Diary of a Rubbish Marathon Runner

One potential problem with my recent training that I have become aware of is that pretty much all of it happened at the same pace. Interesti...

There are two things in life for which we are totally unprepared: Twins.   (author: Josh Billings) I still remember as if it were yesterda...

Last week I got a new (well, old, actually) Garmin 310xt in the post. Being a technology geek I could not resist a little experiment, so I ...

On Friday evening Niamh and me mentioned how nice it was to be looking forward to a nice, quiet weekend with nothing on. No obligations, no ...

Runners in the South of Ireland will know that the Great Island 10-mile road race had been on in Cobh last Sunday. The strange thing was tha...

The last 2 years I successfully managed to drop quite a few pounds off my frame just before my spring goal race by staying off any sugary th...

Taking a week off running after Connemara seemed the most sensible thing to do. I know that my former coach would have prescribed one week a...

Exactly one week after Connemara, I was out on the road again. We're back in Kerry and the Kerry weather comes with that territory, lite...

A few days have passed since my run in Connemara, and as usual I've had plenty of time to reflect on the race. In all honesty, there are...

Most people I spoke to found it entirely appropriate that the day of this year's Connemara Ultra fell on April Fool's Day. How more ...

Training (from 28 Nov) 17 weeks (18 if counting this one) Miles per week: 62, 69, 78, 82, 62, 77, 74, 77, 75, 79, 78, 81, 46, 59, 50, 69, 47...

I know I'm not updating as often as usual at the moment, but there are only so many ways you can say "ran easily on Thursday and Fr...

Since the recovery from Ballycotton extended smoothly into my taper, last week wasn't really the usual shock to the system. But I sure c...

Something not quite right here. Because last week's mileage had been so low, I actually ran a lot more this week, despite calling it a t...

Connemara is 18 days away, and just in time for the taper the legs are coming round. Things have been a bit up and down during the entire tr...

I spent most of the week trying to recover from Ballycotton, mentally as much as physically. I could not help but wonder what time I could h...

They say you learn something new every day. One new thing I learned this week was that you can be sorer after a 10-mile race than after a ma...

That's what Niamh called it when she pointed out that I had driven 200 miles today and ran 10 miles, just for a mug. Obviously, my own v...

Can I make one confession: I am not a fan of the women's mini-marathons. I have heard too many stories about inept organisation and the ...

At the start of last 2011, I weighed about 150 pounds (10 st 10, 68 kg). After years of figuring things out, I finally managed to gradually ...