After entering the Wexford Half Marathon way back in a pre-Covid world, I was surprised to find out last September that I still had an entry. Having been postponed several times from its initial April 2020 date, the event finally went ahead on April 24^th, 2022. If I was surprised to find out that I still had an entry, it was nothing compared to the shock Eoin O’Brien had when he found out on the Tuesday before the race that he was on the participant list. Never did a lack of training put Eoin off and he gamely rocked up to the start line ready to tackle the windy Wexford course.

Myself and my long-suffering supporter/bag carrier, Gabriel, hit the road before 8am, arriving in Wexford with plenty of time to find parking and get to the registration area for bib collection. There was a good buzz around the place as the crowds started to arrive.

The event itself was comprised of a half marathon and 10km race, with the half marathon kicking off first at 10:30am and the 10km race starting 10 minutes later. There was a small turnout from Sportsworld with all of us choosing the longer distance. The race started on the Quays in front of the Talbot Hotel, taking in a bit of the town before heading out onto the country roads.

I had initially targeted a sub 1:45 time, hoping to beat my 1:44:47 showing from Bohermeen a few weeks ago but not feeling confident of beating my 1:43:33 PB. I was going to run with the 1:45 pacer but I got off ahead of them and with too many people around to comfortably hold back, I decided to push on and run the race on my own. I felt great through the first 12km and my time was looking strong with me on track for 1:42:30 – well inside my PB! At this stage though I could feel my pace dropping. The next three kilometres turned out to be the slowest of the race for me, averaging over 5mins for each kilometre. At 13.5km I took on a gel and took two bottles of water at the aid station – one to drink there and then and one to carry with me. Despite the cool breeze, when the sun was shining on you it felt very warm. This gave me a little burst of energy and I still felt confident I could go sub 1:43. Eventually, we started to leave the country roads behind us and were making our way along the main road back into Wexford. The wind was suddenly against us but with the uphill sections more or less behind us, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Finally, we passed the 20km mark and a quick check of the watch suggested I was still on track but only marginally so. We made the last turn onto The Faythe, and it was a straight run to the finish line. Despite being able to hear the finish line announcements I couldn’t yet see it. Another quick check of the watch showed 1:41:04 and I realised I was going to have to sprint if I was to finish under 1:43. Finding a burst of energy I didn’t know I still had in me, I took off and pushed myself towards the finish area, falling over the line with a new PB of 1:42:54.

Like the start line, there was a great buzz at the finish area. Overall, the race was quite enjoyable. The marketing before the event suggested it was a PB course which had me convinced that it must be flat. It was anything but! There are a lot of hills – both up and down, but they are quite manageable with only one steep descent. There are stretches of road where you have to run on the path and there was one section where the cars felt too close to the runners.

After the race, myself, Gabriel & Eoin headed for a post-race debrief over brunch before hitting the road back to Dublin. General consensus was that it was a good race. Not easy, not too difficult. I would definitely consider running it again another time.  Full list of Sportsworld results below – well done all!

Mark WILSON    01:31:58

Deirdre MCGING               01:42:54

Anthony FITZPATRICK      01:53:45

Eoin O’BRIEN      02:01:31

Claire HARRINGTON        02:34:46

So let me get this straight, when you have a disappointing marathon you want to run another one and when you have a great marathon you want to run another one. Seems like a scam!!!

If you didn’t know it I’m an obsessive. Once I become interested in something I have to know everything about it. The history, the how, the people, EVERYTHING. So as soon as I joined the club and signed up to run my first marathon in 2017 it didn’t take long for me to hear about Boston and the mythos surrounding it. It became a major goal to qualify and run it.
The Boston Marathon is the oldest annual marathon in the world with its first running in 1897, and is also one of the marathon majors. (Six of the world’s best marathons or a marketing ploy depending on your point of view) It’s held on Patriots Day (third Monday in April) with 30,000 runners participating. It has become known as the “runner’s” (or again depending on your point of view pretentious) marathon due to having to run a qualifying time relative to your age to earn a place. Also with it being run over such a long period it has a great history with many notable duels over the years such as Salazar and Beardsley, Boston Billy Rodgers and our own John Treacy who finished 3rd in 1988 in 2.09.
There are also the trailblazers such as Katherine Switzer. Women were forbidden to run the marathon distance as “logic” stated a women would die if they tried to run 26.2 miles. By signing her entry form “K. V. Switzer,” Kathrine became the first woman to receive a number in the Boston Marathon in 1967 and completed the race despite officials trying to throw her off the course. This year marks the 50th anniversary when women were officially allowed to enter the race.
On a more tragic note there is also the bombing at the finish line in 2013 when 3 people were killed and 264 injured.

