Do you like large races?

Communal warm-up

I spent the day at one of my favourite parks yesterday watching healthy people (no envy!) running in Ireland's largest 10k. Phoenix Park is the largest enclosed green space in any European city so it's the perfect place for a race, although I'm not sure what the deer made of it 11,000 people racing through their area.

One of the great things about these large community races is the atmosphere - shining example this time was the group warm-up and cool-down. Sunshine, music and thousands of people doing aerobics together, great.

Some of the great people I met included a 55-year-old Dublin woman. She took up running about four years ago and is clocking in at 44 minutes which is not bad at all. And as with so many women who do sport when they "shouldn't" she didn't anywhere near that age. A few of the women I talked to had made New Year's resolutions to get fit so the race was their first step at proving this - great way to start. 

And they're off ... almost

And then you had the professionals, the folk lined up at the start of the race, warmed up and looking for records. A different race but hopefully they still had time to enjoy the weather and the park views. You can read up on the elite runners including winner Charlotte Purdue on the Spar Great Ireland Run site here.

Do you like big races? Some of the elite runners I talked to were not impressed with the crowds!