I was in two minds as to where I should post today. Vinca's-In-Tha-Kitchen is pretty much a blog about cooking, food and all sorts of inter-related things, whereas my other main blog Polly's Peri-Wrinkle's & Piercings! is pretty much about anything from food to crafting, to injustices in the work place, to perfume and God only knows what else. I decided to post here though, as in a round about way this post is about food; or should I say a lack of it?
Yesterday, Monday the glorious 4th July saw just over 40,000 women of all shapes and sizes take to the streets of our capital city; Dublin. Their purpose? To complete the 10km Flora Women's Mini-Marathon. Most do it in support of their favourite charity, some to qualify for other events and others do it just for the sheer hell of it. As for me; I split my loyalties in three this year. My first loyalty is to my new scout group up in Edenderry, Co Offaly, my second is to Offaly Dyslexia (incorporating the Offaly Dyslexia Group) down in Tullamore and my third loyalty is to not-so-little-old me!
This was my third year to complete the ten kilometer course around Dublin's fair city. For a change my 'running partner' Sandie Dunne stayed at home, having sustained unpleasant back pain and a nasty case of sciatica resulting in NO walking for a number of weeks. It was my first time out on my own, but luckily my SIL Bronagh came to the rescue; having nobody to walk/jog with she was delighted to join me at the start line and thankfully took heed of my advice to take the break if she saw one and not to bother to say goodbye either! Bronagh jogged some of the way and did take the break, which is a minor miracle in its own right as the course was overcrowded to a ridiculous and frustrating degree.
I started the day with a stinking headache, presumably fueled by the fact that I'd allowed myself to become dehydrated on scout camp on Saturday/Sunday. Despite a couple of litres of water, followed by a can or two of lager my condition became quite obvious on Monday morning, thankfully a bowl of bran flakes and full fat milk with a sprinkle of sugar did the trick! Funny enough DG had exactly the same problem, for much the same reasons and remedied it with a couple of slices of toast. I did both, cereal and toast knowing that I was going to need the carbs later in the day...
Strangely, I've never done a 10k with music before. I've always had the facility for it but never actually got around to using it before, probably due to the fact that I've always had company. This time, however, was different and after Bronagh took off I pulled out my earphones, untangled the wires and pressed the play button on my phone. Despite the warnings about personal stereo's potentially "preventing competitors from hearing important safety announcements" I found that the constant babble of women's voices couldn't be drowned out and that I could only really hear the music, but not the vocal element of my eclectic sound-track. Ranging from The Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention to AC/DC and Korn, my music motivated me to pound the streets at top speed (as far as the crowd would allow!)
I demolished approximately two litres of water along the way. Thankfully I'd brought most of that with me and a helpful scout filled my bottle from the hauser at one of the water points. This year the water was in paper cups and not a bottle to be seen along the way! Goodness only knows what the temperature was, but I was glad of any shade along the way. Even the Dublin Fire Brigade let us down in terms of water, last year they cheerfully hosed Sandie & I down, while other competitors screeched and shrank away from the cool spray as though vampires from the sun. This year, there was none of that.
The clock on the finish line stated 2.15 as I crossed the finish line. I've been anxiously waiting to find out my time ever since, as certainly there must have been at least a half hour shuffle to the start line, so of course I totally disregarded that info and have been plaguing the FWMM site all day! I've just discovered why I was so hungry when I finished:
| 2012 - 26960 | 30867 | Polly Pierce | Offaly | 01:50:06 |
| 2011 - 31499 | 30853 | Polly Pierce | Offaly | 01:58:11 |
| 2010 - 7227 | 6156 | Polly Pierce | Offaly | 01:53:36 |
It's not much, but it's more than 8 full minutes faster than last year and only about 15 behind Bronagh who jogged much of the way! I'm full sure that it would have been better than that had I been rude enough to shove my way past the slow walking women who'd got in the way for much of the course...
One thing's for sure, I'd never have made it the whole way round the course had I known that was in store - a crispy finger roll, halved with a slathering of double concentrated tomato puree, a tiny sliver of second class pepperoni sausage and a sprinkling of cheese do not a pizza make. Thankfully the coffee and passion cake from Kylemore Café made up for the disappointment.
For some strange reason, I am absolutely STARVING today...
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