When I got back into Charleville last night after the marathon I was delighted to see Aoiffe and Iseult. Fire on, dinner on the table, cup of tea and a bun afterwards and of course a big hug from Iseult. I settled into my arm chair spending the night on my phone texting my buddy Aidan, receiving some nice congratulatory texts from family, friends and work colleagues. It was when I saw how other runners (known to me) got on that's when the disappointment kicked in.The next morning after a somewhat expected unsettled sleep (always the case after a marathon) the first thought was ...I left it behind me and 12 months is a bloody long time away.
I had 3 goals going into this one 1) Get to the start line 2) Get to the finish line 3) Get a good dinner in afterwards. I achieved all 3 (Junction 17 is a great spot for a dinner) but I also had a time goal in mind, get under 4 hours or at the very worst get a improvement on last year's 4hrs16mins.
At least I got that if only by a minute. The split up to mile 18 were very solid. I was maintaining a 9 minute per mile average allowing for the fact that the garmin and the miles on the course were out of sync by 15 - 20 seconds. I was determined to get to 20 miles and I was dong ok in that regard but I was feeling the strain at that point. Coming into Dundrum I broke on the hill and walked to mile 20. Even though I have run the DCM 6 times I never actually noticed that there was a hill there before or at least never took much notice of it. For me that was a sure sign I was finding this running lark a lot harder than before (and a note to my training in the future). 3 hours on the clock
The heavens opened up at this point for the third time and it cascaded down. I pretty much walked from mile 20 to mile 22 and at one stage I was not feeling all that well-a bit faint actually. I was gasping for water but there was no stations nearby and I simply picked a half empty bottle off the ground and drank that. I did the same at mile 21.
When I got to Roebuck Road (heartbreak hill) the rain became a torrential downpour and the spirits sank to a low. 3hrs 27 minutes up on the clock and it looked as if I was going to be out on the course for well over 4.5 hours. I jogged gently up the hill and down the other side and to my surprise I kept jogging after that.. While the pace was a 10min - 10mn20sec shuffle pace it was still better than walking.
On I trundled to mile 23, mile 24 and mile 25. The chest was getting very sore and the ankle was screaming at me to stop and walk. I did that for a minute or so and then jogged onto the last 800 metres on Mount Street. To be fair the crowds were great and jogging besides other runners all of us trying to get to the finish line was a amazing feeling. We might have been the slow bunch but we were all in it together doing our own thing. I crossed the line in 4hr15mins04seconds. I was absolutely shattered.
I could hardly make it to the funnel to get my medal and T shirt. The walk to collect the dropoff bag was even more exhausting. I must have been in a bad way as a medic asked if I needed assistance but I waved him away and met up with my buddy Aidan. He did well coming in at 3hr49mins but was probably unlucky not to come in under 3hrs45mins.
A note to the organizers in future - the crush on the way out needs to be avoided. It was hairy enough at times.
As usual it was great chatting to Aidan, his wife Emer and the rest of his family. Then it was time for a big feed in Junction 17 and the drive back to Cork from Portarlington.
In the week since I have spent a lot of time sleeping and resting. I have run a lot of good marathons, bad marathons and a few ultras but I was seriously shattered after this one. The ankle is less sore now but I am sleeping a lot more than I expected.
In terms of what I am going to do in the future and what to improve on ...that's for another day.
