Aware Christmas 5K & 10K, Phoenix Park, Saturday 12th December 2015
Saturday morning and the weather was doing its worst again. The lazy stayed in bed, the clever went to Rory’s indoor DA’Camp class and the brave and the foolish headed to the Phoenix Park for the Aware Christmas Run. Kevin Clancy and Alan McKernan were the 2 fools representing the Seniors while Angela Egan, Eileen Soraghan and John Cotter bravely represented Fit4Life. (Yeah, Fit4Life penning this report in case you hadn’t guessed!)
Kevin was our only 5K participant and clocked an excellent 18.38, placing 9th overall. His good pal Alan McKernan kindly provided us with some feedback on Kevin’s run. “Kevin has shown great improvement over the last few weeks now that Jennifer allows him to run again. He has improved by 50 seconds in a week in the two Mile league and braved the weather for the second week in a row, following the Jingle Bells run last Saturday, improving his time by well over a minute between races. If Jennifer allows him to run a little more, Kevin will hit some more great times in 2016.” Sounds like Alan is nervous of being overtaken and anxious to distract Kevin by causing trouble on the homefront. Offering him cake during the Dublin half marathon didn’t work Alan, and this won’t either. Well done Kevin on a super run!
Alan McKernan opted for the 10K and here’s his feedback on his 39.32 outing. “It was a horrible morning. I did the 10k. It was horrible. I was drenched before it even started. I missed the club sessions during the week so used this as a tempo. I had squelchy feet too. I was not happy. I really don’t like squelchy feet. It really was heroic of me turning up and running it with wet squelchy feet. By the time I finished I had muck splashes on my legs too. It was like being off to war but the battle was with the elements. A well earned medal was had. Don’t worry about putting me on report. It was not really a race for me. It’s a race I like to support for the charity. I sneezed yesterday too!!” Yeah, whatever! What a sub-par performance from our whiny little weasel! We can only apologise for him!
We are very happy to report that we did have genuinely heroic 10K performances from our 3 Fit4Lifers; Angela Egan 1.02.XX, Eileen Soraghan 1.04.10 and John Cotter 1.21.45. This was Angela’s second soaking in a week as she too braved the elements for Jingle Bells. Not only that, but she added a few extra miles and used it as a training run for her upcoming 2016 Manchester Marathon. Angela didn’t get an exact time as she originally registered for the 5K but opted for the 10K on the day. Take that S3A! Eileen is never one to shy away from a challenge and can currently be seen rippin’ it up in the Dunboyne Winter League, along with Angela and several more of our Fit4Life stalwarts. Eileen is one of our unsung heroes Alan; unfortunately they’re all too rare! And what can we say about our elder statesman John Cotter? A man for all seasons and never a man for half measures, he shunned the 5K option in favour of the 10K. Why? Because he can!
But in all seriousness, we do have to take our hats off to these 5 for putting themselves through an absolute soaking in the name of charity. Fair play to all of you for keeping it lit in miserable conditions
