Diary of a Rubbish Marathon Runner

2013 had started in rather spectacular fashion on New Year's Day by breaking 18 minutes for the 5k for the first time ever. While I don...

It's been a stormy few days, but so far I have managed to get a run in every day. Sunday was reasonably okay, but I preferred the some...

Make no mistake, I am not complaining about the weather. We had a great summer followed by a nice autumn and we have had nothing to moan abo...

My lower back started hurting on Sunday after sleeping in an awkward position (blame that damn cat of ours). It got really bad on Monday aft...

It has to be said, we've had some very good weather here in Ireland over the last few months. Not only did we have an actual summer with...

It’s always good for a distance runner to be confident. In fact, it is absolutely crucial. However, there is a fine line between being conf...

The weekend was always going to be a tough one. Work Christmas party on Friday, a marathon on Saturday and Cian's 10th birthday on Sunda...

I did not expect any great insights from today's evaluation. In fact, any deviation from the last evaluation would have come as quite a ...

When I arrived at that field in Beaufort, I immediately noticed two things: the scenery was absolutely stunning with the Reeks in the backgr...

Ah sweet Jesus, what is it about the Irish and not taking "no" for an answer. I ran the cross country last year and not only did I...

I don’t know what the difference is, but I am feeling so much better than after the Dublin marathon, it is unreal. It doesn’t make sense to...

Oh my, it is Friday already? Apologies for the lack of updates, it is mostly related to the lack of any report worthy running. Not a p...

Middle of November is the time of the quickly becoming famous Sixmilebridge loop race. Like last year they offered four distance choices, na...

I'm not sure if it's just psychological after Wednesday's evaluation figures showed that I'm not recovered from Dublin yet, ...

My youngest daughter is now 6 years old and she is showing worrying signs of following in the footsteps of one of her parents as far as her ...

It is 6:40 am Friday morning, it is cold, dark, windy and raining heavily. My left Achilles is feeling rather stiff, as is my right knee. I ...

The next event in Sixmilebridge is only 10 days away, so I do not have much of a window to do some "proper" training. I'm not ...

Apparently the villager should not be so far away from his village (yes, tough critic, that one) Real life just keeps happening, I can ...

I only realised it afterwards, but Dublin on Monday was my 10th marathon as a pacer. It really is amazing how quickly those things add up. ...

The weather forecast had started to get rather ominous the week before the marathon with a massive storm predicted, and it got worse every t...