Dublin City Marathon 2025 Omnibus

Padraig Looby: 

26 October 2025 was a date long marked on my calendar.  I had initially set out to run a sub-3 hour marathon in Dublin in 2024 only to be scuppered by covid just before the event.  I didn’t make the start line and had the winter to stew over what-might-have-been.  Standing figuratively at the bottom of the mountain earlier this year, thoughts turned to the 2025 event.  Should I?  Could I? Would I?  Encouraged by my wife, I secured a race ticket and thoughts turned to the 16-week training block I would need to put in.  Conveniently, my baby son Caelan came along 17 weeks out, so I had a week to celebrate before settling down to business!  My life now consisted of baby – work – training.  The training was intense – maxing out at 6 days per week with plenty of slow running, tempo running and marathon pace running.  I operated on a block system of 3 weeks on then an easier week x 4.  Training went well.  I felt good for the most part and ran plenty of miles with my Sportsworld colleagues.  Only in October did I start to feel weary about the training – the darker evenings not helping one iota.  But I stayed on track, mostly thanks to ever-present encouragement from my wife.  October brings darker evenings but it also brings the taper.  Taper is a funny place to be mentally – it plays tricks with the mind (you’re losing fitness or you haven’t trained enough).  But its also necessary from a physical point of view – you need to recover from training to be able to give it your best on race day.  I tried to relax during taper and accept that at this point, your marathon fate is already sealed.  Race day came slowly.  Race week is a long week.  Weather forecasts flip-flopped all week from good to bad.  Race day morning revealed a pretty breezy and rainy scene.  Not ideal, but not a disaster.  Marathons bring adversity; you must deal with that.  I made my way to the city centre in good time and started to soak up the pre-race atmosphere.  The race is well organised so I was smoothly through bag drop and onto the start line in good time.  The nerves were rattling now, but the gun went off at 8.45am precisely and we were off.  My plan was to stick with the 3-hour pacer balloons, however I felt these guys were running behind pace for the first 5km, so I left them and did my own thing!  I did not want to be running behind 3-hour pace.  My 10km split had me bang on 3-hour pace (42.30) which was the good news.  The bad news was I felt I had to work harder than I should have done to run that.  I put that to one side and thought to myself I will settle into this race and there is plenty of downhill to come from 10-15km.  I hit halfway in 1.28.13 which put me slightly ahead of 3-hour pace.  This was encouraging, but again I had that nagging feeling that I was working harder than I should have been.  Shortly after half-way at 25km I started to get some cramp in my legs.  This was definitely unforeseen – I haven’t had cramp in years.  This was a big concern for me – I’m 17km from home with cramping legs!  Not where you want to be.  Shortly after 25km, I was on Fortfield Rd.  As a Sportsworlder, this part is always a treat with club members out in force.  One or two people mentioned to me since that I was not smiling – well I can tell you why:  cramp!   This became a real concern as I passed through Terenure village.  I thought to myself, I’m going to stopping/walking soon.  I kept taking my water and gels, but the problem remained.   30km came.  Another split check-in.  I needed 2.07.30 here, my watch read 2.05.21.  This was encouraging.  I’m still on track.  Last 12km now.  This is it now.  No stopping, no crying, no excuses.  Just keep moving.  I tried to keep an eye on my pace, but at this point in a marathon, all bets are off.  Its empty the tank time.  When turning left or right I looked over my shoulder to see if there was any sign of the 3-hour pacers – I couldn’t see them. I took good encouragement from this.  Just keep them behind you.  THEY SHALL NOT PASS.  My brother was at the 40km marker – he was roaring and shouting like a mad-man.  It was exactly what I needed at that point.  Just keep moving.  Before the race, I thought I might enjoy the last 2km – no such luck!  Marathons are hard.  I forgot how hard.  There was no whopping or cheering from me as I crossed the line in 2.57.17.  I was totally and completely spent – but I had my sub-3.  The ghosts of 2024 were laid to rest.  I was elated.  To make a good day even better, right on my heels and inside the 3-hour mark were Andrew Finan, Cian Buckley, Mark Graham, Colm Murphy, Neil Collins and  Ivor O’Brien.  It was so nice to see all those guys come through and we walked through the finish area together. The Dublin marathon – as always – was a special event.  Great support, great crowds and a well organised marathon.  I couldn’t recommend it highly enough.

A huge thanks to everyone in Sportsworld, to all the volunteers on race day, to all the people who wished me well and to everyone who trained with me.  And finally, thanks to Nicki and Caelan for sticking with me all summer.  It really did take a village to put this idiot through a sub-3.

Jean FItzsimons

This was my 4th Dublin Marathon and I feel very lucky to say I’ve enjoyed every one of them!! After cheering from the footpath last year, I knew I needed to go again. I waited until May and entered through the ‘Good for Age’ category. Thankfully my training went well. I got 4 runs in a week and 1-2 strength classes- nothing too crazy. The Sportsworld sessions definitely pay off and I honestly believe it’s thanks to the club that I am getting faster with age!!

Andrew Finan

The last Sunday in October in Dublin never feels like just a race