Dublin Simon Fun Run : 6 October 2012

A cold sunny morning, cheered on by Caitriona, the boys and my dad, made for a good time. The boys really enjoyed the Kids Zone activities afterwards.

30m57s (34th; 1st 25:22, 1988 finishers. Splits: 6:13, 6:11, 5:58, 6:16, 6:19; Average: 6:11).
Garmin data

This is my 7th time doing this race. The main race is normally proceeded by two junior runs and I’d hoped that Rory would one day be able to do one of these short races. This year the junior runs were replaced with a Kids Zone for under 12s. It was free to sign up so I entered Rory. He got a Fun Run t-shirt in the post and he was excited, he even asked if he needed to do any training.

It was a cold morning, 3.5°C according to the outdoor thermometer. The previous mornings had been 7°C. I decided to stick with my singlet but added a sleeveless Nike Pro base layer under it and Skins compression half shorts under my race shorts.

We had a casual morning until 10:00 when we started rushing to get ready. We left the house at 10:30, me with 2 passengers. We were a bit late, but not as late as last year. It was just after 10:50 when we got to Acres Road so I had to rush to get ready. I couldn’t find my gloves so just ran to the start line without them (it turned out that I didn’t need them).

Thankfully the race started 5 mins late. As always the first few hundred metres was chaotic with many teenagers walking after a 10 metre sprint. Surprisingly the pace was okay at around 3m45s/km.

Once onto Chesterfield Avenue it opened up and I gradually passed a few people. The route had been changed since I saw the map – we didn’t turn left onto Furze Road.

Ordnance Survey Road was cold as the trees blocked the sun.

A positive part of the route change was that we didn’t have to go in and out of the Furry Glen.
I skipped the water at the 3 mile mark.

On the S bends I managed to pass one more person. At the 4 mile mark, close to the Magazine Fort, there was no wind and, with no trees to block the sun, it was actually quite warm.

The climb up Kyber Pass was tough and I am sure my heart rate was its highest here. I sped up as I passed Caitriona, the two boys and my Dad. I also managed to pass a woman that had passed me at 1 mile – she looked like she was out of steam.

I finished in 30m57s, 34s faster than the Irish Runner 5 mile in June.

After the race we met up with my sister, Julie before she headed off. Rory got his face painted as a tiger. Then the boys decorated a cupcake and then Rory did his race (25 metres at the most) and both he and Gavin got goodie bags and medals afterwards. A volunteer told us that we won a Family Spot Prize (free entry to the National Leprechaun Museum).

We left at 12:30 and there were still some people finishing. Gavin fell asleep on the bike seat on the way home.