10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Mallow 10 Mile

1. Mallow Castle

I think that it is amazing that I never knew that there was such a beautiful castle in Mallow. It is like that it was designed with the sole intention of hosting a road race. It is perfect, the two mile warm up loop along by the river couldn’t be any better.

2. Is it cruel or kind not to speak my mind?

I think that the amount of lies and false truths uttered before a road race is incredible. Every single person I met spun me some nonsense about taking it handy. Why? It makes no sense. It must be nerves or lack of confidence. It’s infuriating. I was so fed up of listening to nonsense that I stopped talking to people. In future I will remain silent rather than fill my brain with lies.

3. Masterplan

I think that my plan for today was terrible. I thought it was very clever, I looked on my windy app and saw that the wind would be favorable for the first seven miles. My cunning plan was to go out hard use the wind on my large back and get away from Viv and his hiding from the wind nonsense. I was hoping that by the time we would get to the headwind part on the way back to Mallow that I would be so far ahead that he wouldn’t be able to catch me. It was a very bad plan.

4. Quit While You’re Ahead

I think that I probably should have gone right at the roundabout and gone back to the car. Unfortunately, I have a terrible affliction that means that I forget the things that I learn about running. I learned a long time ago that running lots of races close together is not the cleverest thing even if it is great fun. As we ran down the hill towards the N20 roundabout I was in a nice group with Derek Griffin and John Kinsella. Then I started to feel my old familiar Next% hamstring niggle. As I switched focus from John Kinsella’s trail running scars to my own niggle suddenly I found myself falling further and further away from them. I knew it probably wasn’t going to get very bad as I’ve had the same niggle before. In hindsight I should have gone right and gone home and saved it for another day.

5. Rolling

I think that I forgot how rolling the Mallow course is. It is particularly rolling, there are no real hills just lots and lots of these little annoying hills that are desperate when you have a niggly hamstring. It’s hard to get a rhythm going. My only memory from the last time I ran it about 10 years ago was someone standing at 9 miles seeing that I was struggling to break 60 saying “that’s desperate, you’re better than that”.

6. Choice Words

I think that my hamstring niggle made me exceptionally cranky. As we approached the horse racing track I heard the sound of many Next%s and one Asics Metaspeed Edge approaching. When I turned my head right I saw Alan with Viv attached to his back. I don’t think I have ever been so disgusted to see anyone in my entire life. I made this fact known to Viv.

7. The Eagles

I think that it was almost personal how Alan and his shadow Viv dropped me. Combined with a niggly hamstring it was physically and mentally painful to watch them disappear up the road. I was left with Michelle Finn for company. I felt bad because I had earlier told Michelle that I had planned to do the same time as I did in Dungarvan which she thought was too quick. She was better off anyway with the annoyingly perfect pacing of Alan and Viv.

8. Diamond League

I think that it was a shame that I couldn’t help Michelle more in the race. Because of my niggle I could do nothing except try and hang on and try not to annoy my hamstring. I sat behind Michelle from mile 7 until mile 9, it was nice to get the Diamond League pacing experience.

9. Cramp

I think that the last mile of this race was one of the most terrible miles I have ever run. I was happy enough running along with Michelle, I even tried to help out for a bit. Then as we got to the section of road just before the finish where the road turned into a bumpy gnarly rumble strip I felt my right hamstring cramp up. It wasn’t particularly painful it just stopped functioning as a hamstring. I could see the clock up ahead taunting me almost if the time had been replaced with the words "It’s going to take you ages to get home". It took me what felt like an hour to reach the clock with my right hand attached to my hamstring not because it made it any better but so that people would feel sorry for me and perhaps understand what was going on.

10. Doesn’t Count

I think that I should get a free pass for this race. I don’t think any beatings should count as it was not a fair race. I told Damian who amazingly was the only person who passed me as I hobbled towards the line, that he couldn’t count it as a beating, he agreed. At least I have learned my lesson about doing too much again and I probably won’t forget it again for at least another year. It was a real pity as the race was so good, I would have loved to have destroyed Viv in a sprint again. Ah well, there’s always next time, hopefully.