Diary of a Rubbish Marathon Runner

Photo by Alan Murphy Going into this ultra I had one major goal, namely to come through it without injury. It was very much a test on ho...

"Are you going to run Achill Island? Or would that be stupid?" "Yes - and yes, I suppose" I haven't run more tha...

I sure cannot complain about the help I've been getting recently. I have Derek's expert advice on how to deal with the injury, recen...

And so we are back home, from well over 30 degrees in the sun to 16 degrees in the rain -  oh my, am I ecstatic to be back! I was straight b...

Things are continuing to improve but I’m still a good bit off from where I could say that I’m over that injury. After the hip had felt so go...

This time I'm sure, things are definitely improving, and finally at a faster rate as well. My hip felt ok(-ish) on Saturday morning and ...

I was absolutely sure Derek told me I could try and start running every day once the daily mileage had reached 6 without issues, but now he ...

When I first got injured I could not have imagined that recovery would take so long. I remember thinking that the Spartathlon was 3 months a...

18 years ago Niamh dragged me all the way to the altar. It's the same news as for the last few weeks: things are getting better, but...

I probably should have stayed away from Facebook the last few weeks. Reading about all those races my friends were doing broke my heart ever...

If I weren't a runner I would think I am no longer injured by now. The discomfort after sitting is virtually gone and even the chairs in...

I would do just about anything to keep me sane at the moment. I was already wondering if I had suddenly developed a severe case of mid-life ...

There are no less than 3 races on this weekend that I do have an interest in. The Ras na Riochta might be an Adventure race, which clearl...

The first steps are wobbly and uncertain. Thankfully I have yet to fall over and my stability is slowly increasing, though the operative wor...

Things are getting better, but they're not good enough just yet. I have been doing my prescribed exercises religiously 3 times a day, ...

4 days of no running. Counting by the hour, actually - 59 at the time of writing. I went to see a physio in Tralee today. Derek is a very...

I remembered that one thing I usually do whenever I get a niggle is to throw out my old pair of runners. This time, this was a memorable occ...

According to the weather website it was 26 degrees in Dublin today and all over the east coast, there are high temperatures predicted for th...

Starting a new training phase can often be tiring while the body is adapting to the new stressors. I find it quite hard to gauge the correct...

The original plan for this week, at least for the first few days, was to take it very easy and make sure I recover from a rather tough exten...