Blarney Half Marathon 2006

When I checked the weather forecast on Friday, it promised a very sunny Sunday and 21C temperatures. I guess everyone in Ireland was looking forward to a nice weekend. By Saturday, the meteorological services had changed their mind; Sunday would be overcast and drizzly. The whole of Ireland was gutted – except me, I was more than happy. Runners are of a different mindset than the rest of the population.

We set off at 8 o’clock in the morning, Niamh driving, me rather nervous on the passenger seat, and the kids in the back of the 7-seater. Within 10 seconds they had started a fight. It basically lasted for 2 hours, until we arrived in Blarney. It certainly served the purpose of taking my mind off the race, but, gracious me, they were relentless. I picked up my number, and Niamh set off with the kids for breakfast. She wanted to see me finishing the race, and asked when I would be there. “Start is at 11 am, I’ll finish at 12:38, I hope”. Off she went, and I got ready to race. There was one person I recognised, Derval O’Rourke. She’s from Cork, just down the road, but I doubt she was here to run the race. Her distances are 60m and 100m hurdles.

I didn’t do much of a warm-up, less than I had intended, really, and the call to the starting line came quicker than expected. I lined up somewhere in the middle. As soon as the gun went, I knew that I should have lined up a bit further ahead, because everyone around me was a good bit slower than me. I have to stop making that same mistake again and again. But it’s a small race, and within half a mile I was surrounded by runners who seemed to race at my preferred pace. I checked my time at the 1-mile mark. 7:20. “Too fast”. I actually said that out loud, because the guy running beside me gave me a funny look. I went just a tad easier until mile 2, 7:28 split. Still too fast, especially as we’ve been going uphill. Shortly afterwards I passed a runner who was breathing really hard, looked really tense and his cadence was extremely fast. “Relax!” I said. He looked at me. “Relax, you’re way too tense”. “I know, I’m going too fast”. I didn’t really have an answer to that. If he knew he was too fast, why didn’t he slow down, with 11 still miles to go? Unsurprisingly, he fell back soon afterwards. I hope he managed to finish. Mile 3, 22:10, I’m now on 7:40 pace. Well, it’s still uphill. Mile 4, 30:00 to the second, a 7:50 mile. Now I’m on 7:30 average, and slowing down, that’s not good. Then again, the course has constantly been climbing. There was no real hill, just a very gentle but noticeable and relentless climb. I can’t quite remember the next splits, but I’m definitely slowing down, the miles are closer to 8:00 pace than 7:00, even though the course seems to have levelled out, or at least the climb is less noticeable. By mile 6 we’re definitely climbing again, that’s the only real hill, but it’s a rather long climb, and we’ve already been climbing since the start. Well, I guess that means the second part of the course is downhill all the way, doesn’t it? By mile 7 we’re indeed heading down that hill again. I think about push the effort more, but it’s still 6 miles to the finish, and I don’t want to run out of steam. When I come across the 8-mile marker, one hour has passed and I’m still on 7:30 average, but I’m feeling pretty good now. From here on my cheapo HRM only shows the hour and minutes, so I can’t tell my exact splits, not that it has any influence on my running pace. I decide to finally accelerate and push past several runners. By mile 9 the time is 1:07, that’s good. By mile 10, it’s 1:13. Bloody hell, did I really just run a sub-7:00 mile? It was downhill, but I’m not even panting, though I’m pretty much at the edge. Mile 11, 1:20. Suddenly I realise that if I keep churning out 7:00 miles, I’ll finish in 1:35. That seems impossible, but I keep pushing. I forgot to mention that, but there were 3 runners early in the race that I had in my sights; a male runner in a red top, a girl in a blue one, and one fella in a fancy grey with bright yellow stripes one. They all pulled away, but for some reason they keep stuck in my mind. At mile 9, the red tank top is passed. Between mile 10 and 11 the guy in grey is caught. And what do I see there ahead of me? It’s the sky-blue yank top. One mile later and I’m past, but unfortunately now I’m out of prey. There are plenty of other runners, and I keep overtaking a few of them until the end, but not someone I recognise from earlier. Anyway, I forget to check my time at mile 12, but I’m still pushing it well. I finally give it a kick when I see the 13-mile marker ahead of me, and also start looking out for Niamh and the kids. They are nowhere to be seen, and before I really know it I’m across the line. I don’t see the official time, but my watch says 1:35, and I’m immensely pleased. I honestly thought 1:38 was ambitious, and I did not think I could run much faster than that. I won’t know the exact time until they publish the official results, but the average pace was around 7:20, which I’m more than happy with. 6 month ago that was my pace at those 4-mile tempo runs, and now I can hold it for a half marathon. Good Stuff. For the record, my average HR was 175, about 90% of my max HR.

I spot Niamh about 30 seconds after I finish the race, she’s trying to get to the finishing line. I call over and she’s a) very surprised to see me 3 minutes before I told her I’d finish the race if all goes well, and b) disappointed that she missed me. But it won’t be my last race, and she accepts that she’s got plenty more chances to see me.

We spend the rest of the afternoon looking around the rather famous Blarney Castle, which goes down very well with the kids, and which is a good cool-down for me. After a few hours of that, we head back home, mission accomplished.

There’s one more funny detail to bore you with. I don’t run with an mp3 player any more, but I always have a tune stuck in my head (Postman Pat, if I’m unlucky). Well, today at first I didn’t even recognise the one going round and round. Eventually it struck me, it’s Anyone But Me, from that guy. I knew he’s an inspirational runner, but I had no idea he’s now even providing the background to my best race so far. I’m not making this up. Honestly.

Weekly mileage: ~68 miles

9 Sep: 5 miles, 44:45, 8:57 pace
10 Sep: 14-15 miles, 13.1 mile race at 1:35:40, 7:18 pace. Yes!

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Update: That was quick, official results are here. I finished in 1:35:40, 139 out of 446.