by Julie

Hello, it’s me

Seems it's over a year since I updated my poor neglected blog. I noticed in my bio that I have described it as my record for posterity, so I should treat it as such. In a way there's not been much to say about the last year; in another it was an exceptional year of life, given the pandemic and all. We were housebound for months of it, and worried and anxious for most of it. We didn't go anywhere, except Athlone. Didn't see many people, except outdoors. The only constants were work and running,…
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by Julie

Finishing the race

Almost a week later, my legs are just about getting back to normal so it’s probably time to document my second Dublin marathon. In some ways there is not much to say: I finished, 13 minutes quicker than last year; it was a glorious autumn day, perfect running conditions; I had a great time; I walked like a zombie after it. My knee was fine in the end - it was my back that knackered me, but it was a familiar pain I could cope with. For the record my time was 5.20.18.  However we…
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by Julie

Here we go

Well it’s the night before the marathon. After everything that happened this summer, it’s time to see what happens. At this stage I don’t know how my body is going to hold up: I’m hoping that my back and my knees will be ok and allow me to run most of the course. But it could go pear-shaped too. Either way I’m doing it and hoping for the best. It’s going to be a cold, dry and bright day so that will definitely help. I’m off to bed now. The clocks go back tonight so…
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by Julie

Trying to act like a marathoner while on holidays

Greetings from sunny Malta! It’s a beautiful island in the Mediterranean, below Sicily, so it’s hot. Really hot. 30 by day, 25 by night. Not conducive to running but very conducive to lolling about, eating pizza and drinking during the day. However, I am conscious that I am due to run a marathon in 5 weeks and so have got out running on Sunday and this morning. Sunday was overcast, but there was blazing sunshine this morning so I found the shade as much as possible, and ignored the looks of all the people strolling…
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