in Kildalton College, the number of participants seemed smaller but overall the start line was still crowded. On the off I was sure not to kill myself in the first part around the grounds of Kildalton, this is something I didn’t watch out for the year previous. Also I took note that the course was measured in miles so I have a better set of figures in my head now when it comes to my race pace in miles.

I broke the first hill nicely and was well into my run by mile 3 and then we hit the Bog Road, my training patch. I needed a good strong pace on this stretch and found it. I was feeling good, really good and was well on my way to the finish line. Then in the final 500m there was a little hiccup a stumble and then I hear in the crowd, “Come on Miguel you’re nearly there”. A supporter, it was brillant, just what I needed to get that head up again and burst for the actual line.

Once the race clock came into sight it was fantastic, just to see I was right on track for what I wanted to achieve and I stopped it at 42:21.

Number 662 making for the finish line

This was a personnel best for 10km which I must say I am delighted with, makes me feel all the training runs over the summer break were worth it. It seems the camera man at the finish line caught that feeling just right too.

Number 662 happy out with the final result