Sunday March 10th saw the latest running of the well-established Bohermeen half marathon in Co Meath. I had heard a lot about this race over the years and despite plenty of talk, I had never actually run it before. However, the race comes with a good reputation and so I put my name in the hat and signed up. This was to be the last in a series of about 6 races over the course of 10 weeks so I was determined to give it a good shot. The course itself is fast with few hills to worry about and a high-quality field to drag you along.
Both Garry Hobbert and Martin Doyle accompanied me in the car for the 45 min drive down to the venue. As usual it was a pretty wet and miserable morning and but for the 2 guys in the car with me, there’s every possibility I would have arrived, had tea and left. Eventually I dragged myself out onto the road for a good warm up in advance of the freezing cold and wet start. There was a 7 minute delay in the 11am gun time so I used that window to think strategy. I decided there and then to break the race into 5km chunks – just run 5km and see how you feel. I was aiming for 4 min per km, so the math’s were simple. I was pleasantly surprised to run the first 5km to schedule and then hit 10km at 40.01 and 15km at 60.06. From there I was into the last 5km chunk so I ignored the watch and just focused on finishing strongly.
I was starting to hurt now, so it was just about keeping it moving and trying not to drop any time. I was very pleased to finish in 1.24.37 (4.01 per km) for a 3 minute PB. Post race the atmosphere was strange – very quickly runners started to feel the cold conditions and people dispersed. Garry arrived at the finish area having been undone (pardon the pun) by a shoe lace which he could not properly fasten due to his fingers being frozen stiff – a stark indication of the conditions.
Also in Bohermeen flying the Sportsworld flag were Eileen Rowland and Catherine Gilmore – well done ladies.
Overall the race is one I would recommend and hope to get back there some day.
Full results: Events-Events (myrunresults.com)
