Results Attached Below... courtesy of John Walsh, Ballycotton.

And so it has started … in Mallow today the first ten-miler of the Munster series kicked off the New Year for a couple of hundred runners. The race had a nice relaxed feel to it from when I first arrived in the town until I left. Only the wind and rain conspired against us but even that wasn’t too bad.

As I followed the bright yellow signs around the town towards Race HQ, my mind was bent on making sure I didn’t go out too fast today. Having run less in the month of December than I typically would in a week of training, I was well rested. Of course I blew all that by clocking up a nice few miles in a rush-to-the head of New Year resolutions this week. So the training was upside down – do nothing for the month beforehand and then train hard as a race-taper.

Run conservatively for five miles, pick it up a bit for three more and then see what’s left. I had a strategy.

I also had a goal. This year I hope to complete the full John Buckley Sports / Munster Spring Classics Series emulating Alan Burke’s achievement last year. Four ten-mile races in four months; Mallow, Dungarvan, Ballycotton and Kilnaboy. As the sole representative of Athenry AC in Mallow, I now carry serious responsibilities on my shoulders – imagine the slagging if I don’t do it!

I might have been the only Athenry man but Kevin O’Dea of Clare River Harriers, John Hunt of Ardrahan (sporting race number ‘1’ on his singlet) and of course Bernie Kelly of GCH were all there invading Munster from Galway.

I never ran Mallow before, but the general pre-race consensus was that the course was pretty good. The first half crosses the River Blackwater (in full flow) and follows it downstream, while the upstream second half has a few hills but nothing too serious. In my case weather conditions were to have a bigger effect today than hills.

The first mile was uphill, into the wind and rain (aren’t they always). I stayed true to my plan and ran at less than full tilt keeping my powder dry and watching Lucy Brennan and Patrick Harkin (among many others) disappear out in front of me. About a mile and a half into the race and we turned left to run parallel with the river – the wind no longer head-on, we raced along on a good surface at the side of a busy road. Although I took mile splits, I wasn’t reacting to them. I just tried to keep the effort smooth and did not run on-the-edge. I fell into a small group of three or four runners and enjoyed the early miles.

I went through five miles where a race marshal braving the elements called out splits – 31:30 at the half-way point. He even did the maths and told us we were hitting 63min pace. Now that’s what I call service!

Ok, time for Part II of ‘the Plan’. I picked a target runner a few meters ahead of me and tried to reel him in. To my surprise and relief, I found that I was able to pick it up a bit and soon left my travelling companions behind. Over the next three miles I climbed the ups (nothing too challenging), enjoyed the downs and managed to pass a few runners. There’s a lot to be said for starting conservatively, the boost you get when you pick it up and start to make up ground is quite tangible.

Although I was well off my normal race pace, I was travelling along nicely and was beginning to speculate that training is over-rated – rest is the way forward. All good things come to and end though, and at the nine-mile marker reality hit. Pain. Nothing specific, just pain. About a hundred meters of feeling sorry for myself, but then the realisation that I was nearly finished got me going again. I managed to get by one more runner in the last mile to finish in 62:05. A satisfactory days work.

I have to comment on how smoothly the race organisation appeared to go. There was a great air of calm about the place, and I couldn’t fault a thing. Plenty of marshals, two water stations, bollards wherever the cars needed protection from the runners, and smiles everywhere. All finished off with a nice cuppa and a hang-sandwich.

I was entertained by Bernie Kelly and Maura Falsey of Kilmurray-Ibrickane afterwards [Gary, Maura’s looking for the flowers you promised??] and they begged me to put their photo on the website. I agreed to do so as Maura was refused a parking space in the school grounds on St. Stephen’s Day [Gary, you better get those flowers!] so a nice picture on the website might go some way to placating her.

I signed up for Dungarvan on the way out the door, got a promise of race results from John Walshe and headed for home. One down, three to go.

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My splits were a bit erratic to say the list. Others around me said the same. I didn’t feel that the mile markers were wrong, just the combination of wind and hills made for uneven pacing.

6:15 6:35 6:02 6:14 6:27 (31:32 1st Half)

6:15 6:24 5:56 6:09 5:49 (30:33 2nd Half) 1:02:05