Saturday morning started with my picking up Elaine Quinn, Martina McShane and Maria Long. As I said later to Owen Curran it was a case of how many Athenry athletes could we fit in a Yaris?

The four of us landed in Kinvara just after 9am, the driver got her distances a tad wrong hence the early arrival but this meant getting a parking spot right next to the finish line, so it was foresight really.

After hanging out in the car for a bit we headed to registration and picked up our numbers, chips and goodie bags, then we chilled with Frances and Liam Egan.

Some of the gang did a warm up; the rest of us went for a walk to loosen up before the start. The 10k went off first at about 11:15 and then we lined up for the half. There were a few more Athenry faces in the crowd, not everyone headed to Ballycotton for the weekend!!

Martina and I took the first mile handy, letting everyone off and treating it as a warm up mile running at just over ten minute miles. My legs were not completely fresh starting out after running two races last weekend but they loosened out. I got a slight cramp for the first time in a race but it was the kind of one that disappeared when you forgot about it and so it was gone by mile two.

From about mile three I started sipping my water and took on a few jelly beans every two miles or so. Every bean was needed as the course was hilly but every hill did have a downhill allowing some recovery.

Miles two to eight saw us running at about 9.57 minute miles. Part of me was wondering if I should pull back and the other part was daring me to test the unchartered waters of sustaining this to the finish. I reminded myself of the ten miler I did in Dungarvan in January, I ran that at ten minute miles and was glad of the finish line that day and so was doubting my ability to sit under that for an added three miles but I accepted the dare.

There were more hills over the next two miles but beautiful scenery to help keep the mind occupied; it was a gorgeous spring day, perfect for a race. I had upped the pace to 9.56 minute miles by mile nine. At mile ten I was running at 9.55 minute miles, mile eleven brought with it a nice hill to test me as I was getting tired. I started focusing on the fact that I had only two more miles to run and swore I would not drop the pace from here to the finish.

By mile twelve I was running at 9.54 minute miles and then switched my focus to my track sessions, pretending it was just another lap around Dangan. My last mile was my fastest at 9.51 minute miles. I crossed the finish line in 2:09:16 in total shock. I could not believe I had managed to run under ten minute miles for the majority of the race – if only by a fraction - getting faster in the last five miles.

If I was writing an Oscar acceptance speech I would be thanking two “people” the first is a certain hill called Ryehill with which I have a date each Monday night and the second is Alan Burke’s track sessions on a Tuesday. There is no way I would have knocked seven minutes off my last half marathon had it not been for these.

Here’s hoping Kinvara will act as great training for the Craughwell Ten and the Connemara Half.

Full results can be found at the following:

http://ie.katana3.com/online/event.ctrl?cmd=result&event=685008440