Dublin Marathon 2023 | The Next Generation

Introduction

I thought it was over. I wrote it down that it was over. I published the finalé online here. I was convinced that the next time I ran the marathon distance I’d be somewhere else. I had beeen wanting to run a decent Cork Marathon for a long time. The times I had ran around my home county were my first marathon where being kind to myself at 19 years of age I crawled over the finish line having not trained at all. The second time in 2016 it was hotter than hell and I fell apart on the straight road(local name) and walked a good chunk of the last three miles. I closed the Dublin Marathon chapter in 2018 with my second fastest time. I had scored a whole host of PBs in Dublin and Cork remained my nemesis in waiting. 2019 would bring Julie’s election (or elections) we didn’t know what way things would go then. We got through 2019 and I wanted to enter the Dublin Marathon 2020. I can’t remember why? Julie had stepped away from public life and taken a job at a legal clinic. Things looked like they were normalising for us in 2020. Maybe I missed the challenge?

I remember we were talking to then Minister for Finance Pascal O Donoghue as Julie stepped back from election candicacy. Pascal was incredibly generous with his time and advised us to take the long view of service in public life and build up slowly. He also said something that proved to be ominous ‘We don’t know where we’ll be in 2024’.

Considering the blizard or problems that came about in the intervening three years those words proved to be considered wisdom. If a wormhole had opened up, and the me of today emerged in that room in the summer of 2019 and said

We’ll have a pandemic next year it will be hell, you’ll get engaged in 2021, marry as the pandemic restrictions ease in 2022, whilst changing jobs moving counties….And if you thought that was a lot in 2023 your first son will be born two weeks after you go sale agreed on a house in North Dublin and you’ll move in a month before you finish your third fastest Dublin marathon.

I would have said that’s insane and I’ve clearly lost my mind in the future. However a little quote I picked up along the way would go along way;

Don’t try to solve your problems. Overwhelm them.

I gave back my Dublin marathon 2020 entry in May of 2022. I just couldn’t make time to run in 2022. I was adapting to everything. I ran but not at marathon level. By the time I entered the lottery of the Dublin Marathon 2023 I thought for sure I had written my faith in 2018 and it was now haunting me. I entered the lottery and I thought I haven’t a hope. I’ve run around Dublin five times already. They’ll probbaly want to spread the entries to new comers and part of me agreed with that. Enter my friend Donal. Donal is a stalwart of Cork running and great a source of running news. Donal caught wind of the news that the Dublin Marathon organisers were not happy about the near 10,000 unused entries in 2022. To solve this they backed off the international advertising and returned to the home market. I got an offer via lottery almost straight away as did Donal. I was thrilled. This time would be different I’d have a son. Julie and I learned that we were expecting in Sept 2022. We also accepted a Harmony test so we knew a son was on the way early on. My immediate thoughts were I want my son to know what it feels like to be a finisher. I want to carry him over the marathon finish line. If I only teach him one thing as his Dad it will be finish no matter how hard the task is FINISH. I saw this as my first opportunity to set an example for him to follow.

Build Up

I thought I knew the buzz of the Dublin Marathon from the last five marathons. For those I breezed into town Saturday afternoon checked into wherever we were staying headed straight for the expo. I always had fun at the expo. The volunteers have always been superb at registeration and we nearly always bumped into a few Cork friends. The anticipation of another wonderful experience was upon us. The glow of people living there best lives was running wild all of the RDS. I couldn’t help but love it.

This time was very different. We lived in Dublin and by god do Dubliners take pride in their marathon. The word got around the office that I was taking part. Almost every conversation, WebEx or meeting ended with good luck in the marathon Sunday Andrew. A few others wanted a walk through of the route, where they could go and cheer or where they might see me finish. I obliged all. I worked for 12 years in sport and most of marathon week it was assumed I was running and I was not to be bothered because I needed to focus on running a PB. I was in a different environment and county now with no shortage of curiosity and encouragement. I wasn’t always approachable on marathon week either and this was a welcome change. I enjoyed it immensely.

Training

I tell everyone the same thing about the marathon.

I’m not joking I let five years pass without going the distance. I had to reboot my muscle memory from scratch. To do that I ran the Dublin Marathon Race Series a 5 Mile in Corkagh, 10k in Fingal, 10 Miler in Phoenix Park, a half marathon in Phoenix park (three days after we moved into our house) and a three quarter marathon. All of these training races came one month apart. The regime was grueling and I gave myself no room for excuses. After long runs my naps were with my newborn son. Lunch time runs freed up time in the evening for me to support my wife as she went through rehab after labor. Early morning feeds included a TRX session. In our one bedroom apartment in Rathmines I often lay Edward on his V pillow did some TRX on the balcony and if Edward woke before the session ended I stopped gave him his bottle and finished training afterwards. Later in Artane I swear Edward started giving out if I didn’t finish a set with good form. He also started imitating me by rolling I think? On Saturdays I’d take Edward to parkrun in the buggy. I’d run then jog back to Julie and take Edward while Julie got in a few kilometers.

