Hottest day of the year? Anyone for a 5k?? Oooh me me!!! I don’t want to be complaining about our tropical heat wave, it’s great but seriously could the scorchiest day of the year have maybe waited for a day when I’m not doing a race?
Anyway the show had to go on, it simply had to. I hopped into my sauna on wheels after work and drove the 45 min journey to a little village called Gortroe just outside Youghal. This was the 2nd staging of the 5k in this tiny little village comprising basically of a school and a church. Lovely atmosphere around, good crowd of 300+ and the whole community was involved, kids were on hand with their drink stations and the oul lads sittin in the shade on their deck chairs cursing the young folk, the mammies guarding the cakes until after the race this is real Ireland, Love it! Got my bib and old school shoe chip and headed out for a 20 min warmup. Cripes it was warm. I’m not exaggerating but it was 7pm and hotter than the sun itself. My HR was higher was normal and only doing 8 min miles but the sweat levels, they were just about right.
My target for this was to PB ideally around the 16:45 mark, I felt in the shape for it but after the warmup I wasn’t so sure about a PB but still willing to give it my best shot. There were prizes for the first 6 home so I thought I was in for a shout there also. It would be a 1 lap course, not the flattest but not the hilliest from looking at the map beforehand.
Mile 1
At 7:30pm we took our places on a narrow country road and bang, we’re off. A slight jostle at the start but no main traffic concerns, got off well and quickly a front group formed of 6 wine (east cork) singlets and a Leevale shirt which was my clubmate DC. I sat behind these and heard no footsteps behind me so I figured this was it in terms of competition. Breathing was difficult at first but settled down after a few minutes and was clipping along around 5:20 pace. I was sitting in 7th, there was a gap between the lead group, DC and then a wine singlet just ahead of me. I sort of knew a PB was out of reach today so my goal was to place in the top 6 and make a race of it. The first mile didn’t feel too bad, I was moving well and on a slight incline just after 1/2 a mile I took the wine singlet in front of me, he was breathing hard and struggling so I sort of knew I had at least 6th place barring any disasters. DC was about 20 meters ahead so I just kept him in sight. He trains in the top group at Leevale and regularly places ahead of me so I thought if I can stick with him the whole way I’ve done well. My garmin clocked the first mile at 5:22 but Strava shows it at a 5:27, what’s that all about? I passed the 1 mile marker just as it beeped 5:22 on the watch so I dunno, doesn’t really matter….or does it.
Mile 2
Now the struggle starts. I’m keeping DC in sight but its hard, I’m really feeling the heat now but I keep the legs working. I’m trying to keep in the shade but shade is very hard to find, I glance at the watch and its hovering around 5:30, I know that’s too slow for a PB so I just focus on keeping a steady pace and keeping something in the tank for the finish. I don’t have much more to say about this mile, it was fairly uneventful. Clocked it at 5:32.
Mile 3
Killllllll meeeeeeeeeeeeeee. We take a left turn and onto the last mile and I’m hurting. There’s nice support around the course but I’m just thinking you lucky f**kers, I wish I was just standing on the side of the road, what’s it like? Bit of a climb for the start of the last mile, DC is still just ahead of me, I’m catching him ever so slightly but not by enough. I just want to keep this effort going to the end and I’ll be happy, why am I doing this again? I’m breathing so hard now, half a mile to go is all I was thinking and I just persevered. There was a bit of a sneaky climb thrown in at the end but soon the finish balloon came into sight, thank heavens. I mustered what I had left and fell over the line (but without actually falling). I saw the clock just over 17 mins as I crossed, watch says 17:01, chip time says 17:06 (DC also clocked 5 seconds off from chip time) and I’m home in 6th. Final mile of 5:31 so fairly consistent pacing overall and water…give me water.
(noted afterwards that Strava has me down for a 17:06, and garmin connect a 17:01, breakin my balls Strava, that means 17:06 wins)
Hands down hardest 5k I’ve ever ran, no PB but a nice to get a reward for my efforts. My prize was a huge A4 envelope with €30 in it, thought it was going to be a giant cheque. That brings my total winning for the year to €30 and when you factor in all the runners, gear, travel expenses, race entries, and time spent in work on the athletics forum, I’d say I’m just about breaking even.
Headed for a 3 mile cooldown and mulled over the race in my head while swatting off midgets. I was disappointed at first not getting my PB but I had a good chat with myself and came back happy with my effort, there’ll be plenty more chances. Considering the fact that DC finished only 10 seconds ahead of me today and he ran a 16:24 in the recent John Buckley 5k (where I ran my 16:56), it gives me more belief that I can get that time down to a 16:30 by the end of the summer. Nice drive back to Cork and ate some crisps in the car. That is all for now.
Summary: 5k in 17:06 @ 5:31 min/mile (8.2 mile total)