Sunday morning up at 7…had a slice of toast, banana and a pint of cold water. Arrived up to the harriers at 7:50 as I didn’t want to be late (usually the case) and noticed a huge amount of cars up there already and a bus…turns out the club were going to Sligo for the National Track and Field competition but the “elite runners” had other plans...a 10 Mile run around the Ross road….looked around and none of the elites were around….turns out I was early and maybe too keen for a change…anyway everyone arrived by 8 and we got a quick photo and off we went towards the finger board….John had arranged for us to join the girls and it was great to be heading off with a large group…got to the fingerboard and Paul Hennessy & Denis Flynn(they didn’t make the photo) were waiting to join us and I was saying to Ciaran that this wasn’t a bad idea and I might try this the next night but I don’t think it would wash with John..
The first few miles were OK and everyone seemed comfortable. The conversations were flowing but as time goes on the chats gets less and less but there is always time for some slagging…complimented Mary Mann on her sexy “pink water” bottles and we discussed her “pink” nails that complimented her pink training top…now that is dedication to be that colour coordinated….think I’m going to have to inject some colour into my training gear as the black isn’t cutting it when we’re out with the girls…at 3 miles John as usual had water stashed away in a ditch somewhere and he came up behind me and gave me a bottle….as usual the water didn’t last long but it was needed at that time…most of the group had brought water with them(seasoned pros) but me and Lynchie are just trying to carry ourselves at the minute..
Got to Screggan cross in Mucklagh which was about 6 miles and the group was beginning to spread out a bit then…great thing about going in a group is that everyone finds a comfortable pace to run at and you’ll always have someone to run with…turned left and headed towards the blue ball onto the bypass, then turned right and we were heading for home… felt good at this stage and I was putting it down to all the training we were going over the last 4 weeks…we had trained 3-4 times a week for the last 4 weeks doing about 12-15 Miles in our first week with a lot of breaks during our sessions. Now at the end of week 4 we were up to running 24 Miles (3 sessions) in a week with no breaks during our sessions…the last 2 miles I could feel the legs getting tired and sore but kept going and was delighted to get back to the harriers in one piece…
Finished off with a lap of the tarmacadam track in the harriers with Elysia, Josie and Dave and then my first ever 10 miler was done…I did it in about 1:40. I didn’t think that 4 weeks ago that Ciaran and myself would be going go well but we had put in the training and it was paying off. The main reason I signed up to do the challenge was that the harriers said they would coach us and I wanted to learn how to run correctly and to pick up some tips etc on what to do and not do…we have been very lucky to have John O’Connell looking after us and the little tips etc he gives us have really helped…anyone I seem to talk to up in the harriers says that John has trained or helped them in some way and they all say we are lucky to have him training us.
Before we left the harriers we got another photo...so that we’d have a before and after!! You can make up your own mind how we looked but everyone was still smiling….. even though it was tough it was enjoyable and I personally was delighted we had completed it....Said a final farewell to Ciaran and shed a tear as we won’t be training together now for the next 3 weeks due to holidays but we’re both going to keep a separate blog on our progress and we both have a plan to stick to…..went home and had a shower and was feeling tired after the run…Everyone went to mass in Tullamore and I said I’d stay at home and mind the baby (she’s 9 month old)….when everyone left both baby and Daddy enjoyed nearly 2 hours sleep….it’s not easy minding babies…until next time…enjoy...
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