Running 38:59 [5] 8.0 km (4:52 / km) +385m 3:56 / km
ahr:170 max:192
IMRA Scarr - 2nd
Started steady up the track, tucked in with Peter O'Farrell who moved a little ahead of me, and your man Barry in the DCU top was up ahead solo. I got past Peter on the flat / descent, and as we turned to start the big climb I just tried to settle into a consistent rhythm. Peter came past me after a short while, so I stuck on him, but he slowly started to gap me. Wasn't sure whether we were gaining on Barry, but we were running more than him which seemed like a good sign.
Turned right near the top to go to the summit and I felt like I'd closed a bit to Peter again, so when I hit the summit, Mahon was marshalling and he gave me a "they're catchable" shout.
got through the rolling stuff and probably caught Peter after a minute or two. I went through a particularly boggy patch and my shoe heel came off, tried to slip it back in, but it wasn't happening, so I just committed to it and sat down to put it back on, Peter went back by, but I started again not too far behind him, ~10-15sec lost.
Struggled to get by Peter again as we were moving well on the gorgeous boggy descent, but when it got a little steeper I could throw myself past again, and start to open up. I could see Barry was coming back slowly but he was a long way in front. Worked hard, and even when it flattened I was still gaining pretty quickly which gave me some hope. Pushed hard up the final rise, and threw myself down the final descent, it was trail, but I was gaining really quickly now, and by the time we hit the gate I was only 5sec down. The road section at the end though was probably only 600m or so and we were both going all out so I couldn't get back to him, and had to settle for 2nd.
I suspect he'd had a bit more in the tank, just didn't realise I was so close. Anyway nice outing all in all, a lovely route.
Had a 2:46 last km on the descent, so pretty happy with that. And ran this course in 2014 2.5mins slower, so that's definitely a good sign. Though Conor won it in 2014 and was 7sec quicker than my time today. What a shame, I'll blame that on the shoe.