MONAGHAN 10 MILER
14th August came around and unfortunately summer made a brief appearance and made conditions really tough - hot, humid, sunny and no breeze; what most runners don't want to face on race day. This is one of my favourite races with a great atmosphere and fantastic organisation by James and the rest of the Monaghan Town Runners team. My third year on the start line and I was confident of around a 75 minute finish. My usual attire of chicken hat and tutu added to my warmth as I lined up; I started near the front to avoid clipping heels and having to weave round runners. A few familiar faces were ahead of me, including Patricia Brown from Newry Runners - now if I can keep pace with her, I'll be on target (it was 2 years ago we finished seconds apart from each other) HOWEVER little did I know she was only running the 5 miler and after 2 miles or so she looped back towards town and the finish! Never mind, by this point I was running smoothly and close to 7:30 pace. Out in the country and took on water at miles 5 & 7 - most went down my back to cool off. The marshalls and crowds were great and I was getting lots of support but the heat was becoming unbearable; my pace was dropping slightly, I went through mile 8 in 62 mins and then there's the climb up to and beyond mile 9, which this year was a killer. Turning back to the finish, its fairly flat over the last 400m so I was able to pick up the pace and finish with a flourish. The conditions had certainly made their mark but still really pleased with a time of 78:01 (7:48 pace).
A few pics from the race; a huge thank-you to Attracta from Newry City Runners for my finish line shot.
BELFAST HM
A month later (18th September) and I was lining up for my fourth Belfast HM and I for the first time in ages I wasn't wearing the chicken hat and tutu! An early morning start meant it was cool enough but overall the conditions were almost perfect. The start is was very congested and late comers delayed proceedings; but I got a fairly good position despite some of the 'slower' runners being too far forward. Half a mile in, I had weaved through the crowds and got into my race-pace. Felt very anonymous not running as Mr Chicken but the crowds were still very supportive and ran even paced for the first half and got to mile 8 in just under 60 minutes - this filled me with confidence and even though I knew the final 5 miles had a few inclines, I was hopeful of a sub 1:40 finish. My pace did slightly fade but left enough in the tank to kick on over the last mile and get across the line in 1:39:14 (7:34 pace). Getting very consistent with my HM times, this was only 11 secs slower than my Omagh HM time earlier in the year and 90 secs outsde a PB.
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