I ran my qualifying time in Dublin in 2018 and couldn’t sign up quick enough for the 2020 edition. We really really don’t need to go into what happened next but suffice to say it didn’t happen and so I find myself writing this report for 2022.
We arrived on Saturday in Boston and as soon as you arrive you can tell this marathon is a bit special. There are runners everywhere. I’m always conscious that a lot of hype and hyperbole surround these events but the marathon in Boston dominates the whole city and weekend. I was lucky enough to do the London and New York Marathons in 2019 and they are amazing events. However with the two cities being so vast the marathons can be swallowed up. For instance, as soon as you leave the finish line in NYC you wouldn’t even know the race was happening. If you go back to my London race report you can see that I ended up in vicious duel with Elmo. There was not one person in Boston wearing fancy dress. This was serious.

The people and the city are so proud of the marathon and as soon as you put your celebration jacket on you get treated like a bit of a rock star. Everyone on the street is congratulating you and you are exchanging excited nods to the other participants. When you go out to eat, you can guarantee that the person at the table next to you has done or is doing the marathon and you end up having conversations with complete strangers from different countries.

On Saturday we arrived and went to pick up my number at the expo. I don’t like sticking around in expos as they are usually crowded and don’t really interest me. This one was no different and once I had bought the obligatory celebration jacket I didn’t hang around. We did a bit of sightseeing and had an early night. The next day I tried to stay off my feet as much as possible and did a couple of tours around the city on buses. (It’s a lovely city)
Then race day arrived. Boston is similar to New York in that it is a point to point course so you have to catch a bus to the start line and hang around a staging area for a while. Fortunately by the time I got on the bus and arrived at the start the race was only 50 minutes away so it wasn’t a long wait. From the athletes village to the start line is about a 10-15 minute walk.

After some flybys and the obligatory national anthem we were off.
If you look at the Boston course profile it looks like it should be fast. It starts at 150 metres above sea level and descends into the city with the finish line 3 metres above sea level. However Boston can be a notoriously difficult and is typically the slowest major marathon. This is generally because of two factors. First is weather. The weather in Boston is notoriously unpredictable in spring. Just ask Diarmuid O’Súlleabháin, formerly of this parish, who ran the event in 2018 with temperatures of around 4°C, driving rain and a headwind. Look it up on YouTube, it’s mental. (He still ran 3 hours) Luckily, my race conditions were pretty much ideal apart from a bit of a headwind which picked up during the race.

The second is the course itself. While downhill is good, Boston has a lot of sharp downhills followed by climbs, which beat up your quads. Then the infamous Newton Hills, a series of 4 climbs, which come just at the wrong time at miles 16-21 when you are traditionally starting to struggle in a marathon. My plan and the general perceived wisdom was not to go too fast in the first half but take some advantage of the downhill before you reach the Newton Hills. I wanted to come through half at 1.28 and make sure I came through the hills with a chance to go sub 3. However I found it difficult to get into a rhythm with the constant ups and downs and came through in 1.29. I managed the Newton Hills pretty well and ran by effort eventually cresting heartbreak hill where it is downhill to the finish. I took off but after an initial burst I struggled to hold the necessary pace. Even though I was slightly off pace I was still passing a lot of runners who had blown up their legs on the downhills. It’s a great feeling passing people in the last miles of the marathon. I eventually got to the famous turn of “right on Hereford, left on Boylston” and gave a bit of what felt like a sprint (it really wasn’t) to come in with a new PB of 3.02. While everyone knows my mission is to break 3, I was over the moon to run a PB at Boston.

