HOW OUR THREE RACE LEADERS GOT ON
What an experience! I am delighted with myself, as everyone who took part should be. As my mother always says, ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’.
The training plan that Eoin Ryan provided, on the Wexford Half Marathon website, was useful. I’ll admit I didn’t stick to it one hundred percent, but it kept me going in the right direction.
Doing the work early on is the key I found, my grandmother always told me to be prepared. She sadly passed away two weeks ago but I am lucky to have years of her kind-natured advice to guide me in life.
Professionally as a chiropractor, I highly recommend that everyone keep some degree of exercise in their daily routine, whether that is 10 or 21km runs or 20 minute walks or swinging your arms above your head every day, just keep moving if you can.
I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who came to support on Sunday. From the kids standing outside their houses waving, to the crowd in the Faythe, and a special mention to all in the United Striders Athletic Club, your encouragement helped to push us on.
Lastly a special word to my family and my boyfriend Michael for all their help and patience.
DICK WALSH – 10KM
She got it right when Irene Cara sang the song ‘What a feeling’ from the early 1980s classic ‘Flashdance’ – love that song, it keeps me smiling. Aaaahhh What a Feeling it is to finally get to the day of, for me, the biggest run of my life to date. It was 7.35am when I headed out for a 1.5k walk to just loosen up before getting the kids’ breakfast ready, we had had a really busy day on Saturday with my daughter Chloe receiving her first communion so the entire family were still sleeping which is not usually the case with four young ones but was perfect for me to relax and get prepared.
I headed into town for a quick photo with Cormac and Anastasia before we headed down to the start, it had been a little chilly earlier when I went for my walk so I decided to wear running pants and a kinda wind training top over my tee shirt, could of done without them in the end as it did pick up and was lovely in the end, but I was still comfortable in my gear.
It was now all down to pacing myself for the 10k to come, and I felt very strong after the first 3km but felt I slowed a little for the 4th and 5th and knew I needed to crank it up a bit, as we came down to the cone loop I hit a bit of a wall but for some reason on the turn I had a great boost of energy and felt strong again in my legs and chest, breading was good just needed to get my stride working again.
Approaching the line is a feeling of pure bliss, and you do push it, but in a way I missed a good challenging sprint towards the end, could of shaved another 10/15 seconds I reckon, but was delighted with a time of 53 minutes 20 seconds or somewhere around that nothing official yet, so I’m really buzzing now and can’t wait to have my next challenge set.
It’s been lovely writing the past few months and to finally reach today and be excited about my time and run makes all the effort well worth it, Eoin and his team are fantastic they really have something special in today’s event, I’ll be following as much as I can over the next year and will be hoping to better my time in Wexford next year.
Thanks Eoin for all your support and encouragement it’s been one of the main driving forces for me, to my wife Montse and kids for putting up with me and of course for those of you who have been reading, I hope some of you got involved and we’re happy with your performances and other might in the future, it’s a wonderful feeling and you feel so healthy from running, trust me I never thought I could achieve this and now I’m hooked. Take care and remember, ‘keep smiling’.
CORMAC McMANUS – 10KM
You know that you are hooked on running when you finish your first 10k and you come home to straight away sign up for a half marathon which is exactly what I have done, Clontarf Half Marathon July 7 is the next challenge.
But what a morning it was at the 10k, it was a perfect day for running and it was a very well organised event with a great atmosphere, the run went very well and all the training and advice from over the last few weeks kicked in, I set a comfortable pace from the start and really enjoyed seeing the kilometre signs pass while my running felt good.
It was great to meet up with Eoin and the other leaders for a great day, well done all.