Mid week 6 miler

No excuse for missing my run on Tuesday (yesterday), well I do have an excuse but it's too pathetic to mention here. Tonight was the 5 mile run I should have done with a little more to make up. All went well, a little over 10 minute miles. I'm looking forward to building up to the 20 miler in a next couple of weeks.

18 miles is a very long way to go...

This was the first of my really long runs before we taper off. I ran it on my own and it went surprisingly well considering I haven't been sticking to the schedule. The planned route was 2 loops of the familiar 7.5 mile Curragh long route and I'd make up the 3 miles somewhere at the end.

The first loop went really well. I brought my iPod with me, it was the first time I had used it outside (i.e. not in the gym) for many, many months and it really helped. The second loop went really well too although I had to skip past a few songs that didn't fit... namely the brilliant but depressing "Every Body Hurts" (REM), the stop - start - stop "Quite" (Bjork) and the "not for a man to run to" for all kinds of reasons "Dancing Queen" (ABBA).

At 15 miles I was back a the car and had 3 miles to go. For some reason I miscalculated the distance it would take cover 3 miles... one would think it should be 3 miles or twice 1.5 miles but I returned to the car with another 2 miles to run... so off I went again, this time getting it right and got back to the car with zero mile to go! 18 miles in the bag, I'm so glad to have done it, only a massive 20 miler to do now!!!

Mid morning 4 miler

I was expecting delivery of my hire car this morning and I had about an hour to kill before delivery, perfect for a quick 4 miler. And quick it was with an average pace of 8.49. I got back just in time for the delivery guys and with no time to change I wasn't a pretty sight. I'm not sure if they were expecting to hand over the keys to a barefoot, scantly clad, sweating client... but I'm sure they've seen a lot worse in their line of work!

Bullets Under Foot

Not unlike all our long runs to date this one was difficult. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and it was dead calm, hardly ideal for a long 12 mile run and such was our negative mental state that, just to make the worst out of a bad situation, we duly took that rather large chip and swung it over our shoulders before we started to run.

It wasn't that bad. Although we didn't really want to run at all that day and the thought of stretching out on a comfy bench while 2 creamy pints of Guinness were delivered to our corner of the beer garden were very vivid and very distracting, once we got going and into a rhythm we began to enjoy it.

Our route took us on a large 7.5 mile loop around the parameter of the Curragh, along some quite country lanes, across beautiful countryside, back into the Curragh camp and out the other side back towards the car. We had another 4.5 miles to run so to make that up we took in the large field that ran along the M7. Half was around this final loop I started to get really tired and slowly dropped behind, my legs were getting heavier and heavier with every step. Before I knew it I was so far behind I was just out of shouting distance, I kept my head down and focused on moving those tired legs.

Just then something sparkled in the grass and caught my eye. My concentration was focused on running I kept plodding along but my legendary concentration skills let me down yet again and I had to turn back to have a look. It turned out to be a shiny new bullet, my guess was that some private with concentration skills no better than mine had dropped it while on a training exercise last night. So I did what any idiot would do and picked it up to bring it to the MP's when I finished my run. A few steps later I decided that was a retarded thing to do and as I looked for a safe place to drop the bullet, somewhere findable again, I noticed a batch of other bullets. That'll do I thought to myself. There must have been 20 or so rounds lying there. A closer look revealed that although they were unfired they were blanks so I was not uncomfortable leaving them there until I finished my run.

After an agonising 2 more miles I finally reached the end of the run just before I reached the end of my teather. After a long stretch we circled back to report the bundle brass. It's a little worrying that we're having such trouble with a fairly trivial 12 mile run, and with the marathon about 6 weeks away we really need to fix this or it may be a marathon of comedy moments...

Horses for courses...

Tonight, according to the schedule, I had to run 8 miles. This distance from my house to the Curragh and back is 6 miles, critically it had street lights all the way, useful when you're running in the dark! By the time I got to the Curragh it was still bright, but only just. I had to find an extra 2 miles to make up 8. It looked like the street lights carried on up to the race course so I followed the light.

