Having missed the crowded Great Ireland Run, this nice small race was perfect for me to get a good sub 39 min time.
38m48s (5th; 1st 36:21, 297 finishers. Splits: 3:44, 3:50, 3:55, 4:01, 3:52, 3:59, 3:56, 3:51, 3:58, 3:36; Average: 3:52).
Garmin data
Having missed the Great Ireland Run because of a niece and nephew’s birthdays I was delighted to see this race on a race calendar.
The route was identical to the 2 lap Aware 10k course. I cycled down, parking right by the start. I saw my brother-in-law, Conor, there with my nephew, Finn, as my sister, Helen, was running. I did a bit of a warm up and, as the weather was surprisingly warm, I changed into a singlet right before the start.
I started well, quickly finding a good pace, and was soon in 11th place. Climbing out of Furry Glen wasn’t too bad and as we approached the half way point 4 or 5 runners stopped as they were doing only the 5k run. This brought me up to 6th place. I moved up to 5th over the next kilometre and kept that position.
I passed some walkers as I dropped into Furry Glen. The climb out was a little tougher as I was watching the clock and pushing for a sub 40min time.
I picked it up a bit over the final kilometre to finish in 38:48, delighted to break 39 mins again. In recent years I have not enjoyed the crowds and congestion in the Great Ireland Run so these smaller races are great.