Diary of a Rubbish Marathon Runner

You might remember that last Sunday I had followed up a disastrous 5K with a run up Seefin mountain the next day. Paul took slight exceptio...

When Niamh went to Dublin for an extended weekend, not only did she take the kids, she also took the car, leaving me rather stranded here in...

I can’t quite remember when it was that I started coughing, but I know that it was about 3 days after Niamh, which leaves me in no doubt on ...

I was spoiled for choice last weekend with no less than 3 races on offer. As you know, I did the “5K” (haha) on Saturday, but there was also...

And there was me, really looking forward to today's race. The website still states Just to make it a bit different, we are starting ...

Sometimes Niamh refuses to take responsibility. Isn't there a law that children need to be watched all the time? Instead she trundled of...

Shea: Dad, why do you sometimes run in the rain? Dad: I run every day, even when it's raining Shea: Oh, and if you didn't run t...

I never thought I'd have that particular problem, but I really wish I'd learn to run slower in my interval workouts. I should know b...

6 easy miles on Monday were followed by a slow shuffle for the first mile on Tuesday, but the legs came round before I reached the hill. I r...

With no race this weekend, things are a bit quieter than usual. I even had the luxury of a lie-in both Saturday and Sunday, sleeping till we...

I'm back on my familiar routes in Caragh Lake, but since I'm still in recovery mode I'm not exactly accumulating a lot of mileag...

I continued being annoyed with myself after Friday's race. Had I run the first 3 miles like I had in Killarney a week before, I could ha...

After two storming performances in a row I was hoping to complete the treble on Friday with a third personal best in a row. My preparation w...

I should have caught on when a set of only seven very short hill sprints left me in a state of near collapse on Tuesday but did not think to...

As is customary, we are spending a week on Valentia Island. Which is great for the rest of the family as they can enjoy their holidays. The ...

... and nobody turns up. Nobody from the organisation, that is. Unbelievable as it may sounds, that's what happened to us on Saturday. D...

Why am I even writing this? I have nothing to report, it must be down to habit. The most exciting thing to happen was my Garmin’s HR values ...

Running 15 miles downhill might be fast, it plays havoc with your quads and in the days immediately following the race I was as sore as I ex...

Even though my runner’s heart belongs to the marathon (and beyond), I have been aware for a few years that I consistently get my best result...

Ah well, constant improvement was fun while it lasted. I’d have preferred for it to keep going until AFTER the race though; I mean, who want...