Howth

Howth 5km Mountain race

Trail/Mountain running has been something I have watched closely for the past year, becoming more and more engrossed in the world of trail running each and every day.
A fast ascent of a mountain pushing hard all the way up is what I now prefer to hiking up for hours, from watching athletes such as Anton Krupicka and Kilian Jornet my love for the discipline has grown.

Kilian Jornet, one of the greatest trail runners of all time

So recently I enrolled in the IMRA a mountain running association in Ireland, and looking at the calendar my first race was in howth a 5km race.
I spent the next few weeks training hard long runs mountain runs coupled with the other sports I'm playing.
As the first race of the season drew nearer I was feeling fit and ready for a crack at trail running.
Considering I had spent the best part of last year in different mountain ranges I was well prepared, being in Colorado I think had helped.
The night before the race I stayed in Dublin barely able to sleep a wink, I was anxiously nervous my gear was laid out and I was ready for the next morning.
The next morning I woke early and had a good breakfast before making my way out to howth, registration for the race closed at half 11 so I had plenty of time.
Having got my number (248) I set of to warm up and to get a feel for the course, the first km was very narrow and a bottleneck was sure to be the outcome.
At 11:55 everyone was lined up and ready following a minutes silence the countdown started my breath became slower my heart started to race and all my legs wanted to do was explode forward, GO the sound of watches beeping into action deep breaths and feet hitting concrete for the first steps where what greeted the word.
I stupidly got caught back in the bottleneck as the race kicked off and spent the majority of the first ascent trying to pick my way up along the throng of people in front of me, by the time we reached the final part of wooded area I was up in the top 10 and feeling confident, the climb towards the mast and around for a second loop began, my legs ground upwards on the steepest section of the course where running was not possible, and once I crested this section the track opened out before me and I loosened my legs taking into a strong stride, by the time we came around for the second loop of the course I had passed 2 others and was pushing towards the front.
Around the same loop but coming back down towards the finish line I was focusing on catching the next man ahead of me but at the same time another had started to breath down my neck, we crashed down through the forest together his breath becoming closer and closer we dodged trees and leapt gaps all the way down towards the final stretch to the finish line.
I opened up leaving him behind giving everything I had left and crossing the finish line.
I finished 8th in the race, the season had started many more races lie ahead

Coming towards the finish line