A Marathon is a part time job and I tell people you’re not allowed let that part time job interfere with your core responsibilities in life. You must organise your day everyday. If your family feel they’re no less well off on your journey through a marathon they’ll help you. If they feel differently you’ll be in trouble and even if you make it to the start line you’ll have to carry the strife for 26.2 miles. My advice lighten the load and if it’s not the right time to run a marathon let it go. I did in 2022 and probably will again in the future.

Race Day

Race day began at 2:54 am. Edward wailed obviously confused by the extra hour of sleep daylight savings had to offer. I had planned for this. Unless Edward or Julie needed a hospital I was running the marathon. I got him settled but he woke again about 4:30 am. This time he needed his Mom to help settle him. Finally at 5:34 am Edward had enough and was in need of his morning feed. I dressed and took Edward with me to be changed and fed. So far the morning was going perfectly. I knew this could happen, it did and when it did my mind overwhelmed it. I didn’t feel even one bit tired when I lined up at the start chute later that morning.

Julie dropped me down town for 7:45 am because the DART was down for maintenance. Next up was the rain just as I started lacing up my shoes in Merrion Square. Another lad next to me asked about the rain and I told him

I thought we would escape it or that’s what the weather app said last night.

Within 30 seconds I was shown to be completely wrong as it showered down on top of us for a few minutes. I rechecked the weather app as did almost every other marathoner. Collectively we then did two things donned a bin bag and a baseball hat. This was all part of the plan. Rain made no difference on my long runs I just pulled out my scottish tartan hat and got on with it. Today was no different I just had thousands keeping me company. I was going to get wet once. Throughout the race day it would rain three times for approximately half an hour. I briefly thought I’d be at risk of hypothermia later then I told myself stop worrying and put the energy into running faster. At Mile 22 on heartbreak hill the water at least two inches in depth was flowing down the hill. This was grist to my mill at this stage. The odds going against me and the situation looking grim always brought out the best in me. I stormed up that hill with a smile.

The first 15 miles I conciously kept my pace steady hovering around 5:00-5:15 per km. I was set to meet Julie around mile 11 for a Hello but that didn’t happen. As Julie would explain later public transport let her down so she diverted to St.Vincents hospital. I was a little worried that something had happened but I knew that Julie and Edward might have had to change plans. I was relieved to see them outside St.Vincents hospital. I shouted that “I loved them both” as I flew by. Overall my pace was holding because my nutrition consisting of four enervit gels and lucozade sport kept the wall(or glycogen exhaustion) away. I didn’t hit the wall I sailed right over it. The carb loading all week and weetabix at breakfast did set the job up nicely. And now having seen the two most important people in my life cheering me on I was going to push myself and hurt a little bit.

After 40 km and with the boost from seeing Edward and Julie having a great time still fresh in my mind I drove myself on leaning into the pain barrier. Pain during a marathon is temporary. Pride after finishing a marathon is forever. I knew I was going to finish and I couldn’t get there fast enough. I thought that all the pain of the last three years might come in handy to unleash some anger in the last few miles but it was love that got me to the finish line. Seeing Julie and Edward reminded me that I had the dream and I could keep running hard back to it.

The good and the Mad

The good was undoubtedly the support from friends, family and volunteers on the day. You don’t make the fourth biggest marathon in Europe happen without the good will and dedication of all of the above. Signs such “The Bulmers is getting warm”, “Enjoy the swim” or “This is a lot of work for a free Banana” all helped to lift my spirits on what can be a slog at times. In Phoenix park I got chatting to some lovely Northern Irishmen who excused themselves as they crossed my path to get to a water station. I jovially responded saying there is no racing here yet. The Derry man in the group replied Aye stay in the pocket back here and we might pip the champ yet. This turned out to be quite sage advice when at the top of Phoenix park we passed last years champion clearly struggling. In every Dublin Marathon I’ve ever finished I’ve had moments afterwards where people congratulate me for finishing. Dubliners are very proud of their marathon. Walking to catch a bus home after this one more than ten people congratulated me on finishing. Dublin really is the friendly marathon.

The outright mad was the guy who ran with bandages on the balls of his feet. He had no shoes just these thin white bandages on his feet. I’ve ran alongside a guy in the Barcelona half marathon who ticked along in flip flops but this was another level of insanity altogether. The surface in Dublin is mixed, charred, potholed and then rough in other places. I had to look three times to be sure my eyes were actually seeing this. Of course I think of me as mad too Julie was on the phone to a friend the day before telling her I was running the Dublin Marathon the next day. Perplexed her friend asked

“Is he mad? You had a son, bought a house and now he’s running a marathon in the same year. Julie replied This is his 8th marathon. Oh that’s fine so.”

Almost like prior experience makes the madness ok but really the guy wearing feet bandages for no discernible reason seemed to have really jumped a shark and rode an ostrich up the madness scale. What I was doing looked like an average Sunday by comparison.

Course

My strava link is here

Conclusion

I’ve finished my eight marathon even with everything and an avalanche going on. Ain’t nothing over til it’s over.