A week after Quest Lough Derg came GaelForce North. Having committed to sharing a room with Ed, I made my way up to Donegal on the Friday before the race in an optimistic mood. The cloud that was lost sheep started to lift and I was looking forward to the race. Like GaelForce West, GaelForce North is a point to point race, requiring a bus journey in the early hours of the morning to get to the start line. The race started with a 15 kilometre run and from the sound of the starter siren I was on it. I felt good, I was happy with my pace and comfortable with the bumps of the trail. Passing one competitor at the 5 kilometre mark, I noticed he was wearing a pair of casual trainers and carrying a rope tied bag on his back. As I passed him he sped up and then slowed, before again speeding up to try to stay ahead of me. It was much too early in the race to be working that hard and as I passed him for the last time I offered some experienced advice “you are not competing against me, you are competing against yourself”. I am not sure how he took this and I didn’t see him at any point after that.
On the first climb of the day I slowed to a walk and then quickly realised that this was just a bad habit before I started running again. The first bike followed the run and although I was happy with how it went it was clear that there is still room for improvement. Similarly getting up and down the mountain went well but my descending, as with GFW, still needs work. Back on the bike after the mountain it was a straight sprint to the finish line. Working with two other cyclists we kept a strong pace and I finished feeling I had given everything I could on the day. It was a great feeling to know everything went to plan. It doesn’t need to be perfect to feel like you have given it your all.
Komentáře