The Eagle AC ’12 Runs of Christmas’ Series for 2020 drew to a close over the weekend after a very successful ( and competitive!) 4th week of festivities.

The runs for Week 4 were:

#10.  Christmas 3’s:  Light up the roads or the track with some ‘Christmas Trees’ this week! Warm up, 3 mins to shine & 90 secs to recharge, repeat 5-6 times. (aim for 5k pace) 
#11. Making Progress to Christmas:  Let’s build the excitement, this is a progression run over 10 miles/km’s; the only rule is the mile/km you are in must be faster than the run you just finished!
#12.Option 1 Mapping the way to Christmas:Plan your route & map out a Christmas image on your run.
#12. Option 2 Christmas Cheer: Get the family/friends out for a run walk cycle and make it festive. Wear your Christmas Jumper, Hat or Antlers! Send us a photo

Our Christmas 3’s run was perfect for our weekly track sessions at CIT – 3 minute repeats with 90 second recoveries. Lots of members got this run ticked off their list at CIT on either Tuesday or Thursday night.

Our Making Progress to Christmas run was completed mainly on the roads – participants had to complete a 10 mile/km run with each mile being faster than the last. Dermot Slyne kept a close eye on this one for us to make sure that all rules were being adhered to!! 🙂

Eagle AC Member Profile:

Name: John Sheehan

Member of Eagle AC since:  End 2015 – My old school mate Denis Looney roped me in. 

How long have you been running and  what made you take it up: 

Since 2015. Well actually, I used to hate running and hadn’t done much sport for many years.  Then I was working away from home during the week (in Carlow) and enjoyed the free nights for a while  but started to get bored of trips to the pub (remember when they were open?).  I just laced up an old pair of runners one evening and started running.  The truth is when you start it can be tough, especially on your own.  I was talking to friends who ran and they recommended installing a running app on my phone and the rest is history, I caught the bug!  Being a competitive animal, although generally running on my own I am always racing against myself and the running apps are a great motivator.

Favourite thing about running:

Running helps to clear my head of any worries that I may have been carrying throughout the day.  It helps make me feel stress-free and I sleep better than before.  I also enjoy training for a specific event – it gives a purpose and discipline.  I never thought I would turn-down drink to be ready for a run the following morning!  Without question running has improved my physical and mental health and provides me with more energy.  I also enjoy the social element of running and the ball-hopping on something like Strava.  I now have some running friends that I might only meet once or twice a year but it is great to follow their progress.  I enjoy getting to the track when I can.  Now that I am mainly working from home I have more opportunity to get to the track so hopefully it will stay open. 

The past week saw us well and truly over the halfway mark of  the 12 Runs of Christmas, and coincided nicely with the recent lifting of restrictions, opening up plenty of options for all the runs! 

Run number 7, ‘Destination Christmas Run’, saw the creative side of club members once again emerging, with a huge variety of runs and Christmas scenes from all corners of the county! Some managed to make their runs very much Christmas and ‘Eagle’ themed!

Our most challenging session of the week, ‘2 Merry Minutes’ (8 x 2 mins hard, 2 mins easy) fitted in well with the reopening of CIT track and our first Tuesday night session in a while. The run could have been called ‘Frosty the Session’ however, as track attendees had to contend with a couple of slippy patches! Mission accomplished with everyone in one piece at the end, fortunately. 

Our ’12 Runs of Christmas’ Series 2020 continued this week with Week 2 of the challenge taking place. Well over 50 members have logged runs in the series so far which is great to see.

As members have found out by now, each of the 12 runs over the month have a seasonal theme and incorporate a mixture of fun novelty runs and more serious interval/ tempo sessions!! On the menu for this week ( Monday 30th November to Sunday 6th December) were runs 4-6 ……

#4. Cruising towards Christmas:  It’s a Christmas Tempo; warm up for 2 miles- ‘Blitzen’ it for 1 minute on/off X 12 repeats, & cool down. Aim for 5-10k pace for your ‘Blitzen’ minute and cruise through your 1 min recovery.  

#5. Dashing through the Snow/ Baby it’s cold outside/ Rudolf the red-nosed ‘Raindeer’…. Can you see where I’m going with this one ? It’s a 10k run/ 5k walk to challenge the senses, snow/ice/wind/rain, when the going gets tough the tough get going! And of course they find a Christmas themed song to describe their run! 

#6. Festive Traditions: This one’s for you to choose; what run makes you happy, what route helps you to find your magic, what pace hits the pleasure zone? Run it, Share it & let us know your festive favourites!!

Name: Robyn Dransfield

Member of Eagle AC since: January 2019

How long have you been running and what made you take it up?:

I have run my whole life but never considered myself to be a runner until recently. I never just went out for a run, it was always as a warm up for a sports training rather than the training itself. After having kids I started running because it was a quick and (somewhat) easy way to get in some exercise without going far from home or having to stick to a class timetable at the gym. My first target run was the Amsterdam 8km race in 2013. I loved the atmosphere and the rush of adrenaline at the start line and finishing in the Olympic stadium was pretty cool too. From there I was keen to work towards longer runs and quicker times. I have definitely caught the running bug!