As I passed through the gate to the race course I wandered onto the course itself hoping to find some grass to run on. As luck would have it I happened upon two fenced sand covered tracks that ran parallel to each other, they must be used as a training run for the horses before races. The surface was raked and bouncy, just perfect for running.

It was going really well until about half way in the sun disappeared, I didn't notice it slipping behind the horizon, it just dropped! At that moment I realised I couldn't see a thing other than the white fences guiding me along. It was a little scary, there could be anything out here, I could be mugged by a gang of delinquent foals around the next corner.

I had to decide if should keep going into the unknown or do the sensible thing and turn back along the path I knew? Of course I kept going, running into the darkness I was convinced that these two tracks were in fact one long track and that met in the middle... they didn't.

At the end of the first track it took a little blind cross country to get to the other track. I found the white railings of the second track and continued the run back towards the light.

That extra round trip was a little over 3 miles and combined with the run home I notched up 9 miles, a little more than planned but then a lot of tonight was unexpected...

Wednesday's excuse is just no use...

After such a good start to the week I was just too tired this morning and missed my 8 miler. I had every intention of running that evening but it just didn't work out. Looks like I'm going to be out of sync by a day, I can see a pattern here...

Tuesday's run before the sun...

Another mega early start just before dawn, ran 4.02 miles in 36 minutes, that's a pretty good pace of 8:54!

16 miles to hell... and back...

It was a bad start, neither one of us was in the mood to run any distance don't mind the longest run on the Cork schedule so far but we got on with it and drove to the Curragh to run the entire distance on grass.

The first 10 miles were fine but I started to get really tired from 11 miles. 12 to 13 miles were a little better but after that it was a struggle all the way to the finish. It felt like my legs had been replaced by lead weights, every stride took so much effort and I could feel my heels dragging on the ground with every step.

When we got back to the car my Garmin had registered only 15.8 miles so I insisted we carry on past the car to make up the missing distance. Passing the car was heartbreaking, it represented an end to this suffering, with soft comfy seats out of the wind and rain... OK, it wasn't actually raining but the was definitely a cloud following me around...

We ran a total of 16.01 miles in 2 hours 46 minutes, that a pretty slow pace of 10:25 which is fine for a long (slow) run.

Here's a link to the route: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/3534759.

Extra early start...

Another mega early start this morning. Ran 8.11 miles in 1 hour 21 minutes, that's a pace of 9:58!

Readjustment...

I'm a day out of sync but I did get up mega early and get out to run yesterdays 4 miles. I did it in a pretty respectable 36 minutes, a pace of 9:01.

Banking crisis me arse...

... didn't happen, the weather was terrible, you know... wind, rain, cold, outside... OK, rubbish excuse BUT I did have a revelation today which, although it doesn't make up for being a lazy git, it did make me wonder if there may be some weight in the well know phrase "money is the root of all evil". You see I picked up a rather unusual injury recently which left me with an occasional hobble. Let me explain...

About 3 weeks ago I noticed that every time I got out of a chair I felt a dull pain on my left side, in the hip department... just below the hip to be more exact... and to the rear... I guess what I'm trying to say is that I had a pain in my left arse cheek. The pain was so bad that when I tried to walk I had a limp, but only for a short while and the pain usually eased off after a minute or so. I put it down to a running injury although I couldn't figure out how I injured myself there... perhaps a stretch too far?

This went on all week and showed no sign of easing. On week two there was still no sign of improvement and I considered seeing a physio but that's just more money on an already stretched budget. I took out my wallet and apart from a bunch of receipts and coffee shop loyalty cards it was fiscally challenged BUT something did occur to me... with my wallet out of my rear pocket I felt a little more comfortable, and yes I do carry my wallet on my left side. Could this be the root of my problem?

To confirm my suspicion I began a controlled experiment; for the rest of the week I'd carry my wallet in one of my front pockets and when at my desk I'd leave it on the desk. The experiment was a success and it proved that once again money was just a pain in the arse!

2009 Great Ireland Run

This was a tough day, I had to wrap my 15 miler around the 10K race this afternoon. The race was due to start at 1.05pm and as we all know nothing starts on time in Ireland so I figured that if I parked the car near Collins Barracks Museum at 12.45pm I'd have a 2 mile run to the start line and arrive in plenty of time. When I got to the start area the race hadn't started and there were no signs of movement so I decided to make up a little more distance but running around the field between Áras an Uachtaráin and the US ambassadors residence.

