"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own"   Sri Chinmoy

Carlingford 2 Mile Race May 2019

I felt well prepared for this race, with a decent 5k 12 days previously and a few runs in between to loosen up. For once I wasn't recovering from a long bike ride or something so I was looking forward to just going for it.

The course was GPS-measured, so not spot on 2 miles but close enough for jazz as they say. It started on the edge of the village and headed down a winding street before turning on to the waterfront to complete the half-mile at a 180 degree turn. It was perfectly flat, very scenic and at 7.15 on a Sunday morning, completely deserted. I had time for a decent warmup with a mixture of strides, jogging and high-knees to loosen things up.

After our brief silence at the line we were starting our stopwatches and running - Sadanand out front with Gianluca, myself, Suswara and a few of our friends from Portugal all chasing behind. As the first half mile brought us to the turnaround I had got myself into 4th place, then as the minutes flowed by and we came into the last half mile I finally made it to third which I held on to behind Gianluca. My time was 12.08 but I have a feeling it was a slightly short course and I really ran around 12.20 pace. Much more important than the time though was the feeling of letting go and pushing my body very hard from start to finish, which was tough of course but also exhilarating. You feel so alive in in the intensity of a hard effort - there's no space for the mental calculations and complexities that can assail you in a marathon, you just concentrate on every stride until the distance surrenders and you cross the line.

So another great two mile race somewhere beautiful with friends old and new from around the world. I wonder how many more of these I'll do? Over the years I've run faster than this and sometimes just had to race-walk because of injury but whatever the circumstances I love taking part.
 
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