The Rose of Tralee 10K..DONE!!

Where to start, at the beginning I hear you say,and so that is where I'll begin...

I was doing the Rose of Tralee 10K with John,  I must admit I was looking forward to the company, usually I'm on my own with my thoughts and if you've read this blog before, you know how that monologue goes...  Last Sunday, the 10K was starting in the Tralee Bay Wetlands, as we walked into the centre, the rain began to fall, it was a really heavy Summer shower that came out of nowhere. A while later, I would have appreciated a drop of rain!
Kick off was at 11am, we started at a nice steady pace and I was comfortable, we saw Susan and my godson Daniel, as we left the wetlands and gave them a cheer, smiling we ran on with a spring in our step. Around the roundabout, forward we went and then disaster I heard Owhhh!!! Someone, had stood on the back of Johns foot and he came down on to it hard. We stopped and reassessed, I asked did he want to pull out but no we continued. It was slightly unsettling, for the next mile or so, we slowed, sped up but continued on.
At this stage of the run, we on a long straight road out of Tralee heading to Banna, I knew we were turning right near Mount Hawk school and so I waited patiently for it. As we turned and continued on, we got into a nice easy rhythm, I thought to myself  I am enjoying this. Although, I have to say it was warm,  hot even, we were running a straight road with little or no shelter, which led to much, much sweating. But not that you were too uncomfortable.
 (I have since discovered that this new road is nicknamed 'the fat mile' because of all the people walking and running it).
Ahead the steward directed us downhill to the water station, I had water so didn't take any, John did and as we went up the hill, I thought this was a bit cruel at the half way mark!!! Onwards, we went, pockets of people cheered us on, which was really great. One lady in particular, clapped and offered a word of encouragement to everyone who passed and it was much appreciated!
Heading towards Rock street, then down Rock Street, we were nearly finished and then we turned the corner and were in Denny Street. I felt tired, but crossed the line, thumbs up!!
It wasn't a day for a PB but I was happy, I hadn't pushed myself but was consistent. Medal received, we got water and banana which were welcome. I didn't realise there was no tech shirt as I had been looking forward to it as the one they got in 2013 was lovely.

Johns foot was swollen! (Thankfully, no serious damage but it is badly bruised).

Bernie also ran, she she a good run  and was at the finish line, so we could swap stories.

I have to say on reflection I enjoyed the experience as a whole. The route was just tough enough to be enjoyable. And so, like Arnold, "I'll be back..."

More Bling...

Moving forward..

Last year after the half marathon, I don't think I ran for a couple of weeks and it was tough to get back on track, I felt my fitness dipped quite a bit and by the time the group met again in September, I felt I had to a lot of ground to recover. This year I was determined to not let this happen and thankfully, I wasn't alone, some of the girls also wanted to keep going. So each Monday, we meet up, whoever can make it does and if you can't there's always next week.  We meet at the Killarney National Park, where there are so many directions in which you can run offering great variety. And there's also some one else out running..

We have been doing some hill training as some of us are aiming to do the 10 mile race in Killarney this September, which features one or two hills and so preparation is needed. And if I was just on my own, I would run in the other direction of a hill. Maybe, once I'd give it a go but I wouldn't try as hard as I do when with the group.
The last few evenings we have had a few rain showers so it makes it harder to put on your trainers and head out for a run, but at least its not as humid as it has been!






I am as usual  trying to push through my internal monologue of running doom and have had some success in doing so. Even John has noticed, when we run together my pace has stepped up. Yeahhh!

John took this of me on the go!!

I am doing a 10K on Sunday just so I'll have run at near race pace. Hahaha listen to me race pace, its nearly all the same pace.. I am bringing John along with me, to push me on.

We are up to date now, and I will write about the 10K early next week.