Each lap of the field was a little less than 1/2 a mile and after my first lap there was still no sign of the race starting so I carried on and ran another lap. After the second lap there was still no movement so a third lap was in order. As I rounded the last corner I notice the elite women runners flying down the road, at that stage they had already ran 2 kilometers but it still looked like the main race hadn't started so to avoid being on the wrong side of the road when the race starts I decided to move over to the start line side of the road and ran loops of a small wooded area. After 2 loops I noticed that the crowd had started to shift, the race had started but I thought that it would take some time to get 11,000 runners across the start line so I ran another loop before crossing the start line myself.

As I finally ran towards the start area I was a little surprise to find it deserted, it didn't take as much time as I thought it would to shift that many people... As I ran down Chesterfield Avenue the was a sudden sense of urgency as I could see that the starting area was being dismantled. I could see that the timing mat was still in place and as I crossed the line I heard a beep that registered my start time.

It took about half a kilometer to catch up with the slowest walkers so I completely misjudged the start time, oh well! After another half a kilometer I began passing some of the slower runners and by the second kilometer I was surrounded by runners. I continued to overtake for the first half of the race. I slowed right down at the 5K water station, I had been running for 7 miles at this stage and was starting to feel dehydrated so I had to take on the entire bottle of water. However, just around the corner from the water station was a serious hill that seemed to go on forever so I clutched my unopened bottle, got my head down and ran until I reached the top of the hill before I took on water.

The remaining 3 or 4 kilometers were easy, I really needed that water. I had no idea what time I crossed the line in, I was timing the entire 15 mile run, but most important was the fact that I had covered ten miles when I did cross the line. Unfortunately it wasn't a finish line for me and after the briefest pause to remove my timing chip and pick up the all important goodie bag I was off again, this time down Chesterfield Avenue towards the city.

I ran back to the car to get rid of the goodie bag and had a little over 2 miles to run to complete the 15 miles. These last 2 miles were the most difficult, I had to fight hard to keep going as I ran through unfamiliar back streets, lanes and alleyways to gain critical inches that would all add up to make those last 2 miles.

Finally my trusty Garmin rolled over to 15 miles, I continued on into the Museum car park and when I found a suitable place to stretch I stopped running and stopped the watch. In the end I ran 15.23 miles in 2 hours 31 minutes and those all important 27 seconds. The average pace was 9:57, just about right for a long run. In hindsight I wouldn't wrap a long run around a race again, I should have run at a steady 10 minute mile pace for the entire 15 miles but it's difficult to run a race that slowly, not to mention crossing the finish line only to carry on for another 5 miles, that was a killer.

As for the GIR bit, I ran than in 58.12.

Here's a link to the complete 15 mile route: http://connect.garmin.com/player/2977743

Week 10: 15 miler

The plan was to run 15 this morning and then run then GIR 10K tomorrow... however sanity has prevailed and I'll do it tomorrow before or after (or perhaps both) the GIR.

Week 10: Third midweek run

Still going good, ran 4.2 miles this morning in 44 minutes.

Week 10: Second midweek run... 7 miler

I have finally got my act together! Early, very early, this morning I got out of bed determined to make up for lost time. It was chilly outside, a little mist hung in the sky but it was dry, perfect for running. The sun had been up for a little while and had started to thin that early morning mist. I sat on the doorstep lacing up my shoes while my Garmin fixed a signal, as soon as it had I was off.

It was a beautiful morning and after the usual aches during the first couple of miles I settled into the run and began to enjoy it. I decided to take a different route to the Curragh which added a little more distance and once there I took a new route for a change of scenery and ran south towards the military graveyard and, as I soon found out, what looked like a training ground the tanks.

After that excursion I headed back towards familiar territory having clocked up an extra mile. By the time I got home I had ran 8.54 miles in 1 hour 22 minutes (and 53 seconds, it all counts), that's a respectable 9:42 minute miles.

I feel like I'm back on track, and not before time... the Cork marathon is only 7 weeks away!