Trying to describe the atmosphere during a race is difficult as it can all become a bit of a blur but the crowd support was phenomenal. But more than that, there is a real sense of camaraderie and appreciation between the runners. A lot of people work very hard to get to Boston so the race itself is a real celebration.

I don’t know how to finish this report and I’m leaving out loads of stuff but I had an amazing time and would love to do it again some time. I would encourage anyone who has the opportunity to do it. I also want to give a big thank you to my wife and trusted Sherpa, Martina. Running can be quite a selfish pursuit and training takes up a lot of time coupled with taking annual leave days to accompany me on these trips. I really appreciate it. Before you ask I have said this to her but want to commit it to print so I can use it as evidence in any future negotiations in respect of holidays.

OK so I’m sitting here thinking how the hell am I going to make this interesting,  this event was the first of its kind in Ireland so I signed up after being talked into it by a fellow RUNKIES as ultra-distance runners like to call themselves, the training involved long days split into 2 or 3 long runs or a marathon plus long evenings walk/ run and another early morning,  was the way I decided to prepare my body.

This went OK until 3 weeks out and I had a bad marathon in Clontarf. Rain, wind, got soaked, then went out again that afternoon. Picked up a nasty chest cold 🤧, that never really cleared. Still headed up determined to do at least the marathon. It was for charity and I knew a lot pulled out. So simply put we started at 6 pm Friday around a 400mt track timing mat laid out changing direction every 2 hours, you could stop as often as you want but had to keep the chip on throughout, whoever covered the most distance wins.

We had drizzle, to begin with then it lashed heavily into the late evening. I changed clothes shoes twice and was already feeling sore on this concrete track, still, the time passed and in the marquee that was set up, we had music throughout. The local cafe, the main sponsor, provided lovely cakes bread etc. We were lucky we had the camper parked right beside the track the others had tents, so only a few joined in Friday evening as there were options 1, 6,12, 24 hours,  it got very cold during the night and had a cough and high temperature didn’t help, so I took a few hours rest, got hot food, changed. Saturday morning was at least dry and more runners joined in. It was great to see old friends as I was making new ones. Saturday went by slowly I needed a few painkillers, got the terra gun out, the hip flexors were very sore at this stage I was doing more walking than I hoped for. Saturday night we had a yellow wind warning for around 9 pm so chatting amongst ourselves we decided this would be our long rest time,  I knew when I nodded off in the portaloo.,😉 however this happened earlier than expected about 6 pm rain hail and high winds greeted us, and so I was called in, to warm up with hot soup & toasties,  took a while to get warm I tried to sleep,  only the 2 hours.

Wednesday saw a number of Sportsworld runners do the midweek IMRA (Irish Mountain Running Association) race. This week it was the Belmont and Little Sugar Loaf, 8.6Km long with a climb of 360m.

After months of anticipation, IMRA summer races resumed this week with Belmont &“Little” Sugarloaf.  Launch evening is perfect; sunny, mild, windless and in the beautiful setting of Belmont Demense.   I find Deirdre and Eoin (fresh-ish from his car-nap) in the registration queue.  Neil mooches along after a few minutes, looking far too relaxed.  I’m keeping the head down and having a little panic as my phone (emergency navigation aid, registration details and camera for my first IMRA race) has randomly crashed and to my surprise, rubbing the screen and holding down buttons isn’t fixing it.

10 minutes later,  we find Tim at the early start line – a cluster of friendly people in the long grass at the top of a field beside the car park.  People seem to have come here of their own free will and are in good form.  Anthony has arrived but he’s still in long pants and a jacket and doesn’t have the same fear of losing daylight that has some of us itching to make a start.

I kick off cocky enough. I’ve done longer runs and how bad can a few hills be if I take my time?  We jog a decent pace meeting some downhill on the woodland track early on.  I’m not sure how to run downhills yet but letting loose is the chosen technique this evening – relatively effective speed wise,  but an absolute jackhammer on the body.

