Wicklow Gaol Break 2016!

Have you ever seen Prison Break TV series? It's one of my favourite shows. Maybe that's why this race appealed to me from the beginning :)
Wicklow Gaol Break is a half marathon and a 10km race. This year it was organised for the 6th time and took place on the 20th of March. It was a hope of the organisers to hit 1,250 entries and donate €2,500 to charity. While the entry numbers didn't get anywhere near the goal figure, the donation will still go ahead ;)
About 800 participants signed up for this year's events and it was pretty much an even split between 10km runners and Half Marathoners.
At first, I was tempted to sign up for the Half Marathon, but then I thought to myself, that it's probably better to go with 10Km on this occassion, because I'll be running the Connemara Half Marathon in early April and didn't want to OD on miles in the run up to this event :)
Wicklow is a lovely, picturesque town south of Dublin and it has it all really: the coast and the mountains.


Wicklow Jail Break Route and my Race Stats

It was very convenient for us to be able to collect our race numbers and official T-Shirts up in Dublin on Friday before the race. That way we were all set for Sunday and could afford a little lay in in the morning!
The morning of the race was rather chilly when we arrived quite early in the morning giving ourselves good hour and a bit to get our bearings. Wicklow Gaol where we started off was easy to find and many runners were already warming up around there.

10Km runners waiting for a sign to go.

The Half Marathon started ahead of 10Km, but we hit the road within 10 minutes as well. The route started off nice and flat along the Pier and then coast which was followed by a set of killer hills along the way. Yes, hills is what I remember the most from this race and my calves still hold memory of them in their muscles. My Fitbit tells me I've climbed 49 floors on this run which is not something I'm used to.

Convicts on the loose!

 I started off nice and easy in anticipation for hills, which allowed me to conserve the energy over the distance. I ran this race using the effort as an indication rather than pace. This worked for me because I knew this wouldn't be a course for a new PB, so I decided to admire the views and soak up the atmosphere rather than killing myself to shave off seconds of each km. It was new and it was exciting! I still managed to finish within the hour with chip time of 54:40, which was good enough for me.

Finishing in style

I flew over the finish line. Literally. The last kilometer was very steep downhill run which I found quite dangerous because it was all concrete and had somebody fall, they could really get hurt. I had this fear in my head which is why I didn't fully use this opportunity to run at full blast. Nonetheless, this downhill force pushed us all through the finish line and everybody seemed like they're full of energy crossing the finish line ;)

We made it! Proudly presenting our medals.

 The atmosphere at the finish line was brilliant, Finisher's medals, water and a free banana for all runners! There was also soup station for those getting cold after the stretch and cooldown.

I hope to be able to run a Half Marathon version of this race next year!
And for all interested, here's a link to Wicklow Gaol Break Website.

Poppintree Parkrun: New Route

 

So our Pparkrun changed the route last weekend!!! We've been hearing about changes due to be made to the course of Parkrun for some time and they have finally arrived!

The old tree one-mile laps were replaced with two bigger and one smaller loops. If anybody thought this old route was confusing, the new one is even more so ;) but once you grasp it, it's actually less monotonous.



 

Old Route

New Route

 I find that it's good to add some variety to the race - helps spicing things up ;) but it also means that there are more volunteers required every week. Hopefully there will be no shortage of helpers!
This week we had lead bike guiding us on the new course which was very helpful. The new route was actually less crowded thank the previous one and more open, which won't be great on a windy day. Well, let's hope it'll make us run faster! Finished line has also been moved out of the way, so it's not so easy to click somebody in by mistake.



New PB



My official time was 24:04 which improved my PB by 1 second (every little helps!) - YAY! so it seems that the smaller loop at the end really gives you a boost :) What surprised me though was, that Endomondo notified me of a personal 3mile record, even though my runs are measured in KMs.

There will be no PB's next week because I will be volunteering and running a 10KM race on Sunday. I hope everybody else is going to get a new PB. This change seems to be working well.

Dublin Half Marathon 2015

I have ran 163Km in 2016 to date according to my running diary. It's not an impressive mileage, not as much as I'd like it to be. I was out of action for some time: two weeks out caused by sinus infection :( and some really strong storms in Jan and Feb. Let's face it, I'm not a hardcore runner (yet, anyway!).
But I did start itching for some challenges and races. 'It's time to brush off those cobwebs!' I thought, so I recently signed up for two half marathons and a 10 km race in Wicklow :) This should keep me honest and my running diary busy!
It made me think my first Half Marathon, Dublin Half Marathon 2015 and I'd like to write a couple of words about this event today.
 As far as I know, Dublin Half Marathon always takes place in Phoenix Park and this time was no different. It's a great place for such events as it's a huge urban park which is great for long distances such as half Marathon and saves closing down roads for the duration of the run.

