10 Things I Think About Running

1. Favourite

I think that the Eyeries 5 mile route might be my favourite 5 mile race. If it wasn’t for geography I’m sure that the race would be one of those races that sells out 10 months before the race is even on. It has everything, wild scenery, beautiful colourful buildings, hilly challenging course and great prizes.

2. Red Hyundai

I think that renting a car for weekends where you need to drive to Eyeries on a Saturday and Dublin on a Sunday is a great idea. Rental cars are very cheap in November, they are basically giving them away, €36 for a Hyundai Tuscon which is far more suitable for tall people than a VW Scirocco is a good deal. The heated seats were nearly worth the €36 alone.

3. Orange Puma Club

I think that it is terrible that Mark Walsh has the Pumas already, I was hoping that news of the benefits of the Pumas would spread a little more slowly. Unfortunately for me he rocked up in Eyeries with a new pair of Orange Puma Fast R3s that matched his Leevale singlet perfectly. On the other end of the shoe spectrum last years winner John Lenehan turned up in a pair of Alphafly 1s which are approaching 6 years of age.

4. The Race Will Be Televised

I think that it was great to have the camera crew back this year. It was the same setup as back in 2022 when my victory over Anthony Mannix got full extensive high-quality coverage on YouTube. The only problem was that I had to try and keep up with Mark and John to feature on this years video which would prove very difficult.

5. Let The Hills Begin

I think that if it wasn’t for the camera crew in the back of the lorry I probably wouldn't have been as motivated to keep up with John and Mark. Once we had the steep downhill start out of the way we began the climb to the top of the course. I stuck to the back of John with Mark taking his normal approach of sitting at the back and waiting. It felt fine until about 200m from the top of the climb where the pace started to bite and sensing my weakness Mark moved by and opened a small gap with John

6. Three Minute Ks

I think that it was scary how quick John and Mark dropped me on the downhill. I wasn’t worried when the small gap opened on the uphill as I was confident, I would catch them on the downhill. I was very wrong, instead I looked at the watch and saw 3:00 minute kilometre pace yet Mark and John were getting further and further away so far away that I began to worry that when the camera crew came past us that I would not feature on the video at all.

7. One Battle After Another

I think that Paul Thomas Anderson must have watched the video of me tracking Anthony Mannix down on the rolling hills of Eyeries. The car chase scene in One Battle After Another is almost identical to Eyeries, the rolling hills, with the runners disappearing before appearing again as they crest the brow of each little mountain. Unfortunately this year I was not in the staring roll, instead I was looming in the background.

8. Puma vs Alphafly

I think that it was interesting to observe the battle for the win between John and Mark. It took until the second last hill just after 4 miles for John to finally crack and for the Pumas to win out over the Alphaflys. The thing about a course like Eyeries is that when you do crack you really crack as the hills are so steep. When Mark left John it looked like John had stopped running and that I would catch him, it was however an optical illusion due to the extremely steep hill and I had no hope of anything other than 3rd.

9. Spider Baby

I think that it was great to be interviewed after the race. I finished third so the film crew weren’t as interested in me as they were in Mark Walsh and Michelle Finn. In the interview I made sure and tell them that I had won the race before. I also told them that I had overhauled Bobby Tangney in the series which was my main goal for the day anyway.

10. Bate Bobby

I think that it was great to finally finish the Beara series, I had been thwarted by injury every other year, always missing one race. This year I was determined to finish it and get a trophy to match the trophy that Rhona got when she won the series in 2022. I couldn’t run Allihies and Bere Island full tilt due to cross country commitments, but I ran them hard enough to leave me in third place one minute behind Bobby Tangney heading into Eyeries. Thanks to Mark and John I got dragged around three minutes quicker than Bobby and leapfrogged from third into second place in the series which was very important. Michael Dullea was uncatchable in first.