I should have known when my number didn't arrive in the post as promised that I should just give up on the Aware 10k in the Phoenix Park. Stubbornly I e-mailed the organisers on Friday and was assured I could turn up at the start line and collect a new number. So far so good! Right?
Saturday morning came too quickly and I reluctantly dragged myself out of my warm bed. I'm not one for lie in's but even a toe out of the covers confirmed it was a cold one. I pulled the curtains to see the surrounding countryside liberally dusted in white. Not snow but a hard frost. "At least it's dry and bright and still." I thought, trying to look on the bright side. Perfect morning for a race once I'm warmed up.
An hour later I was wrapped up and ready to go. Or would be once I got the windscreen defrosted. An impatient phone call from a friend J I was giving a lift to got me moving while trying to see out of one portion of my frozen windscreen. "Oh well! It's always a few degrees warmer in Dublin." I thought. Hmmm.
We arrived in Dublin relatively quickly and it wasn't until I went to park the car and it skidded a couple of feet that I realised how frosty it was on Chesterfield Avenue, the main thoroughfare of the park and the road a lot of the race was going to be on. I looked at J and got very worried for the first time that this race wasn't going to go ahead. My confidence wasn't helped by trying to get out of the car on the slippery roads.
Long story short, the race did go ahead but not with me in it. After a number of delays of the start to allow the course to defrost and warnings that the conditions were "very, very, very, very dangerous" (there may even have been another very) I knew this wasn't going to be a PB day for me. Considering that I'm mortally terrified of falling on ice I decided early on I wasn't going to run and encouraged anyone who would listen to do the same. We had already made the donation to charity. Why risk life and limb?
As we were there and dressed a run of some sort was in order so I let the much faster J drag me around on the grass of the Phonix Park for a bit of a cross country jaunt. It was heavy going and my hardish effort is a bit of a jog for him so it was a relief for both of us to get back on the now much safer paths later on for a faster final couple of miles. At least the morning wasn't a total write-off from a training point of view!
Showing posts with label DNS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DNS. Show all posts
Sunday, 14 December 2014
Tuesday, 3 June 2014
Another first
Not that long ago I had my first ever DNF(did not finish.) Yesterday was my first DNS(did not start.)
I hadn't really thought about doing the Flora Women's Mini Marathon until a friend contacted me a few days after the closing date to say they were reopening registration briefly and would I think about entering? I thought "Why the hell not!" and duly entered.
Entry was a reasonable 19 euro and I figured I wouldn't be doing anything else that weekend. For some reason though I never really got that enthusiastic about it. Probably a combination of the logistics and the 10k distance. If I'm doing a 10k I sort of want to turn up, warm up and do the thing as quickly as possible. I could imaging entering a half marathon or marathon for the spectacle, city, scenery etc but not a 10k. It's just not long enough to be worth the hassle.
After Sundays 5k pb recapped here I had absolutely no notion of running a fast 10k. I didn't even know anyone who I could have jogged it with so it seemed a bit silly to go to all that hassle so I didn't bother. As it happens I'm glad I didn't as I went for a very slow 8 miler on the Curragh and my legs were like lead for the first 5 miles. In fact I stopped three times in the first 2 miles which is really not like me but the outsides of my calves were burning despite doing a good warm up and going very slowly. Anyway I'm sure it was good training to run on tired legs but it wasn't pleasant at all and I'm glad I was on my own and was able to stop and try to stretch the cramps out without too many people around. I probably looking a bit nuts to the dog walkers. My legs finally starting feeling capable of more than a shuffle after mile 6. Also I saw puppies at this point so all was well in the world.
Today I rested from running and did some strength and stretching. A good start to June so far! Tomorrow evening at 7pm is our club 4 mile handicap. More racing!
I hadn't really thought about doing the Flora Women's Mini Marathon until a friend contacted me a few days after the closing date to say they were reopening registration briefly and would I think about entering? I thought "Why the hell not!" and duly entered.
Entry was a reasonable 19 euro and I figured I wouldn't be doing anything else that weekend. For some reason though I never really got that enthusiastic about it. Probably a combination of the logistics and the 10k distance. If I'm doing a 10k I sort of want to turn up, warm up and do the thing as quickly as possible. I could imaging entering a half marathon or marathon for the spectacle, city, scenery etc but not a 10k. It's just not long enough to be worth the hassle.
After Sundays 5k pb recapped here I had absolutely no notion of running a fast 10k. I didn't even know anyone who I could have jogged it with so it seemed a bit silly to go to all that hassle so I didn't bother. As it happens I'm glad I didn't as I went for a very slow 8 miler on the Curragh and my legs were like lead for the first 5 miles. In fact I stopped three times in the first 2 miles which is really not like me but the outsides of my calves were burning despite doing a good warm up and going very slowly. Anyway I'm sure it was good training to run on tired legs but it wasn't pleasant at all and I'm glad I was on my own and was able to stop and try to stretch the cramps out without too many people around. I probably looking a bit nuts to the dog walkers. My legs finally starting feeling capable of more than a shuffle after mile 6. Also I saw puppies at this point so all was well in the world.
Today I rested from running and did some strength and stretching. A good start to June so far! Tomorrow evening at 7pm is our club 4 mile handicap. More racing!
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