Mountain Running race (Flagstaff - Carlingford) 2:22:55 [3] 17.54 km (8:09 / km) +968m 6:23 / km
shoes: Mudclaw 300
a bad run that turned into a disaster. the lactate always seems to build very quickly into the legs and i was losing places on the inital 300m of climb to the first checkpoint. found a great line across to the 2nd which allowed continuous running to get the legs working again. Steady enough run to the mast and then the 4th checkpoint. lost a bit of time on the run down to windy gap but wasn't really concentrating as i was considering the route to Slieve Foye. Bracken is very high this year due to mild winter so i considered going high with the crowd or staying very low cutting across the forest. chose the forest but then climbed to high as it seemed very runnable. then hit dense undergrowth and the trouble began. Mr Marks had followed but stayed low and found the runnable track. it took a good while for me to negotiate my way down to it and i had lost all enthusiasm for running despite it being very runnable. lost 20mins in the forest before finding my way to the track. enjoyed the path and even the hike up to the summit but was now way off the pace. just did enough to get to the finish and then away to drive up to work without being too late!
will need to review what i do next year. so far all NIMRA champ races have fallen on working weekends and that's impacted on my level of commitment to racing and overall enjoyment. will miss both spelga and 7x7s unless take the time off work but can't afford to do that.