Is there another road race beside Ballycotton that sells out? Yes. The Lakes 10k in Blessington reached its capacity this year and had to close the entries. I was surprised when i entered the race website. „Sold out – no entries on the day.“ What is going on there? Lucky enough Kev got me an entry and i was delighted.

The 10k race around the Blessington lakes is kind of a home game form me. I just life around the corner and the route is a regular part of my spins towards the wicklow mountains. Instead of a tempo run i decided to jump in the race. A, more less, fast course was on the agenda and a race is definitely better than training.

Lakeshore Strides cant be praised enough. There is a reason why people want to run that race. Just from the moment i entered Blessington signs were leading to the race headquaters beside the lake. Once arrived marschalls took care of each and everyone. Parking went smooth and also around the registration there was no rush and great atmosphere.

The start was smooth as the organizers set up start corals for all estimated finishing times. Not many runners lined up at the front. The favourite was obvious. The field did not had the class to chase down Vinny Mulvey and after a couple of kilometeres the competition was stretched out. I found my rhythm pretty fast and cruised along the beautiful roads beside the lake. Knowing the course i was cautious of he hill just shortly after the 6k mark. Cycling up that hill is tough. Running was even tougher. Severe head winds didnt really help but finally i managed to reach the summit and rolled towards the finish.

37:02 was on the clock at the finish, 3 minutes slower than my PB. OK for the day. Still no speed but the strenght is there. Darren, Feidhlim and i went for a cool down jog and all of us were certain that this race is going to e classic in the irish road running calendar. Big up Lakeshore Striders – Great Race!

What did I expect from this race? “Nothing” would probably be the only and honest answer. With no watch and no real speed sessions in my legs this was always supposed to be a hard training day.

I never found my rhythm and had problems to hold the groups on a boring out and back course from Waterford to Tranmore.

The rest was hard work as i screwed up my pacing in the early stages and had to pay for that badly.

In Auto – Mode i cruised back towards the stadium in Waterford. The clock at the finish line told me that i had been out there for 80 Minutes.

Lot of speed work is ahead of me – Bring it on!

What the others have to say:

Rene Borg
Barry Minnock
Crusaders AC
Athletics Ireland
Irish Independent

Finally some racing! It has been a while since I stepped to the start line of a running competition.

After I started my (structured) training 5 weeks ago with an aerobic focused phase I had the chance to send a wakeup call to my drained legs. Two miles on the track in Tallaght should be sufficient enough to show the legs what they are supposed to do in a few weeks time – ran as fast as possible.
The facilities in South Dublin are among the best in Ireland. The track is great and fairly new. Good quality 400 meter ovals are rare and plastic surface is not the standard on a running track here in Ireland.

The BHAA held their last track meeting of the season and I took the chance to get the first serious race in. The competition was not really there as I had to run in the “Open Men” category. After a long warm-up I time-trialled to the win. A pity that not a soul was there to chase. I know that I could have run way quicker with a bit of contest in the race.

Nevertheless – after the 5k in Kilbrittain a couple of weeks ago this was my second race and the second win. This time my earnings went up to 30 EUR. Good pocket money for a bit of advanced jogging around the track.

My “winning streak” will finally come to an end when I take a trip to Waterford on Saturday to run the Half Marathon Nationals for my club, Crusaders Dublin.

Since 4 weeks my training is going solid and steady. The wedding spell is almost over and the centre of attention shifts away from step-aerobic on various dance floors around Italy, Germany and Ireland towards asphalt and grass. Full tilt on the training front – at last!

And as always there has to be a clear objective when getting into full preparation mode. Sad enough I cannot motivate myself with no goal in the diary. This time the final destination is the Florence Marathon on the 27th of November. As I ignored a good bit of the racing mid-season, Firenze is the last big race in the European marathon calendar and since a couple of years it is in my “race mind”. Each year runners from the UK and Ireland come home with great results and the standard in Italian road races is great when it comes to my range.

After changing the “percorso” the route is now a fully certified IAAF race which no net-drop. When you look at the times in recent years it is obvious that the course is quick. A crucial point may be the cobble stone sections at the end. The weather in the last couple of years was always poor. Means – no sun, which is vital for me as I had to find out after sinking at the Rotterdam Marathon earlier this year. So I hope for the common shocking conditions with low temperatures and light showers on race day along the river Arno. Some friends also decided to race in Tuscany’s capital which makes the trip even more attractive.

Around 14 weeks are left until race day and the “preparazione” regime will commence towards Florence.

3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage… all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ….into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films…..