Sunday morning dawned and I felt rough. Generally a good sign as I necked a coffee. Waking up I felt that nervous feeling eating breakfast. It was going to be a good day at Crone again. I could feel it.
Bopped into Crone carpark, out the door and began my warm up after having a chat to Gerry on what to expect. Jogging up the road, just after the switch back, the climb up should be just here..... or not. Continuing up the road, I knew I'd gone past it but I really didn't want to get straight into a beast of a climb without been warmed up. After a km I turn back and headed up the climb. And what a climb it was. It keeps on going. Relentless. Up and up. Cross a track and its up again. Its only 200m further but its a murderous 200m. Out onto the fire road and I know exactly where I'm going to attack from. Then its a long descent before a steeper section that I'm more accustomed to slogging up, and down to the end of the lap. Its one hell of a loop. And we had to knock out 3 of them. No where to hide. It was guts out the entire way. Pacing was also going to have a massive effect on the race out come. Go out to hard and you'd know about it.
On the start line there was about 20 brave runners ready to be tested by Gerry's newest course. 30sec count down. You can get a feel for the nervous tension that was building. 2,1 and we're off. Instantly the pack splits in 2. The "road runners" flack it off up the track while IMRA's finest sit back and take it handy. We know what's coming up.
Up around the switch backs and the gap stays solid. The roadies hit the climb. In the chase for IMRA, Brian is leading. I'm sitting as tight to his shoulder as I can get. Jason makes a break for the climb, clearly not wanting to be boxed in. I try to get in front of Brian by jumping over the ditch. He side shuffled and I missed my chance. We start climb 1. I sit on his shoulder and look at his feet. One foot in front of the other. Keep the legs ticking over. Climbing steadily. Beginning to feel the burn. Jason still leads, Brian on his shoulder and me on his. I had one of the Healys on my shoulder (i still don't know which is which!). The posé pass the first road runner. On crossing the road its onto a steeper section. The guys that went off hard are now walking. It puts a smile on my face. We continue to climb. Across the river and wall and up the final section. One of the Healys passes me out. I'm not too concerned. Its along way to go. We drop off the climb onto the fire road.
I try to open the pace as quickly as I can and I begin to reel runners in. Up in front I can see the Crusiaders top of Jason. He's my target. I passed Healy and we get working together to reel em in. In the distance the roadies have taken off. The distance between Healy and myself, and Jason and Brain is closing. With 2 more climbs to go I'm careful not to push too hard. As the climb levels out and begins to drop I turn the legs over as quick as I can. I have to be on Brians shoulder for the 2nd climb.
At the first corner Jason and Brian have a small gap. I take the corner hard and drive up the pace. I catch and run along side Jason before moving onto Brian. I take a tight inside line and get by him. Hanging a left I fling myself down the steeper section of climb. I think I got a gap but I'm not sure.
I cross the line for the first time. 15:52. One lap down. Two more to do. I try maintain leg speed as I near the base of the climb. Mary says I'm 5th as I start the climb. I was shocked. How the hell did I end up 5th. Where did everyone else go!
I got stuck into the second climb. It became a mental battle of attrition. Run on the flatter bits. Walk the steeper sections. Brian bounces past. Currently leading the chase for King of the Mountains (i can see why) I try to latch on. I just put one foot in front of the other. The climb just keeps going.
As I suffer up I can hear Jason gaining on me, followed by a Tullamore guy (John). I know I'm hurting but I just keep it going. I get past by the two on the steep section at the top. Only once more up this climb. As we reach the final section, I give Jason a push on the back and tell him to get back running as quickly as possible once we hit the track. I really wanted to catch and drop the Tullamore runner. On reaching the track we upped the pace and ran along side John. I opened the pace, concluding that I needed a big gap going into the final climb as I was suffering on the ascents. On coming down the final road, Brain (Hill, not Furey) was running in the mens junior race. I began to scream at him. Telling him to get the finger out and stick it to the Mullinger Harriers runner who had one hell of an attitude problem. He was jogging, walking. Complaining about his ankle. When I yelled at Brian he took off. I ran along side the now sprinting Harriers runner, continuity shouting at Brian to "bury him".
I cut inside of the Harriers runner and he gave me a push on the back. I kept the elbows to myself (even though I wanted to deck him) and focused on blitzing the steeper descent. I hammered it down the descent and he attempted to follow my suicidal sprint. I felt a hand on my back as he gave me a shove and a whimpering followed by much complaining about "my ankle". I'm still not sure if he expected me to stop when he was clearly fine and was only suffering from a serious ego problem. Brian continued to hammer the pace - with my continued abuse following him down the mountain as I hurtled towards the line.
Apparently the Harriers runner sat down ~100m from the end complaining it was too sore to continue. Personally I would have left him there. He had no clue about the etiquette that exists in IMRA of letting faster runners descend. I was glad I made him suffer on the descent. The is a difference between road/track and mountain. (I have strong opinions on this but I'd have to mark my blog as mature content)
As I crossed the line for the second time I knew I was hurting. On reaching the climb I knew I'd somehow have to catch the Riocht runner and/or Brian Furey if I wanted selection. He had 17sec on me at the finish line. I knew it was a very tall order.
I began to focus on my climbing, running and walking. Up ahead I could see the Riocht runner walking. I could here John breathing heavy. He had cut the gap very quickly. I wondered if Jason was with him. I could potentially lose two places. I put the head down and continued up. I could hear Gerry yelling at runners as they climbed.
Crossed the road and I took a sneeky glance behind. Its was only John, Jason had dropped off the pace. Up the final climb. I didn't push myself to the limit, I knew I still had a hard downhill to go. Just before the wall, he went past me. I tucked in behind him and hung on. Wanting to be as close as possible on the fire road. He hit the road and upped the pace and got a gap. I tried to up the pace but I was really hurting. I chased him, wanting to be on his shoulder when we hit the descent.
He had a gap on me going into the descent. Maybe 15m. I set about reeling him in. I pushed and pushed. He went around the bend and almost ended up in the trees - losing his rhythm slightly I got closer to him. I knew I was running out of time. The gap was staying constant. I knew he was flat out. Dropped down through the next cross roads. The gap is still the same. I tried to up the pace again. My legs were at there limit. I hit the steep descent hard. My balance was at its limit. I was glad I wore my talons on the lose rock. I had closed the gap ever so slightly. John had thrown himself down it. The gap was still the same. Taking the last bend tight I grit my teeth and went for it. The gap was closing ever so slightly. I was running out of time. I was running at my physical limit. It was infuriating not to have that extra gas to go 2:00min/km. The 10k had taken it out of me. John crossed the line. I drove across the line anyways. Looking for at least a good percentage.
Really happy with the run. I ran a good tactical race. Pushed it pretty much the majority of the way. Maybe I saved myself on the climb a little too much but I knew I had to go up it 3 times and it was followed by a punishing 2.3km descent. I finished 2:41 down on the winner and 56sec down on 4th place (and European Team spot). Apparently it looks good for the Irish Team for Snowdon anyways :) Happy days. I was also pleased that I was the 2nd "IMRA" runner home. Brian ran a great race to finish 3rd. Solid climbing - I wonder will someone beat him to the top of Lug. I for one will be looking for all 10 KOM points....
Bring on Fraughen Rock Glen!
(i'll lash up pics and stuff when there up)
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