The Marathon Snail

I finally made it to the start line of a marathon! I was so excited in the days coming up to the race, and even picking up my race pack and number gave me a buzz. It was very warm in the morning as we walked to the start line. Because it was Halloween, we saw a lot of weird and wonderful costumes – a guy in a full robot outfit, the Cowardly Lion, and of course Mankini Man who must be personally keeping Vaseline in business after his painful pursuits at both the Dublin half and full. I trained hard for this marathon, and although I was hoping to complete it in sub 4:26, my first goal was to have a good race – I’d pulled myself through enough training programs and injuries to get here only to ruin the race for the sake of a time. My two 20 mile runs had both gone well and I hadn’t felt much from my IT band for a good while, so it was looking positive. The first six miles were very uncomfortable – I still don’t know why. It could have been the weather, which was far too hot and humid

Marathon Sightseeing

"The best way to see a city is to run a marathon." This has to be one of the most misleading statements I have ever read. I came across it in an article for the Dublin City Marathon 2009 registration magazine, and I suspect the author has never run a marathon in his life. On the 11th April 2010 I ran the Paris Marathon with a target time of sub-4.30. The route starts on the Champs-Elysées heading away from the Arc de Triomphe, through the Place de la Concorde with the tall obelisque, and past the Louvre containing the Mona Lisa (which is surprisingly small, and not particularly attractive by today’s standards). At around miles 3 and 4 it passes through the Place de la Bastille, the symbolic location of the French Revolution. At mile 10 it enters the Bois de Vincennes and runs past the imposing Château de Vincennes, after which it doubles back on itself and heads back into the city, running alongside the Seine, again past the Bastille at mile 14, the Hôtel de Ville and the

Catching the bug

I started running properly in June 2009 when a group of people at circuit training said they would do the Dublin Marathon, and I decided to join them. Before that I had tried running a couple of miles here and there but always ended up walking some or most of the way. The first official training run I did was a 5 mile, and it was the longest 5 miles of my life - I was wearing what can only be described as sandpaper socks that day, and gave myself oozing inch-wide blisters on the arches of both feet. Strangely, that didn't put me off running (even when I went home, ran myself a bath and was horrified to see my blisters rapidly filling up with blood from the heat of the water). I continued my training, with copious support from the group, and the longest I have gone without training since that day is one week (I was sick - my excuse). We followed an 18 week programme very like Hal Higdon's Intermediate 1 schedule ; our aim was to finish the marathon smiling (and for me in under 5