Build Up

All week leading up to the race the excitement was palpable. I could feel it in my bones. In my mind this was the last marathon I would run in Dublin. I know one can never say or know exactly how the future will turn out but I felt that the Dublin Marathon chapter in my life was coming to an end. I like new experiences and with this final trot around Dublin I was closing a door and opening a window. I really wanted to absorb my final marathon around Dublin and ‘smell the roses’. One day if I live long enough and get really lucky maybe I’ll be able to point at pictures and tell my family ‘Once upon a time I was marathon strong’.

The buzz extended all the way to Cork. I work in Sport with the Mardyke Arena UCC. Many of the members were taking part or knew I along with many members were taking part. It suddenly seemed like every second person was wearing the Dublin Marathon 2017 finisher shirt and they were aiming to add a 2018 shirt to the collection. Me and Julie were squarely focused on the medal. Julie hopes to serve in public life as a politician in Dáil Eireann. 2018 marks 100 years since women achieved the right to vote. The medal bears Constance Markievicz face (She was the first woman elected to the House of Commons and in Irish politics for women she started the fire). Finishing this race a had personal significance for both of us.

The Race

I set off with the aim of following the 3:20 pacers. I took my usual 6 kilometers to get close to them. I came up level with them in Phoenix Park. On that note I always give people the same advice at the start of a Marathon ‘On the opening mile it is easy to get swept away with the field, show boat and general expend excess energy that you will need later’. In general I approach a marathon in two large blocks. The first block is a 20 Mile jog to the start line. At the start line their is a 10 km race for those who have energy left. The pacers were genuinely heroic. They lacked no enthusiasm through the 35 km I shared with them. In all honesty I was comfortable up until 35 km when I hit the wall hard.

I charged up heart break hill on Roebuck Road and won or so I thought. In my mind when I saw the hill I thought ‘you’ll find out if you’re a real marathoner now’. I had enough energy in my legs to get up that hill and feel optimisitic. Right now pay attention here folks because this is where a marathon can fool you. Below are my stats for heart break hill.

As you can see I was clearly in trouble but I didn’t know it yet. My Personal record 48 seconds on heart break hill was in 2016 where I ran a 3:40 Dublin Marathon. I was speeding up to come home and take that time. My second best time was 52 seconds in 2017 when I hit a personal best of 3:28 in the Dublin Marathon. Back then I was steadying myself for one last effort. In 2018 I felt great but I wasn’t in tune enough with my body to realise that I needed to conserve every last drop of energy for the final straight.

I started fading quickly after that hill. My pace went to pieces. I had no rhythym. To say I was shook was an understatement. I slowed to a crawl and took a gel. It took a while before I leveled out and came through the wall. I wasn’t giving in. This was the last Dublin Marathon for me and oddly I was happy. It didn’t matter that I was struggling. I was enjoying it. That being said I tried to restart the engine but I didn’t have enough energy left to get angry. I rely on my emotional intelligence to point my anger in the right direction when I need it but now after heartbreak hill I searched for some anger to get the fire going again but it wasn’t there. I didn’t just try once I went deep, looked around, cross checked and double checked. My mind reported back with ‘nothing left’ circling around my minds eye in bold, italics and highlighted in red.

With nothing left it was time for plan B which was finish. I hung on focused on putting one foot in front of the other. I was in pain, my quads were on fire but this was my final Marathon in Dublin it was time to smell the roses and take it in. I could get to a PB another day. As usual once we got to the RDS there was no way I wasn’t going to finish. I was wearing the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind shirt and true to form the spectators roared encouragement at me in the final 2 miles. ‘C’mon guide dogs almost there’ ‘Run for guide dogs’ ‘You’re doing great guide dogs’ ‘Nearly home guide dogs dig deep’. For anyone thinking about running in the Dublin Marathon once you get inside the last two miles the spectators will bring you home. They have sweets by the bucket full ready if you need them, they will clap their hands to the point to the point of self inflicted fracture and shout themselves hoarse rather then leave you feel like you have no one routing for you. No wonder I was punching the air when I finished.

Finale

My brother would later tell me that he had been watching me on the race tracker app and that the app had predicted a 3:18 finish for me. I was amazed that my brother was watching at all (even remotely). He would go on later that day to win a Senior County Football Final in Cork. The first for St. Finbarrs NHF in 33 years.

In summary, A PB would have been the icing on the cake for by final run around Dublin but when it came down to it I fought hard for it and lost. I did learn from it. I will run another Marathon on foreign soil. Maybe it will be like the Loop De Haag Half Marathon in Holland and I’ll run a PB then. Until then laugh your ass off at this mad man below.