Monday, October 29, 2007

Dublin City Marathon: 05:29:04

A marathon... it really is such a long way, much more that my legs were expecting!!

I felt really good at mile 14 which is hardly surprising as the longest I had ran during training was a 1/2 marathon. I was following my “take it easy and save it for later” strategy which seemed to be working (running an average of 11.5 minute miles).

BUT I had no idea what would happen after 14 miles and it wasn’t long before I realized that all was not well despite my carb loading diet leading up to the race and regular consumption of carb rich gel packs during the race; my legs were just not willing to do what they were told and as the miles went on they became less and less interested.

By mile 22 they had met with their union and were threatening to go on strike unless this ridiculous exercise ceased, I managed to keep them going for another mile or so but they finally had enough somewhere near mile 24 and we were walking for the next 2 miles.

It wasn’t until we got back into the city that their ego took over and responded the cheering crowds that lined the streets along the final stretch.

Crossing the line was an awesome experience, it somehow made up for the pain.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

BRAVO! Congratulations on becoming a marathonian. Would you do it again??

Andrew said...

Absolutely, planning my next one right now!!

Thanks!!

Anonymous said...

Well done you. The photo shows a lot of pain and pleasure. Why oh Why does one do these things and who was the first person who thought, "Hey lets run 26 miles". Am I missing something. Anyway what an achievement, Michelle

Anonymous said...

Good question, I think the first guy was running away from a bunch of angry Greeks carrying spears so he had a pretty good reason for running 26 miles... as for the rest of us? Who knows...

Anonymous said...

You forgot to mention that the first marathonian dropped dead on arrival .... maybe that's why he became so famous so fast ;-)
So I guess you are one up on him as you have survived almost 2 weeks since your 26 miler and things are looking good.

zbsports said...

Nice post. You report is good. Keep posting good running event.