Heroes of the day!

Signing up for my first ever Half Marathon was a bit of a spare of a moment. I made up my mind just a couple of weeks before the event and just a couple of days before the closing date. It was August 2015 and I would have done the VHI Women's Mini Marathon and a couple of Parkruns thus far. Getting a new PB on a 5km distance was getting harder and harder, so I started toying with an idea of starting to run longer distances. I probably still wouldn't have done it on my own, so as soon as my friend Alex said she'd be up for it, we signed up before we could realise what a crazy distance we have just committed to run!

Pacemakers

It was a crazy distance for me then and it still is now, because never before (or since for that matter), had I gone for a run longer than 12km. I felt however, I was capable of it and decided to embrace the challenge setting my goal at 2hrs. Quite a tall order for a first timer but in theory, according to online calculators, my 10km time indicated 2hrs was within my reach, so I went for it! 

8,500 runners at the start line

 The preparation for the race was very minimal. I think I prepared more in theory than in practice. I had this routine where I was doing intervals once a week in the gym, some morning runs with hills in the neighborhood and Parkruns on Saturdays. On top of this, I was preparing my strategy of pacing myself and tackling 'the wall'. I also had to decide which runners to wear for this occassion and decided on my 'competition' minimalistic Nike Free to give myself the best chance of achieving my goal!
It didn't help that I lost my Fitbit Charger a week earlier in Paris, and Endomondo had to suffice.

Couldn't stop showing off

On the race day, we'd arrived nice and early, worying if we;d get a parking space, but it turned out to be fine and we had an hour to ger ourselved organised and get in front of the 2:00 Pacemaker. It was fairly stress free as we had been posted our race numbers and a brochure in advance, so all we really had to do was to show up! 

 As we started running, it was quite easy to keep up the pace with the crowd. The adrenaline kicked in quite early into the race and I had to actively slow myself down not to get too tired too quickly, but it made the first couple of miles pass quite slowly. I started getting somewhat tired halfway through the race and decided to check my stats on my running app and it turned out, I was 'running' a little late! I started stressing about it a little bit and worrying that my dream of finishing within the 2hrs was going down the drain as I was only getting more tired from now on, but my fighting spirit kicked in and I picked up my pace ever so slightly and made the the most of any downhill miles. I must say, it is really nerve wrecking to be constantly analyzing any possibilities of going over the two hours. Somewhere the 8th or 9th mile I decided that it's my first half marathon and it would be OK to go over 2hrs. Sure, a goal is just a goal and I will take stock of my results and improve for the next one. But I also promised myself, that if I do go over the two hours, It wouldn't be because I gave up. Because I knew that 1:59 would taste so much better than 2:01, so I gave it all I had. 

Poser :)

The real struggle was the last three miles. It's the distance I run every week in the park. It seemed the longest! Much longer than the first 10! At that point I was on track for the 2hr mark and struggling to keep it up. I kept telling myself that all I had to do is to stick with the pace for another 30 minutes and then live in glory for the rest of my life ;) So I ran and ran preparing for the hill on the last mile. I felt that I was running for ages and the hill was nowhere to be seen!!! When it finally appeared in front of me, I was saved! I was on the last mile and I knew this mental and physical torture was almost over. What I also noticed was that I started overtaking others, which I'm not sure if i speeded up a little or they were slowing down? I just couldn't feel anymore. I wanted it to be over.

Chip time: 1:58:24

Crossing the finish line knowing I made it within the 2 hours brought me back to life!!! I could feel happiness, pain, thirst, hunger, pride and my feet. More than ever before, but it felt good. It felt damn good and I'd do it again as soon as I get over the trauma of my first one ;)

 You can find more details on this year's event on the official website here. This is yet another event I'm going to miss in 2016, which is a terrible pity. I will try to make up for it by running a half Marathon in Connemara this April, which is supposed to be one of the most scenic and the Clontarf Half Marathon in Clontarf in July which promises new PB being one of the flattest course!

