Introduction

I have never raced 5 miles before. Cut !!! Andrew stick to the script!. Take 2. I have never raced a race which was exactly 5 miles before. I have raced from 5 km all the way up to the infamous Marathon distance and back again for more. I always go back for more, Why? I'm ambivalent towards running itself. I neither love it nor hate it. To me this journey is one of self improvement. I want to see how far how fast and how strong my athleticism can travel if I point it in the right direction refine the largely boring exercise science details and squeeze the potential out of myself. Truth be told if I could have it all my own way I'd be on a GAA pitch chasing a football. Alas a fortuitous career move meant something had to give and GAA bit the dust. Running I can do where ever and when ever I am available.

Coachford 5 Mile Run

If you're new to running and somehow reading this blog my advice to you is to draw confidence from every new distance you race because it's guaranteed to be a PB. That won't happen very often. A guaranteed PB most runners would sell a lung, a kidney and probably a several liver lobes to be guaranteed a PB in a race. Pretty soon after the rush of all those new PBs that doubt monster crawls inside your head and tells you that you can run faster than this, that your way off your best, that same monster derides you for not preparing more effectively, scolds you for not warming up properly or getting a better starting position....he'll come and say hello and drop off an Amazon prime worthy delivery of self doubt for you to open. That is a problem for another day if it's your first time racing a new distance and you have that fresh bed sheet feeling in your heart enjoy it, stop and take it in and relive it often because one day you'll need that optimism to come out and fight the self doubt Monster. 

The Coachford organisers were friendly, upbeat and full of positive reinforcement. The race was very accessible. This was the first short distance race where I could book online. As someone who helped organise a national conference of similar size to this race last year (2017) I know that having your online booking game on point is a huge help. You know whose coming and how many. You can keep on the day entry if you like but you can forward plan with a slimmer margin for error. Organiser angst is limited on that front. I know people don't want to hear this but the their is a dirty little secret about running and that is the simplest thing you can do in a race is run. If you become a race organiser/event organiser you have bought yourself the hardest most tedious part of the occasion. With online entry the organisers are left to worry about the key things that make a race the best 5 Mile Run of 2017. They can think about the route, the lead car, where the kids will line up, how many shirts do we need, have we enough marshals, can we do teas, sandwiches and cakes, shirts, parades, trophies and how many do we need of everything. With online booking you can keep tabs on whose coming, how many and pivot ahead of time if you need too. They did themselves a favour with online booking they let themselves focus on delivering a super race.  And they did it with a sense of humour. The finish line commentator new lots about everyone. One lad crossing was asked about how the race compared to Intermediate Hurling, Racing under your married name tonight I see _______ (I won't name the lady) and Julie O'Leary finishing here now folks who will be running in the next election whenever that may be for Fine Gael in the next election - not Fine Gael running Julie O'Leary running for Fine Gael. This guy was more clued in than I am and I live with Julie. He gave everyone a lift at the finish.

When I think back to Coachford I remember a lot of small details that added up and made the overall experience. To me this is definitely why they got the vote for best 5 mile of 2017. The course is hard the people are friendly. The race was accessible, booking online was not only a good call it invited you to make a commitment to be there. The organisers cut down any angst they surely felt on the night to an absolute minimum. You could feel it from all involved they were confident and most impressively they delivered on all fronts.

The Race

I went down there with the intention of getting to my threshold pace 4:10 - 4:20 per km and maintaining it across the tough course. At times I was too fast but I am adding pace to my workouts so hick ups where inevitable. I am trying to stretch my cardiovascular engine again and practise race pace. If I don't practise race pace it won't show up on race day. Other athletes can go up by 20-30% on race day but that isn't me. I have tried. They either no something I don't or secretly they hit race pace in training.

The hills were tough in parts. At two miles during the drag I thought I wouldn't be able to keep up. A race ebbs and flows your going to lose seconds going up hill. On reflection I was able to pull my pace back to where I wanted it be and hold it. In a marathon this will prove vital. At the back end of a marathon your holding on for dear life in the final miles. If you're coming apart you need to have the self belief that you can bring yourself back on track if you have a mile where things dip down. That belief for me comes from practise so I'll be able to use this race to gather confidence in my ability to sustain a pace under tough conditions. Coming down hill in Coachford you should able to make up any time lost if you were trying to PB. Runners on the night thought this course wasn't a PB style course I think differently and not just because I was guarnteed a PB. I think it's well worth a fast time and even a PB because the hills come early they are drags but they aren't long enough to take out a huge chunk of your energy and the last mile is relatively straight which makes achieving good rhythm possible. I would have raced at the last mile if I had not wanted to hold my pace and keep to my training plan.

On reflection my conclusion is go and have a cut off the Coachford 5 Mile Race when it comes around again. The organisers are giving there best and so should you.