Craughwell, Crocked and not so well.

There I am with Rónán, showing off our medals.
I swear its a case of the t-shirt being too small for me...
Craughwell 10 miler completed in 1hr 29mins... a full four minutes slower than the original aim, but I have an excuse... I swear. I know that it is up there with 'the cat ate my homework', but I was genuinely sick (unwell at least) for this race and ran with aching bones ( love the word 'aching', it adds drama).
The day didn't start too well for me - I had car troubles - which was the last thing I needed as I was up in the Wee county with my wife and her family and it would take the guts of 3hrs to get down. However, thanks to the generousity of her folks I got going and made it in good time.
I met Rónán in Craughwell and we stood side by side at the starting line... which was the last I saw of him until the end (he posted a fantastic time of 1.08). Throughout the run my legs were hard to move and mentally I didn't want to be there. However, this being the year of 'no quitting' I just decided to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. At one point I tried to raise the pace but soon stopped that carry-on when I felt a vomitous surge! So I kept going...plodding along and being constantly passed out!
The course was lovely and flat and the day was perfect for running, so I was a bit disappointed at not being 100%, as this was the day to go for a personal best alright, but at the same time I felt a strange kind of satisfaction at just battling along against my internal organs. There were times when I feared I would be 'bum last' but thankfully there were enough fun joggers and walkers to give me a cushion. I didn't have any watch so I was sure my pace would be in the 11mins but in actual fact it was 8.54 - which in a weird way means that this run gives me more encouragement than ever about breaking a sub 4hour marathon! I didn't go for a pint - so I reckon I'll save these for the Easter break!