I can I will – the Dublin marathon

By public demand (thanks Declan) I have been persuaded to write a race report on my Dublin marathon, held on a beautiful Sunday in the city, 28 October 2018.

I was inspired to run this year after standing in Castleknock last year, cheering on the runners. I have been running for a number of years and my furthest distance was a half-marathon, but I never really thought about going any further than that. However the excitement and emotion of that day last year in Castleknock village, where I grew up, really inspired me and I signed up for the 2018 marathon within a few weeks.

After that, I hardly ran a step over the winter. According to Runkeeper, I did a few runs in November, nothing (!) in December and January, a few in February, and nothing (!!) in March, until April finally saw me get back in a regular pattern. In my defence, last winter in Dublin was very cold, and I really couldn’t cope with it. My backside and legs never seemed to warm up, no matter how far I ran.

So I didn’t kill myself either in April, May and June until I started my training plan proper. I started running with Mary Jennings and Forget the Gym in 2013 and I have stuck with her ever since. So on 21 June I joined a group of like minded first time wanna-be marathoners in the Clayton Hotel for Mary’s opening workshop.

The first thing she said was go run seven miles on Saturday! WTF? That actually scared me more than the prospect of running 26.2 miles, given my aforementioned lack of training. But off I went and did seven miles in the Phoenix Park on a beautiful June day and was delighted with myself. So I felt if I could do that I could do anything. And I did.

Fast forward to October.

The morning of the marathon was cold, but sunny and bright so pretty much perfect conditions for running. I met up with my running group and we walked up together to the bag drop. I ended up walking with Fiona and Marie, two fantastic women that I had met on my training, and it proved to be a stroke of luck for me.

We chatted to two lovely sisters from London as we queued for the toilet  – for over HALF AN HOUR. What the hell do people do in those port-a-loos?  By the time we did our business, our wave had started so we just ran over the start line without much fanfare. Good job we weren’t planning on runner with a pacer, because we never saw sight nor sound of one the whole route. We lost Marie fairly quickly as she is a faster runner, but Fiona and I set off at a nice 11 minute mile pace, and I was very comfortable at that.

The first thing that sticks in my memory was the amount of clothes dumped by runners at the start line. The railings around Fitzwilliam Square and Leeson Street were full of hoodies and tops – it was like a clothes shop.  (I, being Captain Sensible, kept my hoodie until Castleknock when I meant to give it to my family to bring home, but was so excited to see them I totally forgot and ended up dropping it at the water station on the way to the Park.)

We ticked along through town, down the Quays, across the James Joyce bridge, up through Stoneybatter and into the Park. We passed a couple who were running the marathon to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. We spotted the guy who ran with a Rubix cube over his head. We noticed the guy running the marathon backwards, with his support team. What a legend.

The outstanding memory of the whole day was how wonderful the support was along the route. On Mary’s advice, we had put our names on our T-shirts, and it was the best thing we could have done. At Chapelizod, I was with Fiona and another running buddy Yvonne we had met, and we entered the village together. The cheering and shouting as we ran around the corner was unbelievable! It was like we were famous. We were so excited we speeded up – that didn’t last long as we realised the hill that was ahead. But that was what the support did – made us feel like we were brilliant and could do anything. My name must have been called a hundred times over the course of the route, and it proved a great boost, made me feel like a rock-star and put a smile on my face. Thank you Dublin!

From Chapelizod we ran up the hill and headed across the south side of the city, past Kilmainham Jail and into the Coombe. My body was feeling good up to this point but I think around here I started feeling the tension in my back.

I tried to ignore it for a while but eventually I couldn’t. As we passed through the halfway mark I was freaking out. The tightness in my back was making everything difficult and I thought – how the hell am I going to get home? There was no way I was going to walk, way too far. I was upset and disappointed. So I stopped. I wasn’t sure what to do. My very modest time goal of 4.40 was rapidly receding. I felt the panic rise. Then I had a brain wave to stretch my back. With that, I gave the first of many views of my arse to my fellow marathoners that day – what an eyeful. A woman asked me if I wanted a painkiller which I refused and then immediately regretted refusing. However the stretching was easing the tension. Just then Fiona stopped and said ‘what can I do for you?’ I could have hugged her. She said why don’t we just ease it back, forget about times, and just focus on finishing.

And with that, the crisis passed. We started running and never really left each other’s side after that. All those long miles out through Crumlin and the Walkinstown Road, with the neighbours offering sweets and fruit, just ticked by, handy enough. I had to stop every mile or so to stretch and that totally wrecked my time but I didn’t care. We were running, doing the marathon and getting closer to the finish with every step.

We came to Bushy Park and I distracted myself looking at the lovely houses on the Terenure Road. Fiona had planned to meet her family around Clonskeagh somewhere so that was keeping us going. We arrived at Murphy and Gunn which is at the 20 mile mark and were feeling good. I was so relieved. The memory of my last long run of 20 miles was still very fresh in my mind. I really struggled with the 20-miler, and wondered how the hell I was going to do another six miles on top of that. But on the day at Murphy and Gunn, I was feeling great and knew it was in the bag. Despite the stiff back I was going to finish, no doubt.

We met Fiona’s kids and she promised her medal to her son if he gave her a foot rub that night. I stopped in the physio tent for a quick rub of my back – absolutely useless. We ran up Heartbreak Hill no problem and met the woman with the ‘No Win, No Gin’ sign who was there to cheer the runners on. I told her I couldn’t wait for my gin and tonic later and we both had a laugh.

We turned on to the Stillorgan Road and met more of Fiona’s family on the UCD flyover. We were cruising at that stage (slowly), everything tightening up, but determined to finish. Peter was waiting for me at the end of Nutley Lane were I saw the great banner my family had made for me. We had two miles to go.

As we ran through Ballsbridge we met Mary our coach who was absolutely fantastic on the day – she made sure every single one of us was ok and took such pride in us. The crowds were amazing, cheering us on as the finish line came in sight. I wanted it to be over but also didn’t want it to end. Without exception the support throughout the city was amazing. It made me so proud to be a Dub, to run through my city and feel the support of the people. I would have been emotional if I had the energy.

I was slightly ahead of Fiona at the end, but as the blue carpet appeared, I held back, despite her urging to go on, to make sure we crossed the finish line together. And we did – we both have the same official finish time of 5.33.16.  We were stiff and sore and crocked at that stage but so relieved to have done it. We hobbled up to get our bags, put our clothes on and took a few photos.

So that’s it. I I learnt so much about running, marathons and myself that day, but that’s enough for now. All told it was a marvellous experience, despite the crisis, aches and DOMS.  I am so glad I ended up with Fiona that day and grateful for all her help.  And I have to thank Peter for all his practical and emotional support, on the day and in the long months of training.

I loved it so much I signed up for the 2019 marathon within the week.