I did this race a few years ago and thought hey why not try it again and I’m glad I did, a new course which was super flat and nice to run. Grabbed a time of 42.12, which has me in a good mood! Also nice event afterwards for the kids to enjoy and play around Tramore.
Blog of Random Thoughts and Pictures
Splash World 10KM
April 12th, 2015Run Mount Juliet 10km
February 14th, 2015What is it with me and hilly races. First of the year and I have to say this Mount Juliet race is a great one to start off with. There’s a steady incline for the first 1.5 kms then a down hill section and then the WALL …….. the hill that just seems to go on for ever.
Once I got over that the race was normal enough and grabbed a time of 43.17, which is another few seconds scrapped off from last year (2014 was 43.49).
Rathgormack 5 Mile Race
July 11th, 2014Okay 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.
Deadmans 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.
Bluewall Waterford to Tramore 7.5 mile
May 3rd, 2014What 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.
SplashWorld 10km
April 13th, 2014What a disastrous couple of weeks since the 1st run of the sesson in Mount Juliet. I now know I really shouldn’t have done that run, the calf injury just was too much.
Now it’s been weeks of frustration as my training plan had to go out the window. It also took weeks for my head to get around this injury so I entered this SplashWorld event with trepidation.
It’s been a few years since I did this race and I hadn’t realised that the course had changed to a more flatter one. 2 laps around the main sea front area of Tramore.
At the start I managed to get a good starting position and away we went at high speed. Although I was determined to stay on a predefined split time as I didn’t want to over do the come back race. Things were good to the half way point then the energy drained a little and the last 2 kms were tough going but end3d with a time of 41:42 which is just 8 secs from my PB and a whole 4 mins 07 secs faster than the time I did here 2 years ago.
So finally I feel back on track.
Run Mount Juliet
February 15th, 2014Back 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.
The Carers Association Clonmel 10Km
October 20th, 2013I’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.
3 Counties Challenge: Piltown 10k Race
August 2nd, 2013The 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