Home Race Report Blessington Lakes 10K 2019

Blessington Lakes 10K 2019

Report by Carmel Breen , Photos by Carmel Breen, Conor Kenny

The Blessington Lakes 10k is usually such a scenic and enjoyable race, so once I convinced Val and Irene to stay away from the booze on Friday night, we all signed up!

‘Twas a lovely morning for a race – if you were fit – unlike me! I was treating this race as punishment for all the French food and wine I have consumed over the last few months.

I picked Irene up at the KCR and off we headed. Along the way, we bumped into Phil, Conor and Sandra also going to the race – although Conor had the man flu so he was just there as our mascot and official photographer!!

15 mins before the start they put on a Dance class for a warm up, so me and Val had a dance-off at the top of the class which was a great way to wake the aul’ body up!

When we all lined up at the start, I started to panic a little as the field was very small and all I kept thinking was ‘Holy Christ Im going to be last in this race’. I knew I wasn’t fit enough to get a good time, so it was all about getting it done without stopping.

It took me about the first 5k to warm up but I enjoyed the scenery and took in some powerful rural aromas along the way.

Race reporter Carmel exploring the countryside

Then at 6k the route took an unwelcome turn as the organisers thought it was a great idea to get us to run 500m up a steep hill, which was just complete torture for me, but because I had run the Achill 10k I was able to get up the hill without stopping, which I have to say I was chuffed with!

‘What goes up must come down’ is all that I could think of, so I was really looking forward to my reward which was the downhill – the downhill part is where I picked up and felt strong coming into the finish.

We must tip our hats to the spread of goodies that was given out afterwards, we were able to fill up our goody bags with a week’s supply of muffins and fruit!

Then myself, Val and Irene sat in the boot of my car in the car park discussing joining the over 55s Aerobics classes that Irene teaches, and its only €5 (which includes tea – but no biscuits!!!)