Pretext

I want to be a marathon runner. Well, actually, I am a marathon runner, because I have completed two of those monsters already, but not in an entirely satisfying way.

My first marathon was in October 2004 in Dublin (Ireland). I didn’t do much training, running just once a week and my longest run was just 15.5 miles, a whopping 11 miles shorter than the marathon. No wonder then that during the event I got absolutely knackered, suffered from cramps from 18.5 miles on, and struggled to finish it. My time was 4:06:42.

On my second attempt (2 May 2005 in Belfast) I was determined to beat to 4 hours mark, so I ran twice a week, and the longest run was about 19 miles. Being better prepared (though not exactly well trained), I was confident I would reach my goal. However, disaster struck 5 days before the event, when I was laid low by a stomach bug, could not eat anything for about 36 hours, and still had a splitting headache three days before the start. I felt better the next day, and, foolishly, decided to go ahead. Bad decision. I got cramps from half way on, and suffered for the rest of it. The time was a very slow 4:36:42 hours, though the distance covered was closer to 27 miles, thanks to some IRA fellas and their bomb (it didn’t explode, thank God), which caused a diversion and an extra 1180 meters to cover.

Putting those efforts behind me, I have decided to run the Three-countries-marathon in October 2005, and hope to finally get past that pathetic 4 hours time. Third time lucky.