(With thanks to Kay Gilmartin for this great report.)
It’s not easy to get up at 6am on a Sunday, to go for a run, but at the end of this one, we all agreed that getting out of bed was the hardest part of the day. Ger Ryan was Taxi Driver No 1 on the day for Patricia Gallagher and yours truly. Fortunately the race finish was near Ger’s workplace, so we parked there, and then got Taxi 2 to O’Connell St. Well, conserving one’s energy for the race is important… O’Connell St was buzzing, and not by the usual night revellers on their way home. Blue Tshirts given out for the run were appearing from every side street and alleyway. It was enough to scare any poor Kerry supporter, up for the League final later in the day.
It was obvious that there was a large entry as we all got to the starting line after 7.30am. The atmosphere was really great as we got into the waves. We decided to stay at the top of the 2nd wave. The National Anthem was sung by all before the start, and 2 mins after the first wave went off. Shortly after we were on our way. Run left Mountjoy Square, left to O’Connell St. At O’Connell Bridge, we turned left to Liberty Hall, where we crossed the bridge on the right and up the quays, all the way up to the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham. We ran nice and steady, enjoying the ‘sights’ and the atmosphere. We knew that Maeve Dunne, our Fit4Youth rep and her Dad were probably well ahead of us. Water, fruit and bars were available at the end of the race, and while we were enjoying this, we met up with 2 more Dunboyne Fit4Life members, Annette Finlay and her daughter Julieann. While we chatted, music was being played in the background. Runners and walkers continued to stream in for some time, all looking happy. Although there was a clock at the start and finish, there was no chip timing. Some of us thought that we had run faster, but does the clock ever lie, or was it wishful thinking on our behalf?
Regardless of time, we all agreed that this was an enjoyable and very reasonably priced 5K run, and a really well organised event by Athletics Ireland. At this stage, we could sell Tshirts, but this one is a nice one to have.
[Editor’s note: No doubt, we had more members in this run but in the absence of chip timing results, we cannot compile a full list. Let us know in the comments. Well done to all who took part.]
