Myself and Tony are off to Connemara, with most of the gang, this weekend for our annual Ultra! I love this race.
Connemara is not so much a race as an experience. I've felt good for most of the race the last 2 times and hopefully this year will be the same. I love that feeling when you're running up the 'hell of the west' and you just say to yourself: "I feel f*cking fantastic". It only happens in Connemara! And that's after you've run about 37 miles and have 2 more to go! Last year I had Paul with me for the last 2 miles and we really encouraged each other along.
I always say hi to everyone I pass in Connemara especially if it's on an uphill. I'm probably more used to hills than some of the people I meet en route so I alway try and encourage others up them. It's a tough course for those of us who have done it before but even tougher for the newbies.
For those who think it's mad running 39.3 miles here's how I get my head around it: I jog really slowly for 13 miles, even slower than I think I should. I'm trying to make those miles not register in my legs. Then when I get to the 13 mile mark I forget about them altogether and starting counting up the marathon miles. So in effect I start to count the miles from scratch at that point. So when I get to mile 14 I actually count that as mile 1 and so on from there. That's cos that's how it's predominantly marked from then on. It fools your brain and so kinda fools your legs!
The next 13 miles are fairly flat so I run at my normal pace. Towards the end of this 13 miles as I'm coming towards Leenane I start to meet marathoners from the regular marathon race. This is a great distraction as I say hi and how's it going to anyone I pass.
The next 13 miles is all mostly uphill but the key thing is once you turn at Leenane with 13 miles more to go, you just keep telling yourself at that stage that you are heading for home. Just get up those hills, one foot in front of the other, that's all it is and get home as fast as you can.
Simple eh?
(It is really, it's the months of training that are the killer, the race is the easy bit!)
I was blogging on our running website about the essentials to wear/ bring here.
4 comments:
God almighty woman. Mucho admiration for you. I can barely run a twelfth of that without collapsing.
Hi Kav and thanks for comment. I'm heading to Connemara now and getting nervous!
Every year I do Connemara I come flying in like I've been on a rollercoaster! I love it, it's the only race like it.
Like I said the race is the easy bit, it's the training that's hard! Everyone who runs a race gives 100 per cent. With ultras the percentage is just spread out over a longer distance.
Good luck with the job interview!
Eeek, and hahahaha. Oh my. I'm exhausted even reading that. Crikey.
Hi FMC, loved you account of BUPA. My first 10k I was so nerve-wracked I kept crying waiting for the start gun and trying to hide it! I'm such a wuss! Very little has changed since...
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