Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Back In The Game

Going into the Dublin marathon I knew I was in pretty good shape. Once again, this was a training run so I was not going to run at a full race effort but I knew I would be able to run 3:15 without going to the well. I had not tapered for it, the only concession being a very slow 5-miler on Saturday to keep the legs reasonably fresh for Sunday. My one slight worry, a pain in my left hamstring/gluten area was just about noticeable when I got up on Sunday morning but even as I walked towards the start it was completely forgotten about, and that was that.

Some old geezers from Kerry
I chatted to a few friends on the way, had plenty of friendly banter with the DBRC crew and met some old geezers from Kerry before lining up somewhere between the 3:10 and 3:20 pacers. I had no intentions of keeping up with 3:10 and even less of getting caught by 3:20, so here I was, stuck in the middle with you.

The first mile was a bit congested, as it always is, but the road soon opened up and we could run freely. I tried to get into a comfortable rhythm as soon as possible and by the second mile I had found my groove and tried to remain there. For me that means running the uphills a little bit slower than most around me and the downhills a bit faster, that is just the effort level I feel most comfortable with. I checked the watch a couple of times early on, mostly to ensure I wasn't doing anything stupid like running at sub-7 pace, but I settled in at around 7:15, so a marathon time of 3:12 or 3:13 looked likely, which I was more than happy with.

I kept taking it easy all the way through Phoenix Park, so I barely noticed the long uphill stretch that got us to the highest point, still early in the course. I passed a lot of runners on the following downhill miles, which also brought the average pace down a bit, but gave up a bit of both again on the other side of the Liffey when the climbs started again.

I felt exceptionally comfortable as we neared Crumlin Road, though I knew that was always my least favourite part of the course. No matter where the wind is supposed to be coming from, there is always a headwind on that stretch and it is a long, drawn out climb that always feels a bit harder than it should. However, today I felt better than usual. Maybe it was down to the fact that unlike in previous years we were not hemmed into a single lane but had the entire road to ourselves, which means all of a sudden it was not one of the most congested parts of the course but an exceptionally open one, which I felt much more comfortable with. Anyway, I reached the halfway point in about 1:35:20 on my watch, definitely a bit faster than expected but at the same time feeling a lot better than expected as well. The one thing that surprised me was that the 3:10 balloons still seemed to be a long way ahead of me; whether there was some confusion on the watch or if the gap just looked bigger than it actually was I cannot say for sure.

The next few miles often feel like a bit of a dead spot in the marathon as you run through a few non-descript suburbs where the buildings all look more or less the same to me and you're just there to make up some miles. The one thing that kept things interesting were the spectators, who were as spectacular as ever. No other race in Ireland comes even close with regards to crowd support, it is on a totally different level. The only place I have ever seen with even more enthusiastic supporters was Boston, but that's almost on a different planet.

Meeting some friends on Saturday,
 on The Road to Sparta
Anyway, I passed through Terenure, Milltown and Clonskeagh, a section that holds some good and some painful memories, as is bound to happen when you're doing a marathon for the 10th time. The Milltown viaduct will always be associated with a lot of pain because that's where the cramping started on my first marathon. The other painful memory would come a bit later on Roebuck road, where I had buried my hopes of a first sub-3 marathon back in 2008, though that memory eventually got a lot sweeter when I finally made it, albeit elsewhere. I was still feeling very good and relaxed until the 20 mile mark, by which time I had long started making my way through the field, past many a broken dream. I had not sped up but a lot of runners sure had started to slow down. Been there, done that, of course.

I had my own dip for a couple of miles when my energy levels started to sag and the legs became noticeable heavier. I took it a tad easier on the many little hills that await here and managed to take a gel as well as some sports drink. I guess it was that motherload of sugar that got me out of the funk pretty quickly. On the next hill I noticed that I was overtaking runners again even without trying, and when I looked up I realised that I was already halfway up "Heartbreak Hill" (yes, they copied that from Boston), and since that was the last hill of the course I knew I'd have a good finish of the race.

I heard a DJ giving a shout out to "Declan Murphy from Glenbeigh" and sure enough spotted him just a few seconds later, just ahead of me. Unfortunately he was walking and I caught up with him right at the top of the hill. I gave him a pat on the back and tried to coax him into following me but he just wearily shook his head and the look in his eyes told me he definitely wasn't going to run with me, so I reluctantly had to leave him behind.

I had one more issue, namely a side stitch. I think I got it when trying to drink from a cup and messing up my breathing for a bit, and now I struggled to get rid of it. Eventually I had to slow down a bit and take very, very deep breaths, which eventually loosened the grip. When I was able to run properly again I had just passed the 23 mile mark. There were 3 mile left.

At that point I decided I still had tons of energy in the tank and might as well have some fun. I put in a little bit more effort, cautiously at first down Nutley Lane, but once we hit the last left hand turn at the bottom we were on the final 2 miles and I put the hammer down and went for it. I did my fastest 2 miles of today and indeed, I had tons of fun. I passed a few friends as I made my way through the field, including Mike, another Kerryman, though he wouldn't come with me either. As we got closer to the finish the legs started to complain, sub-7 pace wasn't quite what they had expected at the end of a marathon, but I was close enough to keep going until the end. I crossed the line in 3:10:20, which I was very, very happy with. I would have been perfectly happy with 3:15, and if that had felt too hard I would have been satisfied with 3:20 as well. Instead I got the easiest 3:10 of my life, so all was good.

The last 2 years have been very challenging and at times incredibly frustrating. I had started to question if I was simply too old for this and doubted I would ever feel like that again. My times were going backwards and running often just felt hard, too hard for my liking. But in the last few weeks I had noticed the transformation and I had already dared to mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I am finally starting to feel like myself again, and the Dublin marathon finally confirmed this.

Watch out, world. I'm back!
29 Oct
Dublin City Marathon, 3:10:20, 7:15 pace, HR 152
30 Oct
5 miles, 42:45, 8:33 pace, HR 132
31 Oct
5 miles, 44:25, 8:52 pace, HR 125

2 comments:

  1. That's great. There's life in the old dog yet!

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  2. Great to see the legs still have it in them. I've run a couple of marathons in training, running the first 20 miles nice and easy and let loose in the final miles, it's so much fun to finish strong at the end of marathon.

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