Poppintree Parkrun

I think it's time I say a few words about my local Parkrun ; Poppintree Parkrun.
It's a relatively 'young' Parkrun, established on Halloween 2014 and growing in popularity since. As metioned before in my previous entry about Parkruns in general, this too, is a free for all, timed 5km race in a park organised on a volunteering basis.
It takes place every Saturday at 9:30am in Poppintree park and the course is three 1 mile laps which might be confusing for first time runners, but you get the hang of it eventually ;)

Poppintree Parkrun Course

This week's run was wet and windy, but we've had worse. I managed to finish as 25th out of 90 runners with officoal time 25min 34sec. I was the 5th female to finish this time, but there were couple of occassions where I'd be 1st female, but those were the times I finished in just over 24 minutes.
My latest Personal Best is 24min and 4 seconds, and I can't get anywhere near this time since November :(

My latest Parkrun stats

Because at Poppintree Parkrun we're not a huge crowd, everybody knows somebody they want to outrun. It's great to see people progressing, getting faster or loosing weight if that's their goal. You can see those determined to better themselves and they set a great example for the rest of us. What is more, each small improvement, every new PB is celebrated by all and serves as a great motivation.

Post Run Selfie

Crossing the Finish Line is a glorious moment for me! No matter how fast or slow I am, volunteers at the Finish Line always make me feel like a champion - how do they do it?!
I think 24:05 is a good time for a shortie like me, but if I could get my dream time, I'd love to be able to finish 5km race in 22mins. I know it's going to be hard, but this is a goal I'm setting for myself for 2016 :) Hopefully with a bit of strengh training and intervals, I will be able to live that dream!

Finish Line

As you can see in the picture above, Parkrun wouldn't be happening without volunteers! Their time and effort is greatly appreciated especially that sometimes they get much colder standing there scanning barcodes that runners on the course...

VHI Women's Mini Marathon

This is, by far, the biggest Women's running event in Ireland. in 2015, nearly 40,000 women took part in this 10 Km race and if you think about it, that's 1% of the entire population of Ireland!

You can run it, you can jog it, you can even walk it, as long as you're having fun :)

It is a great event where most of participants raise awareness and funds for a cause close to their heart. Myself and my colleague Alex, supported Bubble Gum Club which is fundation granting wishes to disabled and terminally ill children.

The format of The Run has changed over the years. For a long time, the start of the run was quite disorganised where runners, joggers and walkers were all mixed in at the start line. As you can imagine, this was causing a chaos for women starting off at different paces considering the volume of participants! This time, starting line was divided into separate zones for walkers, joggers and runners. Anybody could start as a walker, but runners and joggers needed a qualifying time, which I, first time runner, didn't have. Thankfully, Parkrun came into my life and qualifying time was a problem no more for me ;)

Crowd waiting at the starting line

The weather on the day was rather wintery for a June bank holiday, which made us, two beginner runners anxious about running conditions, but as soon as we crossed the start line, the atmosphere of the event and live bands along the route carried us through completely oblivious to the cold, wind and rain! It was our first 'big' race with medals, so emotions in the run up to the event were quite mixed. While I felt that I put in the training and ran one or two 10km distances before, I set a target that I wanted to finish in under an hour...

I did it!

... and I did it! I managed to finish in 00:56:36 :D Great time for my first 10Km race, I was extatic!!!

The run was tough at times, but I didn't allow myself to loose the positive attitude and motivation on the route. It was before I started running with my MP3 player, so I was kept busy looking at all the clourful chaity T-Shirts some of the women were wearing - I didn't think there were so many in Ireland!

Proudly presenting my 1st medal

This run, and finishing time, was a huge achievement for me, so I really wanted to get my time engraved on the medal, but the queues were too long and I gave up eventually. It was only when I was standing in this queue, I started to feel the cold and the fatigue. All of a sudden, a hot meal and a celebratory drink started to appear to me as a better idea ;)

Results were published in The Evening Herald two days later

It's funny how thinking back, my first Mini Marathon, was such a challenge for me whereas now, I'm able to run 10km on a weekly basis without any major fatigue. Of course, if I didn't set myself this goal back then, I'd probably never develop my present running abilities. 

 

I was really looking forward to this years VHI Mini marathon, but it turns out, I will be away that weekend :( so unfortunately I will miss it! I would however encourage any woman thinking about challenging herself or manifesting a cause that's important to her to participate. Just being among all those women wrestling the distance is an overwhelming feeling of feminine power and strenght.

A truly moving experience.

What I love about Parkrun



 

Have you heard about Parkrun? It's a free-for-all 5km timed race organised by volunteers every weekend in parks worldwide. There are already many articles written about and prising Parkrun, so I won't go there, but if this idea is new to you, story of the event can be checked out on the official website www.parkrun.com. From there you will be able to find Parkrun in your country and area :)

Here's what Parkrun Founders say about it's beginnings themselves:

 

We had an idea. We ran with it.

parkrun started back in 2004 when 13 runners got together on a blustery day in Bushy Park, Teddington, UK. We’re now an international family of over half a million runners (and counting).

