Cork Simon Christmas Run

I completed the last of the three 4 milers in the run up to Christmas today. This was a race with a difference - no watches allowed, you had to predict your finishing time beforehand and the only prizes were for those who finished closest to their predicted finishing time (6 prizewinners in all).

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The weather was a bit wet and windy to say the least but not as bad as the gale force winds forecast. The run was an out and back from the Marina along the disused Monkstown/Passage railway line (now a walking path) with a bit of a road (footpath really) loop thrown in, between miles 1.8 and 3.

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I arrived late as I was dropping my brother to Fermoy to pick up a car so I only managed a rushed 1 mile warmup. I predicted my finish as 26:00 (a PB of 45 seconds - should be achievable as my PB, 2 weeks ago, was on a hilly course)

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We all (about 150 of us) lined up on the footpath and grass embankment along the Marina (quite tight really) and we were off 1 minute after Gerry Forde's wheelchair. As I started on the path, I did not experience too much pushing and shoving in the opening half mile. We ran along the level railway line with the wind at our backs for the first 1.8 miles. I maintained pace with a group of 5 or 6 runners for the first mile but began to fall off the back of the group, first 10 yards, then 20 and 30 - still no one coming up behind me though. At about 1.8 miles (I know this from the route posted on John's Blog) we took a left and headed along the side of the slip road up to Mahon Point shopping centre. This is where the wind took on a significant role in pace setting. I passed a guy who had also fallen out of the group in front (now 50 yards ahead).

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As we turned left past Mahon Point and up towards the Skehard Road the heavens opened up. This is where I began to slow noticeably as the road was rising and I was running into a strong headwind with horizontal rain (I had to take off my glasses and hold them - no wipers). I passed a guy who had stopped and was walking - obviously I wasn't the only one suffering (that's always nice to know) still no one passed me.

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After the left turn onto the Skehard Road it was down a steep embankment and back onto the relatively sheltered railway line for the last mile. I could here runners close behind. 2 guys passed me in quick succession. I decided to see if I could keep pace with these guys for as long as possible as there was some benefit in drafting off them as the headwind was still noticeable. I didn't think they would hang around for long - I managed 100/150 yards and they began to pull away - 5 yards ahead. However the gap did not increase so I kicked just a bit to keep on the heels of the 2nd guy (these guys were at least 50). He must have heard my heavy breathing as he turned slightly - a bit surprised to see that I was still there. I certainly would not have kept this pace on my own (I had been running in no-mans-land for the best part of 2.5 miles - I wasn't going to loose these guys). While the effort felt tough the fact that I could keep pace with these guys kept me going.

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The second guy turned to me with a half mile to go and said something like "fair play to you keep it up. Shoot ahead there, the finish is not far". I replied that it was he who was carrying me home. He may not have heard through the heavy breathing. The other guy was 5 yards ahead at this stage. The two of us ran side by side for the closing stages with me pulling ahead by a couple of yards as we passed the finish line. I think he pulled back a bit and let me, to be quite honest.

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There was a clock on the finish that said 02:40:55 as I passed it. I stopped to chat with my finishing partner (Maurice Tobin - M55) afterwards and thanked him for guiding me home. We both thought that we had come in just under 25 minutes (if we ignore the zero on the clock - wishful thinking) He said he had been running 24 years and while his latest marathon was 03:22 (same as my PB) he managed 02:47 in his prime.

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I spoke with the time keepers later and was told that the finishing clock was not recording the correct time as finishers would speed up or slow down along the home straight to get as close as they could to their predicted time.

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At the prize giving afterwards my work colleague, Tony, came second having come in at 30:29 compared to his prediction of 30:30. Unfortunately for the rest of us we will have to wait until the results are posted on the website (Should be sometime Tuesday afternoon - I'll have to wait that long to see what my 4 mile PB is). I did manage to win a large box of chocolates in the raffle afterwards and picked up a company team prize for the 4 miler two weeks ago - 2nd in class B, whatever that means (my running career is beginning to reap rewards - who'd have thought).

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A relatively easy but tiring 11.4 miles in the wind and rain yesterday gave me just under 55 miles for the week (54.8 to be exact)

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Sat - 11.4 miles in 01:30:50 (07:53 pace @ 142 HR) Sun 6.5 Miles including 4 mile race (no time, HR or anything)

Postscript:- The results are out - I finished in 25:32 (06:23 Pace) and a new 4 Mile PB.