Racereport: Leixlip 5k

the sound of rain and wind woke me up on this saturday morning. i opened the curtains and the weather i saw was just crap. but what can you do? nothing! so i got the usual light breakfast in and headed out into that lousy environment.

leixlip is just down the road for me. so it was a quick drive and i was there. got registered and went on to warm-up directly. the rain stopped but the wind was still there.

the organisers, le cheile AC, lined up the bunch of 350 runners and the gardai closed down the street for the start. the race was on and i sticked into the little leading group. drafting was the moto for me. i wasnt the only guy watching out for a bit of protection against the heavy wind so the start pace was relativly slow.

i hang in and the field headed on towards the first little climb, a bridge. the downhill then saw the first tempo increase and i couldnt really follow. i tried to find my own pace and someone to draft. the route turned into leixlip town so the wind wasnt to heavy. i had couple of good runners around me so i stayed in that little group. after a turn back to the finish they also increased the speed and i couldnt respond.

the way back to the finish on the athletic track was a very tough one as i had to fight against the head wind on my own. i reached the track, where you had to run an additional 400 metres without anything left in the tank. sprinted with the last power to the line where they told me my time of 17:42 (20th). for the conditions and the fact that this was my third race this week i think the result is OK.

i really start to like those shorter distances and i still try to get as much races in as i can.

now it´s time to recover. hill-race next wednesday and then i´m really looking forward to run the half-marathon in my hometown heilbronn.