As a prelude to the Dublin marathon the following day, the main objective of racing at Poolbeg was to stretch the legs out, and not to push too hard, pick up any tightness or injuries. After an awful year it is pretty safe to say that I went out hoping for a worst ever competitive 5km time.

Having said all of that a qucik glance at my watch half-way through the first km showed an average page of 4:30/km, and so I had to reign myself back at that point.

At about 3km there is a wee hill at Poolbeg that is pretty steep and sustained for a parkrun, its probably safe to say that this is not the fastest course out there, but the setting is pretty spectacular. I started making up places on the uphill and downhill, as you come flying back past the start for the second time.

After which the route climbs back more gently for a second loop into the park. I just held pretty firm here, keeping a good solid pace into the finish and averaging just a little over 5min/km. A >25 min 5km is easily the worst 5km race I've ever run, but I was actually pretty proud of how I handled this one.