Dublin Marathon 2016

What a difference a day makes as the song goes, in this case, what a difference a year makes.

As someone remarked, if carslberg did weather for a marathon, then Sunday's weather on the day of the Dublin city marathon was it.
Since I didn't hit my target in the half marathon in the park, I was going into this race with very little in the way of expectations. My last two marathons, both Boston earlier this year, and Dublin last year, had from my point of view, been disasters, hitting the wall on both occasions. While running a 3:28 and 3:19 respectively, I had started both events with better times in mind.
So this year for Dublin, I had decided early there would be no sub 3 attempt for me. However, I was still aiming for sub 3:10, so hard work was still required, and all training was targeted and paced around a sub3 goal.

A huge improvement this year, was the decision to hold the event on the Sunday instead of the bank holiday Monday, and with the clocks going back on Saturday night, even the nervous participants had the chance to get an extra bit of sleep.
I normally don't have an issue with sleep, but this year due to the hour change, I was dreading getting the alarm wrong, and I woke about 5 times checking the time. That, combined with two toilet stops during the night due to over-hydrating, gave me a less than perfect nights sleep, but that was ok.

The bus was for 7 o'clock pretty much right outside my house. We all met, 30 or so participants, in beautiful morning crisp air. Driving in on the bus, I thought of the mix of experience on board, and it reminded me somewhat of a troop carrier full of soldiers destined for a far off war zone somewhere.
You had the new recruits, going to the battle field for the first time, excited and nervous of what was to lie ahead, the not knowing of what the experience of running 26 miles would be like, and not sure if their training would carry them to their target.
There were the veterans, who bore all the scars of previous battles, and failures, who knew what to expect. And though they knew the pain of the fight, they relished it, and had their own personal wars to fight.
And lastly, you had the lucky ones, nothing to prove, nothing to lose. Go, enjoy, and maybe come back, maybe not. They were the ones I envied, where I should have been after my second marathon, but most certainly was not as I approached number 9.

Surprisingly, even though there was a record entry for this year of over 19,000, with an estimated 16500 or so actually running, the bag drop and route to the start went very smoothly, maybe even more so than other years. I think the wave starts definitely helped with this.
Myself and Brian made our way to the start line together. Having discussed tactics previously, and having set my mind at a 7:05 pace, I was now again starting to have doubts. This was mainly due to the weather. No wind was the perfect opportunity to give the sub3 a shot. But to be honest, I was scared. Scared of falling apart at 20 miles, again, and scared of walking the last 6 miles, and scared of the disappointment that would inevitably bring. So I stuck with the plan, and lined up beside the 3:10 pacers with Brian.

The gun was off, and so were we. The chaos of a mass start, with an early sharp right turn, and runniners up the front way out of their depth, meant we had the usual Dublin slow start, with some of the mile nearly at walking pace.
Brian stuck with me for mile one, and we also picked up Eamon along the way. It was great for the three of us to chat for a while, with neither of the lads committing to a time, even as we were running the race! Our club is full of runners who would make great poker players!
Anyway, mile one 7:16, slow due to the congestion, but that was perfectly fine. A slow start is better than a too fast start. As things started to free out on mile two, I started to gather a bit of pace, conscious of having to recoup some time lost in mile one, 6:47. Ouch, a bit too fast too soon, keep it steady I thought to myself. Mile 3, 7:00, better, recouping the lost time now, get back on pace. I had lost the other two guys at this stage, although I was quite sure they were not too far behind.
First water station, take a drink. Very important, drink from the first, and every station, if if its just a sip.
Mile 4, 6:49, that scared me a bit, it felt very easy, but was quite a bit faster than planned,min hash to try to steady the ship. Mile 5, 6:53. Again, faster, but there were some downhills which I just allowed myself to free wheel without increasing the effort at all. Mile 6, 6:58. While I knew this was faster than planned. I was acutely aware of the fact I still had 20 miles left, and this is where many runners have come a cropper. Feeling good, the temptation is to push, but I had to resist!
Mile 7, 6;54, mile 8 6:44, a big downhill in the park here, and I was actually getting passed out by many runners. Interestingly, going through 10k, I was placed 941.
Mile 9, 6:48, mile 10,6:45. Now I was getting worried. I still felt very very comfortable, but was well ahead of my target pace. I had hoped the damage had not been done already!
Mile 11, 7:05, mile 12 6:55, mile 13 6:51. Going through the half marathon point in 1:31:36, position 909, although I had no way of knowing that then.
For me, there are two key points on a marathon course, half way, and 20 miles, at which to really evaluate how things were going. At this point, I was very comfortable, more than on any marathon I had ever done, so although I was faster than planned, it gave me some comfort.
I was actually able to enjoy the fantastic support from the crowds, and the only thing than anyone needs to be careful of, is that you don't get too much of a lift, and start upping the pace. The adrenaline rush can really do that to me anyway.
Mile 14, 6:59, 15, 6:53, 16 6:52, 17, 6:50, 18, 6:54. Along all these miles, I rarely glanced at the watch, and then only when the mile beep sounded and it gave me the split for the mile. They were all faster than planned, but at this stage it was too late. I felt comfortable, strong, and I was loving it! If I crash then I crash, but I believed it would not happen, and you really need to believe in yourself, so I did!
Mile 19, 6:47, mile 20 6:48, mile 216:51. I won't lie,Mathis is where the work started. I was stillmstrong, and I knew there would be no wall today, however, it was now down to business. Comfortable is not a word I would use at this point, but focuses and determined replaced it.