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 role, 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.

10 Things I Think About The Glengarriff 5 Mile 2025

1. Jean-Marc Bosman

I think that it is terrible to transfer clubs. I should probably have stayed with Leevale forever. It would be a lot easier. Leevale is a great club with great athletes and even greater coaches but unfortunately I live in Glanmire which is too far from the city to get to Leevale training especially when you have a desperate fear and hatred of traffic like I do. The other problem with changing clubs is that unlike in the soccer where you can play immediately for your new club in athletics you have to serve a one-month period of club purgatory so this was my first race in purgatory sans club.

2. 4.30pm

I think that 4.30pm on a Saturday is a great time for a race. I’m a very tired, sleepy and lazy moderately old man so the later I can get up the better. 4.30pm means you don’t have to set an alarm even when the race is 90 minutes away in Glengarriff. I got up at 11, had some toast and coffee, did some foam rolling, almost like a professional.

3. Wet Saturday in September

I think that it is always dangerous doing a race in West Cork. It is a place with very bad weather, normally Mark Gallagher uses his weather machine and the sun is shining but every so often we get the proper weather that fits the surroundings and scenery. Saturday was proper West Cork weather, proper wet, proper windy too, perfect cross country weather.

4. Uphill Start

I think that an uphill start poses an unusual challenge. Because of the career threatening injury that I suffered in the Midleton 5 mile I am very race rusty. The Glengarriff route starts outside the church at the bottom of the hill. I know from experience that the worst thing you can do with an uphill start is to sprint up the hill so when we got under way in the pouring wind and rain I found myself in about tenth by the time we got to the first corner at the pub. Luckily there was a nice downhill section on the lovely footpath to make up the ground on Tommy Arthur who I presumed would provide the main opposition.

5. Racing is Hard

I think that I understand why people prefer training to racing, training is nice, you get to chose how long you run for, take nice rests so that the bar graphs look tall on Strava and you never really have to suffer. Racing is different, you don’t get to pick the pace just follow whoever is in front and however fast they are going which in this case was Tommy Arthur and Michael Dullea. I would have chosen a slower pace, especially up the hill to the entrance to the forest.

6. Forest Running

I think that the forest in Glengarriff is as close to an indoor athletics arena that we will get to in Cork. On a wet and windy day there was no better place to have a race. Just like on an indoor track it was very difficult to pass on the narrow forest paths, well that was what I was telling myself as I was stuck in third place after three miles struggling to keep up with Tommy and Michael.

7. Blue Flag

I think that Tommy Arthur must have thought he was in a Formula 1 race as he kindly waved me through like there was a steward at the side of the path waving a blue flag. Perhaps he thought that I might try a mad lunge up the inside of Michael resulting in a collision with Tommy taking advantage and winning. I was happy enough to try and follow Michael knowing that the last mile of the race was downhill on the road about the only thing that I am anyway good at.

8. Are You John Meade in Disguise?

I think that it always surprises me that John Meade doesn’t do the races in Beara, instead he heads to Dingle where he habitually wins the half marathon routinely. After about a mile of following and studying the powerful running form of Michael Dullea I became concerned that it actually was John Meade after using one of those Mission Impossible face mask swapping machines. He was even wearing the same Edge Sports singlet that John Meade wears. Michael/John was very difficult to keep up with in the forest, with a powerful dynamic stride that makes you think I can’t possibly keep up with this level of intensity.

9. Open Road

I think that while it is the athlete’s responsibility to know the course in case you go wrong it is also very advantageous to know the course so that you can run to your strengths. I knew that the last mile of the course was downhill on the road with only the last little steep climb to the finish. Once we got out onto the road I thought about the drills that Michael Herlihy taught me on the track in Font Romeu and slowly but surely reeled in Michael/John before passing him as we went over a speedbump.

10. Skedaddle

I think that my running drills must be working as I was able to hold off Michael on the uphill finish. Once across the line I was half shocked that he didn’t reveal himself to be actually John Meade but it appears that he actually was Michael Dullea. We took photos in the rain and wind before very kindly and in consideration of the weather Mark handed out the prizes which facilitated a quick warm down to the car and return to Glanmire without getting colder or wetter. The good news is that it couldn’t possibly rain any more for the remaining three races in the series which is just as well as this is the only indoor/forest race in the series.