The Day!!!

This was never going to be easy and while we were ready for a hard slog we knew we were going to pay dearly for lack of preparation, fully expected it to go horribly wrong at some stage.

Unlike last year we didn't get up outrageously early this time and had breakfast at a respectable 7.30am and had a fairly normal, everyday meal... it would be fair to say that we weren't as focused as last year!

An unsettling combination of fear and excitement and built up as we walked down hill towards the city center to cross the river Lee and onto the start area. I hadn't pinned my number to my shirt before we left the hotel and tried to do it while walking only to be foiled yet again by my lack of multi asking skills, I did manage to stab myself several times before I accepted that it wasn't going to work and simply had to wait until I the current walking task was complete before I attempt the potentially lethal pinning of the number to the shirt task.

More and more people joined us as we walked and by the time we got to the start line we were among thousands runners where the buzz of excitement overcame the fear. The weather was not ideal as the sun blazed in a clear sky with very little wind to cool us down. I had a few minutes before the official start time to concentrate on numbering up during which Sonia O'Sullivan gave a speech, the elite athletes started and I stabbed myself a further 3 times.

The first 10 miles were very exciting. We ran through the city heading west before crossing the river Lee and headed east towards and eventually through the Jack Lynch tunnel. I felt pretty good and the atmosphere was amazing with spectators lining much of the route making all the difference.

Miles 11 to 15 were fine but I was beginning to feel the strain of poor preparation.

Miles 15 to 19 were tough and for the first time I was beginning to doubt that I would finish in under 5 hours. it was around this time that I started to do a little walking, just occasional short walks but they were adding up.

Miles 19 to 22 were really, really tough and I was beginning to struggle. It was also the hilliest part of the course but we were expecting a monster hill that never materialised which was a little bonus. My occasional walks were becoming more frequent and longer.

Miles 22 to 23 felt like it couldn't get any worse until I got to miles 23 to 25, these were actually the worst.

Miles 25 to 26.2 were less of a struggle, we were on the flat and heading back towards the city. Once we were back on city streets we had half a mile to go and from somewhere deep inside a little packet of energy came rushing to the surface that pushed our laboured walk to a laboured run which carried us across the finish line.

Our time was a lot longer than expected, 5 hours 18 minutes, but considering the lack of preparation and the heat... well it's still pretty slow. Here's a map of our route: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/6474094.

The next marathon on the list is Dublin in October. I'm still convinced that there's a 4 hour marathon in me, all I've got to do is focus and get the training done... all of it!