10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Munster Senior XC

1. Does Anyone have a Pair of Size 10 Spikes

I think that the first rule of cross country is always bring your spikes. The second rule is don’t miss the start. Barry managed to fall foul of both rules. Quite an achievement. We are definitely cursed this year.

2. Father Ted

I think going to the Munster Seniors is like going to a Father Ted version of cross country. “The medals will be presented at the horse box” was the best part. Who wouldn’t want their medals presented from a horsebox.

3. Movember

I think that Donie wasn’t exactly impressed by my Donie Walsh Movember effort. I’m quite proud of it, it’s a massive improvement on last years feeble effort. The Alpecin shampoo is magic. It’s doping for your hair.

4. Interminable Morning

I think that not having a timetable for an event is ridiculous. No one has any idea what time the race is going to start. It could be 2pm could be 3pm could be 4pm. How hard can it be to run the event to a timetable. Even a rough idea like not before 3pm. I kind of love it.

5. Conna

I think that the course in Conna is a proper cross country course. They should run the All Ireland’s on a course like Conna. It would be real cross country unlike the artificial road race on grass course in Abbottstown. There was everything in Conna, ruts, muck, hills, long grass, no grass, gaps, rock and cow dung. If it was a formula one track it would be Spa, Abbotstown is Bahrain.

6. Grizzlies

I think that the start of the Munster Senior XC is always very intimidating. It’s a distillation of all the hard crazy runners in Munster. A no nonsense bunch of real tough runners. Quite scary. John Meade wasn’t there.

7. Torque

I think the course required an engine with a lot of torque to accelerate out of the turns. I loved the twisty turny bits. There was a lovely bend down at the very bottom of the course where you started to think “If I get this wrong and I break my leg it’s going to be at least an hour before the ambulance gets down to me”.

8. Mid Race Analysis

I think that the first two laps of a cross country race are very stressful. You can only tell how well you are doing based on your opinion of the guys that are around. If you don’t know them then it’s based on appearance. I was happy out until Michael Herlihy did his usual trick after two laps. Then I was angry. Then I caught John Shine which made me happy.

9. The Hill

I think that I need to get better at running up hills. I was losing an appalling amount of ground on the one hill on the course. It was deceptively steep and definitely favoured the lighter shorter runner. Michael was even putting ground into me. It must have been all those Italian Alps at Halloween.

10. The Unwritten Rule

I think there should be an unwritten rule about passing your teammate within sight of the finish line. I passed John Shine halfway around last lap. I was very happy with myself but knew that the last hill was going to be tricky. I got to the top of the hill still in front, I even rounded the last corner ahead but then I heard the footsteps. I sprinted as hard as a could but he just got me on the line. It was horrible, at least I beat Mark Walsh badly.