About a month ago, I raced in my 4th country, having done races previously in Iceland and 3 in Canada. Looked for some races to do while in Ireland- could either run a somewhat competitive road 10 miler in Dublin, or a trail race just south of there in County Wicklow. Given I'd only have a few weeks of running in my legs post-San Francisco reset, trails sounded more appealing. We waited too long to sign up for the 20K and it sold out, so 10K it was. Hilly course with about 1,000' of elevation gain, but almost entirely on wide fire roads so no technical stuff. Probably better suited for a rustbuster than the 20K, as that may have been a little long for me with the limited running.
Wanted to win, but of course not sure what a good time on the course was or what the local runners were like. Any low-key event like this I'll always have a win in the back of my mind and pay attention to who is leading at all times. We ran up and down Carrauntoohil, the high point of Ireland two days prior so legs weren't exactly fresh. But I'd much rather come away having done the mountain run versus skipping it to be fresher for a rustbuster/travel effort.
Got there, bathroom visit (interestingly you flush the port-a-potties in Ireland), bib pickup and headed out for a warm-up on the course. Not feeling amazing. Was a little short on time and had to cut the warm-up shorter than I'd like. Lined up in the second or third row to remain hidden and not announce my intentions to win. With the heavy legs, plan was really to see what others did and not go out too hard, but not to let anyone go either.
It felt comically slow off the line, as my watch displayed 6:30 pace after a tenth of a mile. A few guys made a move to the front and I settled into 3rd behind. Pretty relaxed for the first half mile around a field. I felt better than expected and I found myself pulling even with the leader just before the mile as we started the climb. I was hoping to sit for a little longer and cue off others to make a mid-race move, but since I was pulling into the lead without trying to, I figured it was time to blow the race open. I got an easy lead in 6:10 for mile 1.
Now began the long climb, and it only took a few minutes for me to feel flat and start regretting my decision. Gaging your effort properly is different on races with significant climbing like this versus road races, and I've definitely made mistake of going out like it was a flatter race too often. Well, no going back now. I tried to press on but not push hard enough to blow up and at 1.2 got my first switchback/opportunity to look behind me- exactly as I feared, second place was closing quickly on me. As you might expect, this guy was not part of our initial pack and I had failed to consider that someone not in our lead group in the mile would win the race. Sitting back and remaining anonymous is a great strategy. The second you go to the front, you make yourself clear as a contender and everyone is watching you.
He closed the gap by 1.5 miles and went by me rather easily and I struggled climbing on flat legs. This did not feel good mentally and I prepared myself for him to disappear quickly and the others to start coming back. Fortunately, this wasn't the case as he was only running slightly faster than me after putting up a 30-40m gap. I more or less maintained this gap throughout the 3rd mile until he pulled away more at the highest/steepest portion and was no longer in sight. At this point, I was trying to hold onto 2nd. Miles 3 and 4 were scenic and cool above the trees.
Turns out it was one of those days where I had a great downhill in me but didn't have the legs for the uphill. Mile 4 was a uneven grass road where you had to watch the surface and occasionally switch sides of the road, but could go pretty fast. Got a 5:21 for that mile, which according to strava is the fastest anyone has ever run it. The path switched to a very smooth dirt road after that, which was a little faster, although awkward to run any tight turns. When we got back on the long straightaway, I could once again see the leader and tried to reel him in. I lost for the race for good on the 100' uphill in mile 5 as he once again got out of sight. It didn't feel that hard compared to the earlier uphill, but I didn't run it as well as I would have liked either.
Last mile was really fast and I tried to get to the finish as quick as possible. I could see the leader at points but it was clear I wasn't closing that gap at this point. I got a few seconds back, turned onto the field and saw the clock ticking toward 40 so I sprinted it in and ran 39:59 for second.
This race counted for ITRA (international trail running association) points and interestingly, I received more points for this one than Quebec Mega Trail 50K. Not much for food here, but I appreciated the low cost, cool trail community vibes, and got 20 euros for being 2nd. Excellent location and definitely would race trails in Ireland again.
As for my performance, it was fine. I wasn't expecting much and the result was acceptable for only a few of training and doing the mountain run two days before. But it's a little disappointing that I can't seem to win close races. Clearly the uphill hurt me today and I could have run better tactically, but almost certainly would have lost that one on that day.
Based off GAP, I was pretty even miles 1, 2, 4, and 5, ran mile 6 really well and struggled in Mile 3. So for a short distance like that need to be a little more consistent, but not bad.
