Okay I was warned that this would be hilly …. but boy was that race hilly. Enjoyable though and in a time of 33:54 I’m pretty happy with that.
Blog of Random Thoughts and Pictures
Rathgormack 5 Mile Race
July 11th, 2014Deadmans 5 Mile
June 6th, 2014Carrick, Deadman …. hills ahhh I was just not feeling right for this one, dare I say had a slight injury …. excuses anyway in a time of 33:24, which should have been better.
Tom Jordan 5 Miles
May 9th, 2014The 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.
3 Counties Challenge: Carrick ‘Deadmans’ 5 Mile Race
June 7th, 2013This run was close to home, in Carrick-on-Suir and the middle race of a 5 run series organised by the Carrick Roadrunners.
Twas a hot and humid night in Carrick, so I was juicing up however I definitely did the wrong thing by have some peanuts some hour or so before the race, but more than that a little later !
The start of the race was by the tutor castle in Carrk and I must admit I’ve seen the signs, passed the town a million times however I had never ventured up the small street to see the house nor castle so it was great to final set eyes on it.
The start was bunched but I tried my utmost to stay calm and take it easy through the first mile. This first mile took us up through the main street of Carrick which was great fun, and I’m glad I took it easy as the first hill we hit was at least one of the Deadmen, the title of the race was referring to.
That first hill was long but I felt good going up through that first 2 miles, however at this point I hit another steeper hill and for sure this caught me, the wheels were a turning but the rubber wasn’t really hitting the road, and I was at a snails pace. Then to top it off those damn peanuts started to dry out my mouth terribly , it just went barren and not a drink of water in sight, I was rightly of course by this stage.
I think it was the three mile mark that we hit a water station, and not longer we started to hit the down hill section. More wows as my technique was slightly off and didn’t get the power in, I was feeling a bit frustrated at this stage.
A few people passed and I couldn’t keep up but as I reached the line I heard a few words of encouragemnet to get me across the line, Niall an ex-colleague from the TSSG was there cheering on with family and when they spotted by I got a great cheer.
I crossed the line and off the stopwatch (I had lost my running watch) I caught a time of 0:34:04 and the official timer [pdf] had me at 0:35:08.
Number 306 heading for the line
I cleared the finish line feeling a little disappointed but then in talking to others they made it clear that the heat and those Deadman hills had slowed up most people on the run, so maybe not so bad after all.
3 Counties Challenge: Tom Jordan 5 Mile Race in Portlaw
May 10th, 2013The Portlaw to Kilmedan road is one I travel a lot as it’s the main part of my journey to work every morning so getting to run on this road was a small treat I was looking forward to.
So it’s race 2 of the 3 Counties Challenge summer series 2013, a series of 5 races organised by the Carrick Roadrunners.
For this run I’m finding it hard to get the miles right in my head, it’s so strange I have kilometres ingrained in my brain, but thinking of a run in miles is just off putting.
There were loads of people under starts orders and even with the wide roads of Portlaw, it was pretty packed for the first “mile”. Again and again I just seem to rush things I caught a glimpse of 5:55 off the watch at the 1st mile marker, which by quickly calculations was just way too fast for a first mile, in in the scheme of my target time. The next mile wasn’t too bad either, but then, just then the quick start caught up with me and from the 2.5 mile point I say until mile 4 I found it tough going.
However the final mile run into Portlaw was great, I recognised the scenery (and it was more down hill), which placed me a in comfort zone I managed a good run to the line.
Number 377 heading for the line
Off the watch I caught a time of 33.57 and from the results sheet I had a gun time of 33:58. Finishing 91st out of 245 runners.
Happy to see the finish line
I was really happy with this, the goal time was 34:00, I was right on track with 33:58, even though I was a bit off cue at the start, and as the photo shows just a few steps ahead of a number of runners.