Mike Griffin

Last Sunday was the Dublin Novice in the Phoenix Park. 6km of undulating running around the Munich Hills. It was run over 4 laps that were slightly longer than the ones we train on and the ground was surprisingly dry in most parts. There was only one really wet section as we reached the bottom of the hill parallel to the Kyber Pass.

I started off from the front row with Roman beside me but as the gun went I was swamped and ended up getting boxed in a little. I was a bit further back than I wanted to be at the start but i thought I could run my way through.

The first and second laps went well and I was keeping up well with the guys around me. Then I started drifting back. I had no power in my legs to get up the hills and every transition to a flat section left me running on my heels. I knew I should be trying to get up on my toes to keep moving lightly across the ground but I just couldn’t get my body to listen to me.

On the last lap, I got passed by a couple of lads and I was determined I wasn’t going to be dropped by them. I dropped back a little but I did get one of them on the line as he pulled up to finish. :)

I had some confusing moments as there was a guy shouting at a space just behind me on the last two laps. He kept shouting for Simon and I was getting convinced that there was no one there as no one passed me out. After looking at the results, it turns out that there was someone called Simon right behind me for two laps!

I was completely smashed at the end of the race and it took a couple of days before I felt I was ready to run again. I put this down to how hard the race was and also to being sick a week before.

Not much else to say about the race except bring on the Gerry Farnan tomorrow. On the same course. But longer!