Not Very Adventurous

I was not going to post another picture from Cork, but the pacers one is great and I had to put it in! And while I was at it, I thought I might as well put the one from the finish up as well. It looks like I've just had a very nice, enjoyable jog.



Last year I got a phone call from Kathryn a day or 2 after the Cork marathon asking me to run the road section of their relay team in the Dingle Adventure Race because their original runner had to withdraw due to a dodgy knee. After a bit of hesitation I agreed, even though the timing wasn't great, 5 days after a marathon. This year Liz, one of the team members, took the whole thing to a new level entirely and rounded up at least 20 people to do the event, with 2 of them (Kathryn and Ed) doing the entire race and the rest in several relay teams. Unsurprisingly, I got the road section again. And once more, the race was a mere 5 days after the Cork marathon.

Being part of a relay team means spending several hours standing around, waiting for your turn to start. This was especially hard early on when we were gathered at the base of Mount Brandon in the freezing rain without a shelter nearby. Luckily the weather improved eventually but not my mood when it became clear that there was a certain mismatch in our team. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great when someone finally gets his backside out of the door to get some exercise, but in all honesty I'd prefer for that to happen at a different time than the one when I'm freezing my bits off at the mountainside in the Kerry rain. Most of the field had long passed by when I finally got going.

The first mile is steep downhill with 350 feet of elevation drop, which is decidedly sub-optimal when you've got a) sore quads from a marathon b) a dodgy knee and c) both, but after waiting around for hours I hammered it pretty hard to work off the frustration and ended up with an opening mile of 5:22. The second mile is uphill with a gain of 150 feet and I ended up paying for the fast start, and the next 4 miles gradually drop another 350 feet, and yes, I kept paying for the first mile, in addition to the already leaden legs from the marathon. Having said that, since most runners had just cycled across Connor Pass and hiked/run across Mount Brandon, I picked up runner after runner in quick succession. Kathryn and Ed took well over an hour for that section, and they were not moving any slower than the guys and gals around them, so I took about 25 minutes off most of the other athletes out there. It left me embarrassed to be skipping past people who had been out for 3 hours already at that stage, and I just ended up wishing most of them good luck, but not everyone appreciated being left in the dust like that by a relay runner with fresh legs.

Kathryn ended up somewhere around 6th of the ladies - respect, what a fantastic result!

After my 10k run I passed the timing chip on to our Kayak man, Noddy, and since there was another 1k left at the end of the kayak leg I took it off him again after his paddle and ran the last k pretty hard to the finish. Apparently Noddy had expected to run this section, but because I was the runner on our team I had not even considered the possibility that he had wanted to finish it off himself, and he may have been a bit annoyed. Sorry man, no offence intended.

Anyway, as I told Liz, this was my last year of doing this as part of a relay. Next year it's all or nothing. If it's 5 days after Cork yet again in 2012 I may well end up with nothing because I'm pretty sure I'll get roped into pacing Cork again, but if the dates change I'll do the entire race. I have no intentions of feeling guilty for every man and woman I pass on the road ever again.

As I'm sure you are aware, running hard down a mountain is not the ideal way to recover your post-marathon legs and I'm a bit sore again today. The good news, however, is that there is not a twinge from my knee. I think I'm finally over this.

Finally, and on a complete different note, massive congratulations go out to Gerry Duffy who is right now in the middle of doing his 10th Ironman in 10 days. Gerry was one of the 32-marathons guys last year, and is an all-round top bloke. Please go over and sponsor his absolutely mind-boggling achievement with a couple of quid. You owe it to yourself.

10 Jun

5 miles, 38:48, 7:45 pace, HR 149

11 Jun

8 miles at the DAR, including:
   6.26 miles, 39:35, 6:18 pace, HR 176 (max 186)
   0.69 miles, 4:08, 5:59 pace, HR 169 (max 186)

12 Jun

5 miles, 39:33, 7:54 pace, HR 146