10 Things I Think About The Achill 10k

1. Anterior Calcaneal Bone Stress

I think that I have been very lucky over the years to get to run the Achill Half Marathon. Unfortunately this year in April I was struck down with a stupidity induced anterior calcaneal bone stress injury. Without an MRI I would have thought it was plantar fasciitis not that it particularly mattered what it was.

2. 6 to 8 weeks

I think that I was lucky that my heel injury only took 6 weeks to heal. It gave me a chance to salvage a race from the trip to Achill. Although having spent the weekend in Achill last year sans race participation it’s not that much of a punishment not to run when you can stay in the nice B&B on the beach and not be exhausted from running around the island.

3. Change Down

I think that it was great to be able to change down to the 10k. I definitely wasn’t ready for a half marathon but after two or three weeks of running without issue I was confident I could do a decent 10k and test out how well Zwift had worked at maintaining my running ability if it can be classified as ability. Changing distance was no problem, I went up to the tent in the field where the numbers were to be collected on the Friday evening, they clicked a few buttons on the Popupraces app and away I went with my 10K number. Very efficient.

4. Vaporfly 4 Curse

I think that when returning from injury it is very important to choose the right shoe. I decided to give the Pumas a rest as I had attributed some of the blame for my stupidity induced injury to them. Instead I chose to wear the Nike Vaporfly 4s which had laid idle for the last year as I had blamed them for my last terrible career threatening injury. In truth it is never the shoe that causes the injury, it’s always the stupidity.

5. Wet Day Big Crowd

I think that it was nice to experience the last wet and cloudy day in Ireland. The morning of the race was a typical west of Ireland scene. Rain, wind and grey, almost dark even at 10am. It was still beautiful even if you couldn’t really see the sea. As always there was a huge crowd, even the 10k was massive. I thought about stats and how unlikely it was that I was the fastest 10k runner in this sample size of runners.

6. Follow the Chinese EV

I think that when you have been injured for a while and are back for your first race it is very important to bluff the first mile. Just run as hard as you can and see if anyone comes after you. Luckily for me in Achill I had a nice Chinese EV to follow and no one came with me. I was amazed so I carried on bluffing and hoped for the best.

7. 325

I think that it was very nice to see 3:25 show up on the watch for the first kilometre. I hadn’t really done any hard running since the injury so wasn’t sure how fast I could run. I managed another similar kilometre before the lack of running started to tell and I could feel myself start to slow. Although I was running uphill in the wind and rain so it was hard to know whether it was lack of fitness or the weather.

8. 1730

I think that I was very happy to see 17:30 on the watch as I passed the 5k mark just before the course links back up with the end of the half marathon. The 10k route is basically the half marathon route cut in half and leaving out most of the long hills. It’s still hilly but it’s nowhere near as hard. The first 5k had been relatively easy as we had basically been blown away from Keel by the incredibly strong wind off the beach.

9. Last 5k of the Half

I think that it was nice to have the half marathon runners to chase for the last 5k. They had stated 45 minutes before the 10k so we were only catching the front of the field. I only passed one runner as the weather was particularly bad and I wasn’t exactly hopping off the road. I never looked behind because you aren’t allowed to do that in a race. I can never tell the difference between the wind blowing my number against my singlet and the sound of someone running behind me so I pretended there was somone right behind me the whole way to the finish.

10. Pop up Pups

I think that it was great to be recognised by Popupraces as a running celebrity/influencer after winning the 10k. I have worked very hard to attain this status and it is nice to be recognised. I was however even happier than my heel survived the 10k and that the Vaporfly 4s had been absolved of any blame for injuries. The 10k is every bit as good as the half marathon in Achill, although hopefully next year I will be injury free and back for the half marathon and if not I’ll be there anyway to stay in the nice Stella Maris B&B.