The Brothers Tick the Second Month on the One-Per-Month Quest.

Two from Twelve as the Brothers O'Hara completed the Birr 10k to mark the February calendar.  We lost one brother, Cormac - he was reporting for RnaG on the little matter of a general election, but we gained another in Richie, who tore up the by-roads and side-roads around Birr to finish in 47 minutes.  And believe me that was an achievement for this was one hell of a tough run!  Kevin turned out for this race as a far fitter specimen of man than that which competed a month ago in Tuam, and so-signs on it as he trotted home comfortably in 54 minutes.  There is a fit train a-coming from the direction of Mullingar... Personally, I found the going extrememly tough, finishing in the 50 minute mark and I reckon my weeks of stop-start training and over reliance on the treadmill have sent me on a downward spiral that needs to be checked.  There is no substitute for the open air.  The race itself was extremely well organised and it was a big bonus to have gotten such a nice day in one of Ireland's finest little towns.  We started in the centre of the town, at John's Mall, and headed out the Kinnity road for about 4k, before turning right for 1.5k and heading back in again towards town - with the finish line alsoat John's Mall.  I think it's fair to say that there was no down hill and very little flat parts of this race!  It seemed to drag from slight incline to slight incline and every time we came to the brow of a hill our expectations of a downhill were dashed by another flat or worse still, another bloody incline!  Having said all that, it was a very good run and very well marshalled.  The organisers have told me to expect another run in Birr town in 8 weeks time - this time possibly around the grounds of Birr Castle, and yet another around Kinnitty Castle.  Hopefully we'll be back... As for the O'Hara brothers:  we celebrated our run with a good few pints in the County Arms Hotel and were joined by the election count man the following day.  Onwards to March, when I personally will compete for a PB in the Craughwell 10mile, and when we will also have to find another race on the one-per-month brotherly quest for fitness.