10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Defense Forces Cork BHAA 5K 2025

1. God Bless The Influencers

I think that when you are an Elite Level Local Cork BHAA runner the best way of maximising your chances of winning a race is to pick the right races. The months of May and October are peak months for marathons. Tadhg O’Sullivan Cork’s number one running influencer, will have most of the local runners of Cork out doing 40k runs on a Sunday so the potential field for a Sunday race will be much reduced. All that leaves is John Meade who is easily distracted by some still weather and the opportunity to climb mountains in Kerry.

2. Tramore Treeless Park

I think that if I ever get into power the first thing I will do is plant a million trees in Tramore Valley park. It is not the worst running loop but the lack of trees just makes it feel wrong. The smooth Formula 1 track like tarmac surface should be the most fabulous place for running but the lack of trees just makes it inhospitable and confusingly not a particularly pleasant place to run.

3. October Weather

I think that October weather is great, it is either lovely still and calm with weird foggy clouds or pouring with ridiculous amounts of rain that makes cross country great. Normally what happens in October is the first two weeks are dry still and calm, the third week is a crazy flood, and the fourth week is cold and windy and wintery. This year seems no different, so we were blessed with a calm cloudy day perfect to send John Meade off to Kerry and me to Tramore Valley park to try and win a BHAA race for the second or third or fourth time ever.

4. Great Things From Herzogenaurach

I think that the main reason I wanted to do the race was to try out my new magic shoes the Puma Fast R3s. Since my terrible career threatening injury that kept me out for 11 weeks, I had not really been able to test them out. A 5k in Tramore Valley Park seemed like the perfect opportunity to see if they would do any damage to my calves like some people have been complaining of.

5. Denis Hegarty Style

I think that it is very important to respect the opposition on the start line. I was delighted to that Tadhg had influenced most of my usual rivals into battering themselves for 40k in preparation for a marathon abroad where it will probably and hopefully be too hot for running. Still nowadays as running has become more popular and me more older, I must be aware of unknown young fellas who could just appear from no where and run 15 minutes for 5k. To account for this, I took the race out as fast as I could and didn’t look back like how Denis Hegarty wins the BHAA races.

6. It’s 2019 Again

I think that the Pumas might be like being back in 2019 again when the Vaporflys came out. They are the closest thing to the magic that the Vapoflys brought. They pop off the ground and like the Vaporflys, make you run with what feels like good running form. I haven’t felt this good since the first time I ran in the pink Vaporfly Next%. Perhaps I should do what the early adopters of the Vaporflys did in 2019 and say nothing and claim that the improvement is actually down to my own greatness.

7. SPR

I think that when running around Tramore Valley Park it is very important to run the shortest possible route so that you spend as little time as possible running around the lunar tarmac landscape. It is always unnerving in a race when you can’t hear anyone behind you after a kilometer. My great fear in races like this is that I am being tricked, John Meade would be the chief suspect, that he is going to start way back and let me dream that I am going to win before effortlessly passing me with 50m to go making me look like the useless article that I am. These are in fact positive thoughts however as I use them to motivate myself. The only way of fighting such a scenario is to run as fast as I possibly can which is what I do.

8. Teddy Guantanamo Bay

I think that the course in Tramore Valley Park is deceptively hard. The most awful part of the course is the hill by the teddy bear Guantanamo Bay where the teddies are imprisoned and pinned to the fence. This sort of hill is a Barry Twohig or John Meade hill, a hill that requires power, power that I cannot generate well. It costs me a lot of time and then you have to do it twice to make it worse.

9. Great Solo PB By Me

I think that it was a pity that I didn’t get to break the 16-minute barrier. I was just over it which is still a solo 5k P.B for me. I am normally about 30 seconds slower over 5k when running on my own so it must mean that the Pumas are the game changers that they feel like they are.

10. Club Record

I think that it is great to be the current Glanmire A.C club record holder over the half marathon and 5k distance. This is one of the hidden benefits of starting with a new club. In addition to the club record I also got to go and collect my BHAA prize which was handed over in an envelope. I won my first BHAA road race on a beach in Youghal 15 years ago so it was nice to win another one as a moderately old man. Only a few more to catch the unofficial all-time record holder John Meade.