T.a.L-Chasing Abbey
Not the week I had hoped for but even so in 7 days this month I've logged 35 miles......in the entire month of September I only logged 40...........
Monday October 12th A slow enough time of 44.14.1 off 8.38 mile pace but as I often say not every workout has to be an Olympic final, the way I had drawn up the week was easy run today, a bit quicker Tuesday,quicker again Wednesday, easy run Thursday........ we make plans and God laughs as the saying goes....A pleasant 74 degrees at almost 5pm,Hal the bollox Garmin was up to his auld tricks when mile 2 came up too early so the subsequent splits were all off,I ended up running 5.12 to get to where I know the 5 mile mark to come in at the corner of Springfield and 50th St rather than take Hal's word where he was indicating 5 miles came in today.......lying lil bollox!!!!!
Thursday October 15th No runs Tuesday & Wednesday as work gave me the biggest arse fuckin' since Sodam & Gomorrah, fuck sake I couldn't see straight let alone run straight after those two days, the pounding migraines both days didn't help any either.........Given I'd lost my two chances for a bit of speed work along the Schuylkill River Trail and Sundays race was coming up I opted for something mid tempo today and got under 44 mins w/ a 43.55.5 off 8.47 mile pace.68 degrees and sunny....worked up a nice little sweat for my trouble,I have two more weeks of these conditions and the daylight as the clocks go back here in the early hours of Nov 1st, it will be a culture shock when I have to start running home in the dark and to that end I'm pulling out half zip running tops and 3/4 length bottoms to get ready for that..... To my untrained eye it would appear the new swing bridge over the Schuylkill River to connect the Schuylkill River Trail to the Bartram Garden Trail is in place......how long we have to wait for it to be officially opened is anyone's guess.....if the city are involved fuck knows how long it'll take.......two and a half fucking years to work on the MLK Drive/W.River Dr bridge below the Spring Garden St bridge b4 it opened, the website continues to state " open in 2026".......newsflash boys there are only 11 more weeks in the year......., once that opens it gives me the potential to tack on another 2 miles to this route which would be nice
Sunday October 18th Fair to say I have a love hate relationship w/ the Market St 5 Miler/Run For The Blue race,since it's inception in 2018 in mid to late October, in 2018 I finished 7th overall and 2nd in my age group, the following year I finished 3rd overall.......in 2021 I was runner up in the age group, I skipped 2022 and in 2023 I began to encounter their utter bollox re bag check.Most if not all race supply the most basic necessity of a bag check, at a time of year when the weather is beginning to turn colder it's almost a given ye'll rock up for a race in warm up clothes b4 stripping down to race wear and then throwing on warm dry clothes after ye finish.........these hoors assume everyone who races/ walks the event either A has a car to leave their gear in, B has someone to hand said clothes/bag to while their running/walking or C lives w/in walking distance to the start/finish..........that's a hard NO for this wee Fenian bastard on all 3. When I last encountered their strict no bag check policy{their pre race literature states in categoric language "There wiil NOT be a bag check"!!!!!???? in 2023 I had to ditch an auld t shirt b4 the start that of course wasn't there when I finished which compounded the fact that sans phone I had no way of knowing the results till they eventually got around to the 50-59 mens results over an hour after I crossed the finish line.........4th, weeks b4 turning 60 where I would've walked the 60-69 age group.....2024 was right b4 Dublin marathon when I was on #249 and FUCK NO I wouldn't give these hoors the satisfaction of being #250 and last year I went back out to Radnor for the much hillier but lo and behold a bag check Radnor Run 5 Miler......which sadly wasn't on the schedule this year, were I not on a mission to hit #300 in Cork in June and needing the medal today I would've continued my boycott of the event.
It was chilly when I left out at 6.30am and frankly not much warmer when I arrived at the Marriott Hotel at 7,10am........oh did I not mention the event starts and finishes behind said hotel??? are ye feckin' telling me ye can't set aside a Meeting Room,Ballroom,Conference Room for bags..........cop the fuck on!!!!!! It was that chilly that I along w/ a large number of other runner sought the warmth of the hotel hallway to warm up and stretch pre race b4 finally braving the chilly 43 degrees that felt like 37 degrees when the siren sent us on our way at 8am.Given this like other races on the schedule was a 10 year age group 60-69 rather than 60-64/65-69 meant an age group award/bonus medal was about as likely as these cunts providing a bag check.........sorry not sorry but it was low hanging fruit!!!,to finish top 3 I'd probably need to be clocking 7 min miles.....which was never on my bingo card, I can get back there but sadly between the achilles issue in late July/early August and the daylight issue banajaxing morning runs not only has my mileage nosedived in August/September, but speed work has been wishful thinking.........bit like these hoors providing a bag check...............Because Hal the lil Bollox Garmin and the race mile markers were on two separate pages there's no point reeling off mile splits......when I crossed the finish line of a 5 mile race Hal informed me I'd only ran 4.73 miles....g'wan ta fuck ya wee bollox... Off a 40.00.2 finish I think it's fair to say it was 8 min mile pace, sadly this was my first 5 miler not under 40 mins in 25 races since 1990.......I'm getting to that age where slowest ever times are more likely now, as the auld saying goes "the older I get,the faster I used to be!!!" Since I wanted to avoid a repeat of 2023 of waiting around freezing the hole off meself for over an hour for the results I ran w/ my phone which wasn't ideal but it confirmed I had finished outside of the age group awards/bonus medals so w/ my finishers medal in hand I made my way home.Medal #13 for the year,#282 for the career Cork #300 is still on track, to that end no races next weekend......which is grand hopefully a long run next Saturday or Sunday as there's a simulated half marathon at the Rocky Run in 4 weeks time and an actual half marathon the following week,Bridge Run 10k in Camden up next in a fortnite......hopefully less Sodam & Gomorrah and more 5 mile runs in the build up......and if ye fuckers w/ the swing bridge can get yer fingers out of yer arseholes maybe the 5 mile run home can become 7........not too much to ask is it?............bit like a bag check at a race ye hoors #G'wantafuck
No comments:
Post a Comment