Within the 2nd km we start a climb and though it’s still a nice gravel track, my good feeling gets erased by the unbelievable calf burn on the climb.  To add to the evening, my phone has somehow resuscitated itself on full volume and the calm lady in Garmin Connect is keeping anyone within 5 metres regularly appraised of my heart rate and average speed.   Sunglasses on, head down.

The gradient eases and I stop to take a photo of Neil coming up behind but then I’m too tired.

Eoin eases past in power walker mode. Deirdre keeps glancing back at me with mild concern…like she’s trying to remember the emergency procedure should she be stuck with the task of getting me off the mountain. I’m consoling myself with the amazing views but really having doubts if I’ll get down in daylight.

The track ends and, after an oddly easier climb o

ver rock steps, we summit. I take some more photos to stretch the recovery moment then commence the bum shuffle over the short steep descent on rock and scree.  It’s a relief to find a grassy path. Deirdre tells me it’s all downhill from here but also that she got lost on it last year.

Armed with new enthusiasm, we fairly “steam”

up the grassy path but that bubble bursts when the flags indicate another steep incline. Reluctant to follow any flags that don’t work in harmony with our current preference for downhill, we consult with some ladies trotting along behind.  “The fxxckers!” someone exclaims, a reference to the designers of this trail who we will later be thanking for a lovely evening on the hills.

The fading light and tangible chill to the air push us on so we actually do ok on this bit and soon we are looped back to the calf-burner of a gravel track.  Happily,  this time it’s upside down so we can lash into it.

I carry on with the jackhammer technique of downhill running as if I’ll never need these knees again.   I’m too knackered now to stop my legs flailing about anyhow. We traverse a field of unimpressed cows. Despite what I think is my blistering downhill pace there is no sign of Eoin or Neil, nevermind Tim.   They must’ve been even more blistering.

The last 1.5k is more undulating than expected.  Deirdre cruises past me while I struggle to stay moving at all.  I finally fall over the finish line,  last of the sportsworlders,  in 1.09, narrowly missing out on being overtaken by 7.30 starter Anthony Gillen. (50 mins).

Much more challenging than anticipated but worth it for the views and the experience and if I recover in time I’ll be signing up for the next one.

The midweek races are an easy way of getting away from work, into the mountains and get a work out in some of the nicest scenery around.

To do an IMRA race you have to pay the annual registration fee (€10) and then each race is €7. You can enter online and you are given a chip at the race to record your results.

As well as midweek races there are weekend races too and the website gives the details on the length, amount of climb and difficulty of the race so you can start with an easy one.

https://www.imra.ie/events/

Next IMRA evening event is Scalp

DATE:Wednesday 27 April, 2022TIME:19:30

https://www.imra.ie/events/view/id/2210

The great Ireland run took place the 9th April at 9:00 am in the beautiful Phoenix Park (if my grandmother was alive she would have bet on that number). As a matter of fact, the race also included the National 10k Championship.

As I do for every race, I woke up early, had breakfast and chose the clothes I was going to wear for the race. Since I moved to Ireland, I only follow one simply rule: I put on the warmest clothes I have… and if they are waterproof even better!

Around 8 am, Bel and I, started our journey to the park. Two buses and a little walk later, we arrived to a frozen and white park. The weather was really cold but sunny and, fortunately, not rainy at all!

As soon as we arrived, we found part of the team and we all went to the starting line together.

Some of them went to the very front and others, like me, preferred to start the race in a later place. After a funny and motivating warm up (I really hope nobody saw me doing the “right – left” exercises) my first race of 2022 started – what a moment! If you are good keeping secrets, I would admit that I was a bit moved. The run started and I was enjoying it a lot. At the beginning, we ran downhill making things easier. Then, the hardest part begun and the downhills turned to be uphills. All of a sudden, I was again at the starting point, initiating my second and final lap. This one was shorter and a bit different from the first one and had more zigzags than I expected but it was a good crack!

49 minutes and 34 seconds later, I was crossing the finish line and my race finished. If you need a proof here is the amazing medal I received:

Aligned with the slogan “Be your greatest” I made a PB!!!

Massive well done to everyone who took part in the race!

¡Que viva el running carajo!

Club results can be found here

https://www.myrunresults.com/events/great_ireland_run_2022/4371/results