10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Corkbeg 4 Mile 2023

1. Another Day Another Race

I think that it is interesting how amazing people find it to do two races in a row. Don’t worry I don’t think it is clever or the best way to get better at running. I just enjoy running races and it doesn’t appear to be causing any terrible injuries, yet. I did enough training during the lockdowns to know that training isn’t going to turn me into an elite athlete so I might as well just do what I enjoy while waiting for the next generation of magic shoes to arrive and improve my times.

2. November Rain

I think that it is amazing how few races are run in the rain. For all the whinging we do about the weather invariably it doesn’t rain during road races. The Thursday night of Corkbeg was a different matter, it was a terrible day, the sort of day that you start to think they might cancel the race. Then you remember that it is being organised by East Cork A.C and realise that it will be on no matter how bad it gets.

3. Efficiency

I think that Corkbeg must be the most efficient road race I have ever run. There is minimal fuss, hand over €5 get your number jog up the hill to the start, run the race, collect your prize and go home. Fantastic. Nick O’Donoghue told me at the start that it was preferable that we all left as soon as possible after the race. I am very much in favour of this style of race.

4. The Tourmalet

I think that the Corkbeg 4 mile route is unique in that the hardest part of the race route is the jog up to the start. You’d want to leave a good 10 minutes to get up to the start from the village as it is a very steep hill. I had some difficulty taking off my wet non-magic shoes so I was one of the last people to leave the village. It was only when I overtook Denis McCarthy on the jog up the mountain that I was sure that they wouldn’t start with out me.

5. Doomsday Siren

I think that this is the only race I have run where you get to hear what sounds like an air raid siren just after the start. They must test the power station alarm at 8pm every Thursday as just after we started it sounded like the world was ending. It is a particularly ominous sound. It was a little off putting as for a moment you think what would we actually do if there was an actual alarm during the race. Would we just keep on running until we got to Midleton?

6. The Coffee Trio

I think that we had a nice group of three at the front of the race. Once the doomsday siren had finished it was just myself, James McCarthy and Nathan O’Leary chasing the excellently driven and pleasantly smelling Rooskagh Coffee van around the roads of Whitegate. Our pursuit of the coffee van was aided by a warm tailwind which almost entirely negated the uphill start.

7. Break the Tape

I think that when you are in a race it is always a good idea to check the legs of your competitors for signs of weakness or KT tape. After about a mile I spotted the tape on James McCarthy’s inner hamstring, cleverly he had used skin colour tape so it was difficult to spot. As I have had ever niggle known to man I knew exactly where he was vulnerable with that particular niggle, downhills would not be James’s friend. Unfortunately for James, the Corkbeg route has lots of downhills so myself and Nate made it good and difficult for him.

8. Corners

I think that KT tape must be magic stuff as there was no shedding James on the downhills. Just before 3 miles we encountered my great weakness sharp left hand corners. I led into the corner overshot the exit and lost the ground that I would never make up. James and Nate accelerated out of the corner up the gradual incline to the next sharp right hand turn and took off down the hill to Whitegate with a gap that I couldn’t and wouldn't close.

9. Roadworks

I think that if I had of gotten to the roadworks in Whitegate in contact with James and Nate I might have finished third in a slightly faster time. Once we turned right at the roadworks we turned into a strong headwind. Nate leading James into the wind, I closed the gap slightly as Nate tried to get James to come through but as we approached Donie and Con with about 150m to go the sprint began and my involvement in the race ended. I did however get to see James dance past Nate with 50m to go to win. I ran home in third which meant a prize. I like prizes.

10. Perfection

I think that the prizes in Corkbeg are wonderful. It is a proper old style race. Once we crossed there was ample water for everyone, anyone who won a prize was instructed to return to the school to collect it immediately so everyone could go home and dry off. First prize was a suitcase which looked excellent, second was a fan which would be very handy during these climate change warmed nights and my reward for third was a kettle which we will use as a travel kettle as you can’t trust the kettles in hotels. Old style road races are best.