Rathfarnham 5K 2014
Race Report by Gareth Murran
The local 5K is one of my favorite races each year. The fast start sets you up for a good pop at your PB. Add to that a good mix of inter club rivalry and you have a great race in prospect.
Like every year before the race yesterday started at a blistering pace. To hear the leaders going through a mile in just over 4 minutes, little more than 20 meters in front is both frightening and exhilarating at the same time.
By the time that mile marker arrived in yesterdays race Karol Cronin had already made his mind up that he was going for a PB. As we reached the AIB in Terenure he was already 80-90 meters ahead of myself and Paul Duffy. I had tried to keep the pace for the first mile but feel back on the hill.
It’s always good to run on a course that you are so familiar with but yesterday running up Tempelogue road we settled in a bit too much and let 10 seconds slip away. Those 10 seconds that make the difference between a good race and a great race.
At the 3K mark Emily was there to offer plenty of encouragement. BY that stage I had realized that the pace was a bit too comfortable and that it was time to take the risk and push on a bit. Karol had already headed around the corner and out of sight down by Tesco somewhere. When we hit the 1K to go mark the group that I was running with split up a bit. This is the time in the race when you really need to dig in. It doesn’t matter how well you have ran up to now. If you cant finish strong in the last 1K it will all go to waste. At 1K I was fine but at 800M I was struggling. Focusing on form and trying to block the voices telling me to slow down I kept pushing for those extra few seconds. Thinking about all that track work over the summer. I must have looked all over the place by that stage with any semblance of running form out the window
I saw the finish with 200 M to go. Totally unaware of the time on the clock I felt a few runners coming up behind. I wasn’t getting passed at this stage and kicked on putting 5 seconds between myself and the next guy. Later I was kicking myself that I didn’t kick sooner as I narrowly missed my target time of 15:35 finishing in 15:40. That little bit extra around Bushy would have made all the difference but it’s very hard to know that at the time. I was followed over the line by Paul and Gavin just 10 seconds behind.
It makes all the difference when the going gets tough to know that you have two top quality team mates chasing you down. That’s when the competitive streak comes out. I went up to congratulate Karol after piking myself up off the ground. How did you get on I asked? Around 15:00 minutes he casually replied as if it was no big deal. We now have a great team for the XC season with everyone staying fit we have some great race days ahead.
Why does it feel so good to hurt so badly? The best feeling after a good race is the feeling that you want to go run again straight away which is why I did the course 3 times again with Paul Duffy who was doing his marathon training long run.
Congrats to everyone that took part and a big welcome back to racing to Sean. Too many good runs to mention everyone and lots of shouts on the course.
Place Name Result
1185 » Sandra ARMSTRONG 20:55
1178 » Aggie BUCKLEY 21:23
1180 » Ray CARPENTER 20:22
178 » Karol David CRONIN 14:59
1127 » Margaret CROWLEY 22:28
258 » Paul DUFFY 15:53
1113 » Packie ENRIGHT 17:45
1129 » Gavin FINLAY 15:53
1170 » Ciara FOSTER 19:06
391 » Joseph HAUGH 21:18
702 » Sinead MITCHELL 25:36
775 » Gareth MURRAN 15:40
1199 » Sean O’BYRNE 27:35
1207 » Mark SMALL 18:07
1015 » Natalia SOKOLOWSKA 20:28
1130 » Stephen WILLOUGHBY 20:57
