Great Race at the Racecourse!

I'm finally getting to post this blog - three days after the big event!  Big Ron and his two musketeers picked myself and D up early on Sunday morning and we headed in to town for a 10k run which would start and finish at the famous Galway Racecourse.  It was a bit of a rush getting there - Big Ron and I sprinted out of the car and into the registry office, practically togging out on the run in!  He hadn't run competitively since last September, and I hadn't run a race since last January - so we were both a bit anxious to get at it.  It was a gorgeous, sunny day and the turnout for the run was fair enough.  My own intention was to trot it out easily, just to get a run out of the way. The Big lad was anxious to really test himself, so he went off like the clappers while I paced along nicely.

This was a TOUGH course!  Have I ever run a more upward 10k?  There was one portion of the race, between the 4k and 6k mark that seemed to go up slightly for ages, with no downward at all at the end of it!  Worse was to come at the 6.5k mark, with a steep uphill climb all the way to 7.  The run from then on was just about okay!  The funniest bit was the very last run-in - as if to emphasise the uphill nature of this race the run-in itself was up hill... now I know how the horses at the Galway Race Festival feel.

Unbelievably, I posted a PB for this distance:  50.09mins.  I know I would have gotten under 50mins had I been able to see the clock on the run-in but it was concealed until the very last second.  Big Ron also posted a PB - an untouchable 42.45mins.  

Afterwards we had to rush back again home, but it was a very enjoyable race and culmination of a good week of training.  Unfortunately this week has been too stressful to run so far, but I intend to change that tomorrow.