The Great Railway Run 25k 2022

10 Things I Think About The Great Railway Run 25k

1. Unfinished Business

I think that I had unfinished business with this race. It is the only race that I remember dropping out of. Dropping out of a race is a terrible thing to do, a terrible act with terrible consequences. Dropping out of races can become a habit, so it was important to comeback and finish this race just to prove that it wasn’t terrible mental weakness or a fear of doing the same route that I run nearly every second day in a race.

2. Where’s Jeremy

I think that Jeremy was badly missed at the start line. I don’t really know why I thought Jeremy was going to run but everyone is terrified of him after that 5k in Kilkenny. Even Alan O’Brien was looking for him, “Where’s Jeremy?”.

3. 530s 540s

I think that it is pointless asking people what they are going to run at the start of a race. Once we had established that there was no Jeremy, Lizzie predicted that the one, two, three would be Alan, me and Damian. I asked Alan what he thought 5:30s? “No, no, no if I did 5:30s I’d be in a heap”, he reminded me of Viv. Then the race started, and we went off at about 5:30s, no one came with us, no one, just me and Alan like an old Saturday training session without the usual gap between us.

4. Substantial Lead at Half Way

I think I must have annoyed Alan with my question about the 5:30s as it took about 2 miles for the 5:30s to become 5:20s and for my time as a co-leader to come to an end. As we turned the corner down the hill from Blackrock Castle the pace increased, and I was dropped, doomed to run 13 miles on my own all the way to Carrigaline watching Alan’s silhouette get smaller and smaller until it was no longer visible and his lead became what one would call substantial at half way.

5. Marathon Prep

I think that this race is perfect preparation for the Cork Marathon. The feeling of despair, awfulness and pointlessness that I felt around the back of Jacob’s Island is exactly the same feeling as I remember from the Cork Marathon, and just like at this point in the Cork Marathon there are about 13 miles to go. There must be something wrong with that land because once you get back onto the path to Harty’s Quay the awfulness goes away, just something to be aware of if you are planning on running Cork.

6. Breaking 25k

I think that the worst part of this race was the fear. I spent the whole race worrying that Damian was doing some sort of session during the race and that he would suddenly appear behind me flying. I became very worried as I passed through Passage West and saw Ken Ince and Gary Walsh standing waiting ready to hop in like the pacers Kipchoge had in Vienna. After seeing them I was certain that they were going to pace Damian perfectly and fly past me in the last mile at exactly 5:40 pace. It was great motivation to keep going. I even started to hear magic shoes behind me, although I think it was that the wind had changed direction and I was hearing my own magic shoes.

7. Compressed Marathon

I think that it was great to find out what happens if you don’t turn up the hill at Raffeen. I had never run the road from Raffeen to Shanbally before, what a road for running, wonderful hills that would been lovely to run up if it wasn’t 11 miles into a 25k race. The hills took a while to get used to after the flat along the water but once I got up the hill to Shanbally I was happy to run more hills. The profile of the 25k is very like if you took the profile of the 42k from the Cork marathon and compressed it to fit into 25k. It is perfect preparation for Cork.

8. Hyundais and Volvos

I think that drivers almost hate runners as much as they hate cyclists. I nearly got taken out in Shanbally at the little out and back section by a Hyundai Tucson being driven by a very angry man. The marshals shouted at me so I was able to avoid him, the Gardai were there watching so I hope he got many penalty points for driving on the wrong side of the road. Then up near Novartis a Volvo XC90 took a side swipe at me like you see in those cycling videos on Twitter. I should have patted the side of the car but instead I just gave an unfriendly wave. I wish I had of worn a GoPro as it would have made an excellent Twitter account.

9. Adrenaline

I think that the adrenaline from the run ins with the angry old men in people carriers was better than any Maurten gel. It is amazing what being angry can do for your ability to run moderately fast. I was nearly back to Carrigaline by the time I’d processed the anger. Then I saw the finish and forgot all about the cars and angry old men who wish that they could run and have tanned legs like me.

