Diary of a Rubbish Marathon Runner

It’s not been the best week ever, despite celebrating a lovely birthday with my family. I was already starting to get sick when I ran the m...

Friday evening I got a sore throat which got worse rather quickly and by the time I went to bed I felt pretty rotten. I did not have a fever...

There isn't much to talk about, so this will be a very short update (Ewen, stop celebrating). On Wednesday I did my first hill session o...

I had missed out on my run on Thursday due to Met Eireann's overcautious warning, which meant that I would have two days of no running i...

Seriously, someone needs to have a chat with the guys and girls from Met Eireann and tell them that 2 degrees Celsius is not "bitterly ...

I would usually hesitate to attend a marathon so far from home but the Oylegate, Co. Wexford one, organised by the Marathon Club, appealed t...

Monday morning was somewhat unreal. The Moon had just dipped below the horizon but still bathed the scene in an otherworldly grey light. As ...

I'm still not entirely sure about Thursday's race. I never pushed it 100% and left it at about 95% effort (I know, the 5:48 first mi...

Mystery Coach won't be too impressed; I don't need telling. Racing during the base phase is the ultimate sin and forgive me Father, ...

December 31 is always a good time to reflect on the past year and if you read a few blogs then you will invariably read a fair few of these ...

As I'm sure you are already very much aware, Ireland has a rather moderate climate and outside conditions are just about never a proper ...

The high winds had prevented me from running an evaluation last week and conditions were still on the challenging side of the spectrum on Mo...

It was another one of those very difficult decisions and I have been mulling over it for a couple of months but I eventually decided, with a...

So ... I went to see the cardiologist after he'd had a chance to look at my data from the 3 tests I'd had done last week. He was imp...

The good news is that I have been feeling pretty good over the last few days. After hitting rock bottom on Friday I have been feeling a bit ...

I got some tests done on Tuesday at the hospital and will see a specialist next Tuesday once he's had the chance to look at the data. In...

I was really happy with the results from Wednesday's evaluation and was still determined to take it rather easy in training. So when I g...

After feeling a crash coming on during the second half of Sunday's run, I knew I had to take it easy. It wasn't just potential overt...

The mileage this week was back to normal, but I could feel the effects of it all today and the signs are that I have to stop getting ahead o...

Wednesday morning, stupid o'clock. The alarm was set for 5:45 but, as usual, I did not need it and naturally awoke a few minute before...