Kildare Senior Road Race Championships 2012.

And they're off!

Hosted by my club Le Cheile for the second year we had almost perfect conditions for this 10K Race even though I felt like I was in less than perfect condition for racing as a result of my recent training volume.  Keeping my eye on a more important race I couldn't afford to Taper or miss one of my weekly gym sessions and I've been suffering with the DOMS since Friday caused by a cumulative effect from strength training on Tuesday & Thursday.
Not expecting a peak performance but still feeling like I should run sub 37 mins which was slower than my PB (Personal Best) I decided to throw caution to the wind and run with the lead runners for as long as possible and then try a little bit harder rather than just pace myself as I would if running for a PB.
The race started and thats what I did.  All went well until almost 6K when my pace started to falter and I'm not sure if I fell back or the lead runners increased the pace but I could feel my legs were heavy and I was unable to push harder and stay with the pack.  The distance started to increase and with so many twists and turns in the last stages of the race I lost sight of the pack and the gap started to increase.

Approaching the last 2 K they were back in sight and with a target to focus on I managed to make up 2 places and even managed a sprint finish over the last 200 M.  Not sure of my position but I finished in 36:19 which after checking is only 2 seconds slower than last year so all in all I'm very happy with the result and still have the DOMS...

Well done to John Canning from Newbridge Athletic Club for a super win.

Photos thanks to Willie Murphy.