10. Magic Prizes

I think that the prizes for this race were incredible. It was far more money than I have ever won in a road race. Perhaps the prizes were calculated based on magic shoes as it was precisely enough money to buy one pair of magic shoes. The only other 25k race I ran was in Berlin, I came 2nd then too and got a box of Cliff bars. A pair of magic shoes is much better. You could never have enough magic shoes.

Great Ireland Run 2022

10 Things I Think About The Great Ireland Run

1. There’s a 9am in the morning now?

I think that 9am on a Saturday morning is a ludicrous time to hold a National 10k. It’s bonkers, are we turning into the US where the races are on early so people can go back to work? Is it to fill the hotels? It probably doesn’t even suit the volunteers. It would be grand if it was on in Cork or say perhaps Portlaoise, Dublin isn’t fair to anyone.

2. Once Stung, Twice Shy

I think that the first race after a race where you had an unexpected injury is always terrifying. I was pretty certain I was better as I can now do every single hamstring exercise on Instagram. Still with something like a hamstring cramp you are always afraid it will happen again as it comes from no where. Unfortunately as I have prodded and poked my hamstring everyday relentlessly for the past three weeks I seem to have irritated the nerve. Injuries breed injuries. Nerves are very annoying.

3. Weather

I think that you know you aren’t taking a race too seriously when the weather on the day of the race is a complete surprise. I really only went because I was going to get my tanned skin checked in Dublin on Saturday so I had to go to Dublin anyway. When I woke at 7am after 5 hours sleep I was delighted with the sunny cold dry wind free air, it was perfect.

4. Atmosphere

I think that race organisers who are doing atmosphere before races need to be sent on a course to the Berlin Marathon to learn what to do. What you need to do is have the dramatic do do doo music and then introduce the great runners like Mick Clohissey, have them wave and then play the Chicago Bulls walk-in tune until the start. That’s it nothing else works, no hand waving, no jumping, just that. Every race that wants atmosphere at the start should do that.

5. Handy

I think that it was an interesting experiment to see what happens when you go off handy at the start of the race. Because of my sciatic nerve self provocation I was scared of sprinting so I kind of went off reasonably handy. I know know that this is a terrible way to run a race and you should always go off as hard as you can as it is free energy at the start.

6. This is Grand

I think that if you are thinking this is grand after about 3k of a race you really aren’t up for a race. All I was thinking about was my hamstring wondering if it would act up again. It felt perfectly fine but I was thinking about it so much that I was monitoring every single muscle contraction to completion. This is not a very nice way to run, running should be free from worry about individual body parts, they should just work and allow you to concentrate on suffering.

7. Same People, Different Day

I think that it is miraculous that no matter what happens you will end up racing the same people in every race that you run. It’s almost as if running is laughing at you, pointing out the futility of training. No matter how in shape or out of shape I am I will end up racing Michael Kiely. We have taken to saluting each other when the inevitable exchange of places happens.

8. Undulations

I think that this is a great 10k course. I really like the Tour de France style hairpin climb with the nice straight finish. It’s quite a fair course in terms of elevation so the times are real. I’d like to do it without spending the entire race monitoring my hamstring. It was organised perfectly, if it was on Saturday at 6pm or Sunday at 11am there probably would have been thousands at it.

9. Exchanging of Excuses

I think that another example of the futility of running was encountering Pauric McKinney after about 6k, I have vivid memories of racing him the only time I ever ran on snow in Derry in 2010. We ran together until the finishing straight when he destroyed me. I think the result was the same in 2010. After the race we exchanged excuses, he was up at 3am to drive from Donegal, I had my hamstring and arriving in Dublin at 1am. Excuses are vital and the only one who cares about your excuse is yourself but it feels good to exchange them.

10. Post Race

I think that the post race was perfect. I got a non winners medal and two expensive protein bars which was good value for the €25 entry fee, some people took as many bars as they could hold which was clever. My hamstring was the same as before the race after the race so I did a buggy run with a bawling Billy, smiling Matthew and delighted Sinead to warm down. Hopefully that’s my annual injury out of the way now.