Photos and Analysis

The photo people have come up with a few snapshots of mine, but since they’re too ugly to view in bigger size, I won’t put them up in any greater detail than that.



Right after finishing the race I sent a text message to Niamh stating my time was “good but not brilliant”. I haven’t changed my mind since. My goal had been 3:10, and I always knew that it was very ambitious. I missed it, but I came close enough to be satisfied. Therefore I wasn’t as ecstatic as I had been a year ago after the Dublin marathon, but nevertheless the warm feeling of having done a good job has surrounded me ever since. I’m not disappointed with my time; I’m quite happy with it, and I know I couldn’t have run much faster on the day, no matter what.

In fact, I think I cut it mightily fine. One more mile and the cramps would most likely have forced me to walk. A slightly slower start may have resulted in a faster finishing time, because I basically lost one minute over the last 2 miles. On the other hand a 3.5 minutes positive split isn't particularly bad on a course like that, with its early downhill miles and that big hill during the second half.

The course is potentially fast with those downhills, but it’s also quite challenging. The early miles are unlike Boston because it’s not a steady downhill stretch but a constant up and down, obviously with more downs than ups. The undulating nature continues all the way to the end, you can never completely settle in your rhythm. In that respect, my usual training routes along Caragh Lake were the perfect preparation because they show the same characteristics. In fact, despite the fact that I had never run there, I almost felt at home on the course. An undulating, small rural road alongside a very scenic lake – how could anything have been more familiar to me?

The race was extremely well organised, and I can heartily recommend it to anyone in the vicinity around that time of the year. The food at the pasta party was yummy and plentiful, the live music entertaining, the race day transport perfect, the bag pipers a lovely local touch, and the soup and food at the finish were well received by yours truly. The one downside was the £10 charge for a post-race massage, which I declined, but I can definitely live with that. I’m more likely to run Dublin in future years because of the easier logistics, but Loch Ness will always be a possible alternative.

I felt reasonably good the next day, which was a plus because I was travelling all day. My calves were sore, but not too bad. I was even able to walk down a staircase, which was severely tested when leaving the plane in Dublin airport, but managed pretty well. I was a bit worried if I was up to driving 200 miles from Dublin to Kerry, but again managed just fine.

I was a lot sorer on Tuesday, but managed to get in and out of chairs without wincing in pain. Nobody made any smart comments in the office, so I must have done reasonably well. By Wednesday I was almost fine again. The one part that hurt most was actually my back. I hurt it when falling over before the start of the marathon, and while it didn’t bother me at all during the race, I was in minor agony while sitting in the seats of the train, plane and car for hours the next day. It’s slowly getting better now.

Last night I was deliberating if I should go running again this morning, but definitely showed a tendency towards staying in bed, when Niamh brought my attention towards her increasingly big bump and pointed out that I might want to go running while I still can. Therefore I put on my shoes this morning for a short 4 mile haul. The left calf was quite tight initially, but settled down after a mile or two. On the way home the quads got heavier and heavier, and by the time I was back home I was glad to be done. I haven’t got any set plans for recovery at the moment. I’ll run whenever I feel like it, as long as Niamh will let me out of the house. This is also the first time in ages that I don’t know what I’m training for. The general idea is to do base training through the winter and then decide if I want to run a marathon in spring. That way the baby can’t upset my plans, because I haven’t got any.

11 Oct

4 miles, 36:23, 9:06 pace, HR 144