Good company and summer nights, it comes as no surprise that Dunshaughlin is one of the most popular 10K road races in the county. Now in its 40th year, the race has produced many a personal best over the years. I first ran this race in 2009 and have been back every year bar one.
Well placed at the end of June it’s a good time of year to run a PB. Normally there is a massive Sportsworld contingent but this year the 1000 race entries sold out before race day, much to the disappointment of many a club runner. The atmosphere just wasn’t the same as previous years without the large Sportsworld crew. I was glad to have the company of Sadanand and his friend Abhinabha for the drive down.
The course is flat with only 32 meters of elevation and the field is deep, so you always have a good group to run with. My training has been poor since the Copenhagen Marathon on May 20th and a further two weeks work trip to India, with little running, hasn’t helped matters. I arrived at the start line sluggish, with bags under my eyes and a bit under the weather after the Docklands shinanigans on Thursday night but still hoping to run 33.30 and maybe sneak a few seconds in the last few kilometres.
I have a habit of going too fast in this race over the years and struggling home, like last year when I stopped to walk in frustration at 8K. This year, I started off very conservatively and planned to get to halfway in around 16.40 but I quickly found that the legs just weren’t up to it. I never got near the group I would normally be running with and settled into more of a half marathon pace from the 3rd kilometre onwards. I was getting frustrated by the lack of pep in my step by 6K.
It was a race where I wasn’t going to PB and hence wasn’t willing to hurt. I posted my times between 2018 and 2019 below for comparison purposes. If I’d started with a 3.15 last year I would have broken 33 minutes but not this year. I was able to push on from the group I’d run within the last few kilometres but like any long distance race, you need to spread your effort evenly from the start. A finish time of 34.07 but not too stressed.
| 2018 | 2019 | |||
| 1 | 3.08 | 3.18 | ||
| 2 | 3.12 | 3.23 | ||
| 3 | 3.15 | 3.23 | ||
| 4 | 3.18 | 3.26 | ||
| 5 | 3.26 | 3.26 | ||
| 6 | 3.22 | 3.22 | ||
| 7 | 3.22 | 3.26 | ||
| 8 | 3.53 | 3.34 | ||
| 9 | 3.24 | 3.21 | ||
| 10 | 3.19 | 3.22 |
It’s not what I expected, but I’ll adjust. The Berlin Marathon is 98 days away so training begins tomorrow. I believe in hard days, easy days and medium days. I believe that solid, consistent work over time pays off. I believe that strength=speed. I believe in high mileage, but not so high that it takes away from what needs to be accomplished on the hard days. I’m all in to go for that PB and knocking on 2.30, even if my more recent results don’t reflect it.
A massive congratulations to Sadanand who ran a big PB of 34.37, he’s really flying and loving his running after his recent marathon success. Also, a special mention to Maura, fresh from her training camp on the Wild Atlantic Way is once again hitting her times of 8 years ago. Maura was well under the 40-minute mark. There were also good runs from Martin, Peter and Tim. Apologies for the lack of photos but it was a low key affair.
Gareth Murran 0:34:07
Sadanand Magee 0:34:37
Martin Doyle 0:36:33
Maura Ginty 0:39:19
Peter Knaggs 0:40:39
Tim Murphy 0:44:52
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