Dublin Marathon 2013

Bank holiday weekend rolled around quick enough in the end but rather than worrying about trying to cram in any last minute training most time was spent checking weather forecasts as there was talk of a storm going to hit over the weekend. The weather is one thing you have no control over but at the same time you feel entitled to a reasonable day. I picked up my number from the Expo on Sunday afternoon amidst the rain and strong winds and then settled down to relax for the evening finishing off the carb loading and heading for bed after Love/Hate. For a change I slept pretty soundly and after some porridge and banana headed off to get the bus with the rest of the gang.
We arrived in plenty of time, getting dropped off just before the 26 mile marker on Nassau St. As we walked towards Merrion square it dawned on me how long the last .2 miles actually was never mind the 26 miles before it. Everything went hassle free and we took our place in the start area close enough to the 3:30 pacers and watched the clock tick down towards 9am.

From a personal point of view my 'A' goal was sub 3:30, 'B' goal was sub 3:40, 'C' goal was a PB (sub 3:46) and anything else would have been a disaster.

Most of my training had gone well but as documented before some of my long runs had been a disaster so if anything it would be a problem with endurance regardless of the pace I ran at.



Training partners with nervous smiles before the off


The Race

Miles 1-6 (8:14, 8:01, 8:03, 7:50, 8:01, 7:57)

The first few miles were all about warming up, not heading out too fast and not panicking if a little slow. After the usual first corner congestion it opened up a bit until we came to a shuddering halt going around Stephens green where the road narrowed with roadworks. This was to be a characteristic of the first few miles anytime we came to a corner or congested area. The pace had come to us quite naturally and even if we wanted to I don't think we could have pushed on much quicker. The biggest problem was trying to stay upright as I got clipped from behind 3 times in the first couple of miles.

As we converged on the park the pace picked up a bit but as you can see from the pic below approaching the park there wasn't a whole lot of road space. I suppose one advantage of this was there wasn't a whole lot of impact from the wind although we definitely could feel it when we hit Chesterfield avenue. I took my 2nd gel along here having taken one that burst before the race. Before long though we were turning onto the furze road and seemed to be bang on pace for where we wanted to be.



Heading towards the Phoenix Park

 Miles 7 - 13 (7:50, 7:43, 7:57, 8:08, 7:49, 8:08, 8:09)

The next couple of miles were flat/downhill towards the exit of the park but still very crowded. Our pace was dictated somewhat for us but it was on target so nothing to worry about really. The pacers were still in sight about 50 metres up the road. Again we ground to a halt coming out the park gates but got going again without incident. As we headed towards Chapelizod we were greeted with a wall of sound and also the smell of someone having a BBQ. The miles seemed to be ticking off ok but we were now about to hit a pretty testing part of the course and were greeted with a nasty incline to bring us up to the 9 mile marker. The legs certainly felt that and took a few minutes to recover. The next park down through inchicore was messy to say the least. With half the road blocked the available space could simply not cater for the amount of people and we got slowed here as you can see from the slightly slower mile. There were another couple of short sharp inclines as we made our way towards Dolphins Barn and I momentarily got detached from Rosemary & Susan along here. I tagged onto them again after a few hundred metres and having a bit of a chat to myself. The Crumlin road is always a wind tunnel even on the calmer days so today it was quite a drag and although losing a bit of time against our planned pace it was the right thing to do to keep the effort steady rather than trying to force it into the wind. Eventually we were able to turn off onto the Walkinstown Road, avoiding a barrier falling in front of us and we got to the 1/2 way point in 1:45:02 which was bang on target.

I wasn't feeling too bad at this point but at the same time knew the main tests lay ahead.

Miles 14 - 19 (7:56, 7:51, 8:01, 7:50, 7:48, 8:00)

Finally as we headed for Kimmage there seemed to be a bit more space appearing on the road, we had a bit of a t and everyone seemed to be feeling ok so we just ploughed on as we were. This is one of the flatter sections of the route as we headed towards Bushy park and down towards Terenure where there is always a huge crowd and was quite surprised here when a DJ called out my name. We were now in the 10 mile to go part of the race and we tried to compare it to one of our Thursday tempo runs from here and started counting down the miles one by one. The legs were hurting at this stage and the feet were sore but we were maintaining a strong pace for this part of the race.

Miles 20 - 26.2 (8:34, 9:11, 8:41, 9:06, 9:29, 9:38, 8:57, 8:33*)

Kaboom

I don't have a clear recollection of where I ran into trouble but I think it was around the 19.5 mile point. For the previous few minuted both of my hips had kind of locked (or felt like that) and the pain had spread down into my quads. I had to make the painful decision to let the others go on without me. After a 20 second walk I got going again resigned to the fact that the 3:30 was out the window but hoping a slight ease up in pace might be manageable. For the most part I managed this but was having to take regular walking breaks of 20 seconds or so. While my body felt fine my legs had simply given up on me. I managed to work out at 22 miles that once I kept going then I should finish under 3:40 so that became my new target.

As I headed towards Ballsbridge I knew I would be seeing familiar faces in the last few miles which helped a lot to keep me going. Mile 24/25 were a killer where the wind in parts seemed to be at it's strongest. Saw my wife and brother just before the turn to Westland Row which gave me a boost and then a big contingent of SOS blue hoodies on the corner who I threw a few high 5's to. My race was run but I was certainly going to enjoy what was left of it. More support on Westland Row and then the turn towards Trinity College. As you round the corner towards Nassau St it feels more like the Tour de France than a Marathon with the crowd support and people encroaching out onto the road. I started to cramp up turning onto Nassau St and was jsut about to stop when a friend of mine Matt who was stewarding let an almighty roar at me to keep going. The cramp went away and I was managed to keep going up Nassau St. Spotted Karen Clarke stewarding in the last mile as well and let a roar out at her. The finish line was now in sight but about 100 metres from the line I spotted the guy below stalled with cramp. Nothing more for it than to throw my arm around him and get him to the finish on one leg. It might have cost me a few seconds but in the overall scheme of things that did not matter.

Lending a helping hand

 

So there you have it. Crossed the line in 3:37:43 finishing 2,703 out of 12,353 finishers. A PB of almost 9 minutes based on last year. Once again though at the 4th time of asking I feel defeated by the Marathon.

 

I'm also a realist and I know you get out of these things what you put in along with the sacrifices you are prepared to make to achieve your targets. But then at the end of the day you have to realise this is also something we do for enjoyment and it is not the be all and end all by any means. It doesn't mean we won't be trying just as hard or harder the next time. For me the next time and probably the last time is in London in 160 days time.

 

Special thanks must go to my wife Emma who affords me the time to do the training required. Any training missed is certainly not down to her. To our coach Gary O'Hanlon who is delivering great improvements in a short time with us, thanks for all your help and your weekly training plan. To the other 2 amigo's Rosemary & Susan thanks for the company and camaraderie on those Thursday tempo's and all the other training runs. There were up's & down's along the way but mainly up's and you both ran great races showing me how it should be done. And a final word of thanks to the people who gave up their time to come in and support us on Monday. Go SOS.

 

Now where did I leave those runners ;-)