Tollymore Half Marathon 2021: Race Report

Running, in my humble opinion, is all about perspective… Specifically, it’s all about positive perspective…

Any challenges or difficult moments faced while trying to walk twice at the same time (that’s how running was accidentally invented you know…) can usually be overcome by simply shifting one’s view of their current predicament - although its rarely that easy.

There’s any number of tricks people use to help skew the lens of despair while in deep in the mental trenches - I’ve previously referenced Jocko Willink, my favourite Navy Seal Commander (and I’m sure yours as well) and his Youtube short, “Good” as my go-to mood swinger, I actually write it on my hand for longer races.

The other day, though, I was on the train home, as one does be, and while scrolling through Instagram I stumbled across one of those countless running motivation posts that read;

“Don’t think of them as hills, think of them as ‘mounds of opportunity….” 

That one made me laugh a little, partly because I’d never heard (read?) it before but also because in that case, I had encountered what felt like a few ‘opportunities of a lifetime’ about a month ago during a half marathon in Tollymore Forest Park that was kindly organised by our friends at 26 Extreme, my final race of the year.

In truth I actually had a deferred 2020 pandemic spot for the ultra marathon on offer (all 40 miles of it) but after Belfast marathon in October, training momentum took a nose dive. This, along with my regular visit to the doctor’s office and the rest that requires meant that, for what could only be the second time ever, I had to concede that I wasn’t up to the challenge.

Saturday 13th November 

The race was scheduled to begin at noon, so we decided to leave Tandragee around 10am, figuring that an hour would get us there and leave me plenty of time to make the 11:40 deadline for pack collection. As I prepped and packed one’s endurance essentials, I revelled in the weather the window facing presented - a cool clear-ish morning with just enough breeze to keep us cool when we’d settle into the race.

Fast forward through an hour and a half of unsurprisingly more congested traffic that we’d bargained for, and we arrived in Tollymore at 11:30 and I collected my race number at 11:40 on the dot. Returning to the car and setting about my final preparations, it was then I realised I had, despite packing and re packing the bag, forgotten my pins…

You know… the safety pins you need at every race because, at every race, you are given a race number that you need pin to your shirt or shorts… Every. Time. Yeah, those pins…

Now at this stage, we were T-minus  5 minutes to kick off so, thinking on my feet I folded the number into as neat a rectangle as I could, careful not to bend or annoy the tracking chip, and stuffed it into my shorts pocket behind my gels. With that crisis seen to I changed into my trail shoes, knocked back a bottle of Tailwind mix and joined the gentle stream of runners trickling towards the start area.

The challenge ahead…

Just beyond the arched start / finish line, the forrest loomed over us, all dark and foreboding looking, and I was suddenly struck by the amount of elevation my usually road running legs were about to be subject to.

At exactly just after noon though, the race began - I slid that thought into the same pocket as my origami race number, hit start on the ol’ Garmin and, along with the rest of the herd, set off towards the forrest. As much as I love running on the roads around the town and the various cities I’ve visited, nothing beats running in nature. Through trees and along rivers on ground that’s exactly as it’s meant to be - natural and uneven. Running in these settings causes you to focus and be present, principally because you’ll trip on a tree root or rock if you don’t.

As we followed the meandering trail, being ever-guided by numerous fluorescent arrows, it wasn’t long before we began to ascend and my legs began to burn. By the 5km mark, the trail was so steep that we were all reduced to a determined hike - not that that’s anytime for a rest mind you. I have this rule where I tell myself that walking at any point is fine, so long as I’m gaining ground on the nearest walker ahead of me, partly because I’m competitive but also it’s gives me a reason to get up the hill and get over it with.

By the time I reached the water station at the halfway point, my legs were on fire. By this point, we’d ascended and descended some (at least to my wee chicken legs) really tough sections and, having studied the course profile beforehand, I knew that back half was something similar to what we’d just conquered.

The Holy Grail of Confectionery

As we reached the highest point on the course around 14km, my mind was beginning to go a bit soft and give in to the aching in my feet and calves. My spirits would soon be lifted though as, at the next water station just beyond, I discovered that the volunteers were given out Midget Gems, the holy grail of sweets and a childhood favourite of mine - furthermore, the only sweet that supersedes my love for Wine Gums (which is well documented in these interweave wafflings.) Thanks to the handful I’d taken, the next and final real uphill section blew by as I chewed away and pretended to be 7 again.

From 15km onwards, we faced a continuous downhill section which, on the one hand, was a welcome battering of muscles other than those needed to hike the steep inclines but, on the other, was loose and rocky and therefore demanded all of the focus my tired brain had left to keep vertical and moving. I’d also stupidly decided not to stop and tighten my loosened shoe laces and so my feet kept crashing into the tips of my shoes - that was fun…

1km to go and we found ourselves emerging from the wilderness and rejoining the road into the park that we had driven in on. It was flat, it was smooth, it was entirely my jam… With the finish line sign now in site, I went full Parkrun mode and kicked out along the final stretch and cross the line in full stride.

Done and done…

I ran Tollymore Half Marathon in 1:44:31 . A time that I’d frankly be pleased with for a road race, let alone, what I think is the hardest half marathon I’ve done to date. I collected my medal and, most importantly, my free beer (shoutout to Mourne Mountains Brewery) and reflected on an early afternoon well spent.

Not much in the way of takeaways other than the fact that uphill and off-road needs to feature a lot more in my running in 2022 - partly because it’s awesome but also because it’s going to be essential for next year’s highlight race.

But more on that later…

A final word of thanks to the folks at 26 Extreme for what are always brilliantly challenging challenges… and for arranging post race pints.