Adidas 10 Mile Race

Sometimes I wonder am I totally mad. These thoughts usually occur to me while running along some rutted, pot-holed country bohereen in torrential rain or while cycling into a headwind up a mountain, all the while dribbling snot and wondering if I’ll ever get the feeling back into my hands and feet. Then along comes a day like Saturday with the Adidas 10 mile run in the Phoenix Park.
I realise that I may be mad but so are at least 6000 other souls.
This run was the first one that I had an exact time target for – right down to the second - based on the McMillan running calculator.
So while stand in the crowd at the start I set my watch for 4 seconds per mile below my target, as little as 4 seconds per mile is, it gave me a physiological comfort zone. Just to demonstrate how thick I can sometimes be, it took me until into the third mile to realise that over 10 mile that would equate to a full 40 seconds.. Duh !!

There wasn’t the usual melee at the start and I found myself nearly 15 seconds ahead of target at the mile marker. I passed this point with my friend Kevin Birchall and fully expected not to see him again until after the finish (I did mention in a previous post that he is genetically enhanced)
At the 2 mile mark my time had pushed out to 20 seconds but I knew there were hills coming.

The weather on the day was probably a typical mix for an Irish summer. The heavy rain stopped just before the start of the race and was followed by some sunshine. At some point during the run I noticed drizzle but I'm not sure when it started or stopped. There was also one downpour, people were commenting on it afterwards but in truth I hardly noticed it. What I did notice was the sunshine, especially towards the end, I felt extremely warm and momentarily considered taking off my T shirt. For the sake of everybody in sight of me I'm glad I didn't.

By the half way point I was 5 seconds behind time and I was worried that because I had lost so much time on the hills on the first lap that the wheels would come off on the second lap.
In the next 2 miles I picked up 16 seconds that was enough to make me feel like I could finish on target, barring a total collapse.

I would like to mention the young lady in tight black shorts who seemed to be running at the perfect pace for me, I followed her for about 3 miles and if I started to drift I would close the gap to her again. She slowed on the Magazine hill and I passed her I then followed a guy in an orange t shirt. He was at the right pace but his arse wasn’t as nice.

The last 2 miles, as expected, were something of a struggle. I may have been able to shave another few seconds if I tried to get passed the groups on the narrow footpath towards the finish but it didn’t seem worth the effort.

I’m very pleased with the day. I finished under target and thoroughly enjoyed myself, well except for the pain and the rain and the hills, other than that I enjoyed myself !!!!!!!!!!