Dublin Marathon 2006

Tuesday, November 07 2006 @ 03:50 PM GMT

Contributed by: frank k

Again thanks for the support on the course from the piranha crew. Thanks to Matt Fleury for the report.

Photos by ASI. Sorry if I have missed anyones results. I know I have forgotton someone. Drop me a mail and Ill add it in.

Speaking of marathons, Lance completed NY at the weekend after a pretty high profile campaign. It was close as he just got under sub 3 his target. His quotes on the event are quite interesting - Armstrong called the race “the hardest physical thing I have ever done.”see here http://www.nycmarathon.org/news/story_27 His running buddies were not a a bad standard ! one was Hicham El Guerrouj, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in track and field...

Having completed my first triathlon season this summer, I was keen to have a go at this year’s Dublin marathon. Having had to come back from London for the event I wasn’t hugely impressed with having to trek to the RDS to register on the Saturday but it was a quick enough affair with some interesting stalls at the expo and it gave me a good opportunity to stock up on gels.

When race day came, I had to get my brother Andrew to drop me into town as there was no public transport early enough (Bank Holiday) to get in on time. I wasn’t allowed up Grafton st. (quite annoying) so I had to go another route to the bag drop. Once I had dropped my bag and met my good friend Andy with whom I was running we made our way down to the start line. Quite a crowd had started to form and there was a lot of tension on people’s faces.

I wasn’t sure what time I should be aiming for as my training hadn’t exactly been by the book. Since I’ve moved to London I’ve been working 65-70 hour weeks and have found it hard to train for the marathon. Essentially I got my long runs and tapering in but felt quite underreported altogether. Quite ambitiously I had an eye on the Boston marathon so we decided we’d go at 3.10 pace (7mins 15secs per mile) and see how we got on. Andy was as unprepared as me but with his dad having run a 2.41 and mom a 3.22, I was reasonably confident he would be fine.

At the start line, we crept forward slowly until we were essentially right at the front. I’m told people saw me on TV at the start. The pre race wait is an odd one; people are gradually shedding layers of clothing which they’ll never see again and along the side barriers there is a line of men perfecting their prerace hydration plans. With no one really looking to disturb (or go anywhere near the area) it left a nice little alley to cruise up to the front.

Soon the race began and I struggled to get into my stride, I felt a stitch coming on after about 300 yards and was mortified at the thought of getting a stitch in the first mile. However it stayed away and there was plenty of space on the roads so things were comfortable. My heart rate was very high (fluctuating between 190 & 192) at the start and I thought it was just the adrenalin so wasn’t too worried and tried to lower it a little.

We were moving along nicely and reached the 10km mark in 45.48. Andrew my brother was waiting at the 7mile mark to give us a gel each and a premade carb drink. There was no huge need for him to pass the gels as we could have carried those ourselves but the carb drink was key as the Gatorade stops around the course were a big disappointment – they were handing out half filled cups of which only about a third actually made it down your throat!

, My heart rate was still very high and I was quickly realising the pace we had set was too high for me. My sister lives in Crumlin and we met her just before halfway for another gel and a drink. We reached the half way mark after 1hr 36mins and I knew then that 3.10 was too ambitious and 3.20 would be a struggle. Andy was moving nicely and he gradually started to pull away. My ipod stopped working at this stage which was quite distressing and I had a few lonely miles before it kicked into life again. My parents had made a trip to Milltown and I met them around the 18mile mark for another drink and a gel. It really helped to break the race up knowing that I would see different people stationed at various points in the race. I felt I was moving quite slowly at this stage but was on track to threaten 3.20 and was keeping myself going on that. Peter Coughlan passed me somewhere near 20 miles and I tried to stay with him and appreciated his encouragement but continued to struggle. I passed Lisa around 21miles and got a good shout (no change from swimming training there!).

I was raising money for Cancer Research and had been given a singlet with my name on it and this was a huge positive throughout the whole race. Everyone who noticed it latched onto it and gave me ‘Come on Matt!’ cheer. Hugely pleasingJ Cooper, a good friend from college met me at the 22mile mark with some flat Coke. The Coke didn’t have the zing effect I had quite hoped but seeing Coops was a huge boost and I picked it up a little then. When I turned onto Merrion Roadthe mile marker signs seemed to be taking longer and longer to get to. I was starting to hurt quite a lot at this stage and had to stop to stretch out a hamstring to avoid cramp. At the 23 mile mark my watch read 2.52 and I thought if I could do the last 3.2 miles in 27minutes I’d break 3.20 and be quite happy with the time. But a strong wind was blowing into us for the last few miles and I was moving very slowly. I saw my parents again with less than a mile to go and my brother again soon after. I was really ‘going for it’ at this stage but was being passed by a lot of people. I saw Steve C around this point and could see he was struggling with my name but a quick glance at the shirt and he was all over it. My hear rate hadn’t dropped through the whole race; it moved between 187 and 194 for the entire thing. There was a lot of post rate scepticism that it was faulty but i’m not sure either way.

The mile marker signs seemed to be taking longer and longer to get to. I was starting to hurt quite a lot at this stage and had to stop to stretch out a hamstring to avoid cramp. At the 23 mile mark my watch read 2.52 and I thought if I could do the last 3.2 miles in 27minutes I’d break 3.20 and be quite happy with the time. But a strong wind was blowing into us for the last few miles and I was moving very slowly. I saw my parents again with less than a mile to go and my brother again soon after. I was really ‘going for it’ at this stage but was being passed by a lot of people. I saw Steve C around this point and could see he was struggling with my name but a quick glance at the shirt and he was all over it. My hear rate hadn’t dropped through the whole race; it moved between 187 and 194 for the entire thing. There was a lot of post rate scepticism that it was faulty but i’m not sure either way.

I experienced quite a cheesy moment as I passed the front gate of my alma mater to what I thought was the biggest crowd on the whole route. Al Pacino’s Any Given Sunday was reaching its pinnacle at this point and I was really moving. I passed about 6 or 7 people and got huge roars from the crowd. I was a little discouraged when I got around the corner realised I had another few hundred yards to go. Depressingly all those whom I had just passed once again cruised passed me. There was a big crowd at the finish line but I wasn’t really with it and regret not taking it in more but was so pleased to be finished. I finished in 3.24.09 and was reasonably happy.

Andy was waiting at the finish line and finished in 3.18 but was hurting a lot. I think the lack of training really began to show through as we were moving a lot more gingerly than others. I had no blisters or bleeding which was good and the free massage after the race was a huge help. I met Peter Coughlan and Niall McD in the line who both finished with good times and were quite pleased.

I had a shower in Cooper’s apartment in Trinity (he really out did himself on helper duty) and then made it to Doheny & Nesbitt’s for some post race hydration with the other Piranhas. There was a good turnout which was nice. And I’m not really sure how I managed to be ensnared into writing another race report having written an infamous Connemara Triathlon report but I think being the butt of some heart rate jokes seems to have played a crucial role in the process.

On reflection, the advice I would give someone on their first marathon is

I knew i forgot someone.

Samuel Blonde - 03:46:33

Chris Rafferty - 04:37:54

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