Picture running along the muddy, boggy, rocky peak of a mountain. Picture running into a freezing cold gale of a wind. Picture not being able to look anywhere but your feet without getting a clatter of hail stones across the face. Well, that was what the mid-section of yesterday’s IMRA Winter League race at Three Rock in the Dublin Mountains.
The Final Stretch – Taken by John Shiels
As crazy as it sounds, though, I still enjoyed it immensely. It was much different from Howth in that it had a much more sustained uphill section, which I struggled to keep up a good pace on, but still a great experience. This one was definitely a “mountain run” instead of a “hill run” 🙂
After the mid-point, with our backs to the wind at last, it took me a little while to get my wits about me again after such a battering, but then I really enjoyed the long downhill section to the finish. I’m still happy with my time, even though it was a bit slower (percentage wise) than my Howth time.
I registered for car-pooling on IMRA’s website, which turned out to be a nice way to meet Fergal, Geraldine, Shane and David … even if they did have to push-start my car after I left the radio on during the race …
Fair play to the folks helping out with the organisation of the race yesterday – it was not a nice day at all to be standing out on the mountain directing people!
Filed under: IMRA, mountain running, running |
Out And About 
Check out your photos now Mark (and your page on the site).
(I’m involved in the photo admin….)
Well done by the way!
Nice on Aisling, thanks! I was going to try and figure out who to email about that, I’d be happy to help out with any of the website stuff …
Here’s a few more:
Shane Ryan:
http://imra.ie/?sec1=photo&id=21089
David Betts:
http://imra.ie/?sec1=photo&id=21048
Colm Magee: (his second race and he comes 5th!)
http://imra.ie/?sec1=photo&id=20962
Fergal Noone:
http://imra.ie/?sec1=photo&id=21002
Congrats on your win! 🙂
Thanks, that’s no problem, I’ll get to them later today. It’s always difficult in wet weather when people wear jackets. I usually try and figure out who they are from the results but that only works if the photos are taken close to the finish (it also takes a lot of time that way!!)
Rene is the person to talk to about helping out with the computer stuff. You should do one of the courses next time they’re on for using the laptop for registration and finish. Volunteering is a great way of seeing how things work.