 



Popularity of Parkrun Ireland grows every day which attracts sponsors and publicity. This year we got those lovely new banners (above), brand new HiViz vests for Volunteers

 

Parkrun is probably the most regular of my running routines. I go ever Saturday as much as possible. I'm blessed to have Poppintree parkrun just around the corner.

My first Parkrun however was in Malahide - which by the way 1st Parkrun established in Ireland - but it was a bit far out for me and slightly overcrowded. The settings are beautiful though, you run on the Malahide Castle grounds with other 500+ Parkrunners and go for coffee afterwards to Avoca Café who are doing deals coffee + today's paper for about €4. That day I finished 390th of of 500 odd runners in the field with time 00:30:30 which was a good start. Currently, I'm struggling to beat my PB from November which is 00:24:05. I've come a long way in those couple of months!

 

On the way back from Parkrun last summer - still red on our faces!

Poppintree Parkrun is much more... exclusive ;) When I first joined, there was approximately 50-60 of us which suited me better. It just means you get a more personal experience, after a couple of weeks you get to know other runners and organisers very well. It helps building up a sense of community which in turn gives motivation for turning up every week! Benefits all round :)

You see lots of people taking it seriously, fighting for new PBs every week (including me :D) but there are a lot of joggers and walkers. People with buggies and dog walkers - it's great having everyone there!

 

Ready - Set - GO!
119 parkrunners turned up on that cold, gloomy morning!

Our Parkrun family nearly doubled in January 2016 thanks to Operation Transformation initiative promoted by one of Irish Television Channels - let's hope this is more than a result of New Years Resolution Fad and that the momentum of growth continues throughout the year. After all, the sense of belonging is quite contagious in Poppintree Park ;) I only joined because I needed a timed 5km run to qualify for VHI Women's Mini Marathon and here I am a year later!

Poppintree Park in Autumn



 

We have some great facilities in the park. There's a playground, football pitch and even a pond! The actual course of the race is 3 x 1 mile laps around the pond. The fact that it's 3 laps is handy for pacing yourself. That and the fact that you get to pass volunteers three times on your run and they power you with their cheering :)

 

 

One of my latest Parkruns as a volunteer - Timekeeper

Once in a while, it's everybody's turn to volunteer. After all, volunteering is the main engine of the event! This means giving up one in every 6 or 7 runs to see the race 'from the other side'. That itself is a great experience or just an excuse to turn up when you're recovering from an injury or feeling under the weather. It also gives you a different perspective and appreciation for those who give up their runs to make it possible for others.

My First Parkrun as a Volunteer - Marshal

So far I've volunteered on three different stations: Marshal, Time Keeper and Finishing Tokens. Of these three, I must say that I enjoyed giving away finishing tokens the most. I like giving people the finishing barcodes and congratulating on a job well done. I'm weird like that ;)

I find Parkrun to be a great event for people of all ages and fitness levels. 5Km is still the same distance whether you do it on 17 minutes or 47 minutes :) I can only recommend it to anyone and everyone.
And that's what I call a great start of a weekend - feeling accomplished at 10am in the morning :)

This is Anna

Hello and welcome to my blog!
This is my first post and I decided to tell you a bit about myself and my blogging aspirations.
I'm Anna and I'm from Poland, however I've been living in Ireland for the past 10 years. I've made Dublin my home, even though it's true what others say, that the weather is crap and it's very congested. Well I've decided to look on the bright side and see the other side of the coin. I have met many wonderful people over here and while it may rain a lot, it is rarely too cold or too hot to run ;)
I have started running just over two years ago and my life has changed dramatically - but in a good way! - since.
It was end of November 2014, when I managed to run my first 5km without stopping and every single one of these 5 kilometers was ecstatic. It was the day I decided I was couch potato no more and that this was a beginning of a great and rewarding journey for me.
When I realised I could run 5 km, something that was out of my reach just 12 months before, I started wondering what else was I capable of and started challenging my comfort zone since.
Carried by this inner wave of enthusiasm, I signed up for the VHI Women's mini Marathon taking place on June 1st 2015, which was 10km, so now I have set the bar even higher and had motivation to train even harder! 
From then on, I fell in love with running. For a seasoned runner this may be no achievement, but we all had to start somewhere. Let's remember where we all came from, let's run fast, run long, but let's not outrun our joy of running!
My runners are now first on my packing list when I travel and i try to run a couple of races per year to keep my spirit of competitiveness alive. I hope to run my first Marathon this year, so wish me luck!

MoRun November 2015 - 10Km race

So from this place, I invite you to share and spread your joy of running, your ups and downs, for motivation, support and a bit of fun while we're at it ;)