Chapter 2 - Finding Nemo

skyblue46 wrote:

Enjoy the run on Sunday P...there should be a great atmosphere for it.

Singer wrote:

Have a great marathon!!!

Cheers lads. My plan is to go out at 10k pace and see if I can hold it. aggressive for my first marathon but nothing ventured..............

Bib 13024 for anyone interested in tracking the relay teams progress. Splits won't show up for each leg. I'm running the second leg so I'll be carrying the baton from 6 miles to 12.5 miles so I'll be carrying the baton through the 10k split timer and handing off around 20k.

Kellygirl wrote:

Ha ha - I like the team name! Hope it’s true for all of us behind ye

Haha. We're a boney bunch I'm afraid. Nothing to write home about.

Great Limerick Run Marathon Relay

I have promised S that I will not mention bodily movements in this report and I shall stick to that promise.

For reference my mile 1 was meant to be mile 5.5 of the actual marathon. And I was meant to hand over at my mile 6.5 which was meant to be mile 12 of the actual marathon.

So we're all caught up as far as Saturday. Saturday night I was a bag of nerves to be honest. I dunno what exactly it was, it being my hometown race, the team element of the relay, the fact I was half fighting a dose of something, but I couldn't shake it. Eventually got to sleep at 12.30 and woke again at 2.45am. Had to go to the spare room ad my poor missus was struggling with her dose. Took a while to get back to sleep and when I did it was pretty restless. So there's all the excuses out of the way!

Woke to a beautiful morning and had my usual baba quality time before heading off to the Parkway to drop my car. Lovely crisp morning. Blue skies. Beautiful. Dropped the car and headed out to UL for warmup. Got to the handover point pretty early, around 9am. Did some Drills and stretches. Sized up the opposition and didn't see any singlets. Was thinking we might be in with a chance here. Then a very tall, lanky athletic looking lad took his top off to reveal a Crusaders singlet. Ah bo**ox. Haha. Was a novelty to see Sergiu flying past. Then somewhat surprisingly our lad came flying through not far behind second and third place lads in the marathon. I had expected to see a Crusaders lad coming through first but nope. No time to ask questions. Run P! Run for your feckin life! Took the baton and off I went. I took off pretty quick and settled into pace after around 400m. Caught up with my clubmate who was in third place overall and passed him. Gave him some encouraging words. So I WAS NOW IN THIRD PLACE IN THE LIMERICK MARATHON!!  Yes it counts folks. I'll hear nothing otherwise. Sergiu was on my radar now. Haha. Mile 1 clocked at 5.54. For the most part it was a decent mile. A big drop to the roundabout which unfortunately you have to come back up. Then we headed up towards the other roundabout to Vistakon I think? Around that and back down the road we came. This was my first time seeing the Crusaders lad with the baton. He seemed a fair bit behind me. I guessed about 1min30s. I could hear steps behind me and it was two marathon lads. They passed me but didn't push too far beyond. They would turn out to be a good target and distraction for a few miles.  I'll say it now and probably again later in the report but I really think the marathon route in Limerick is sh*te. So many out and backs. That second mile wasn't the easiest. I was tuning into my effort and it was maybe a tad higher than I'd like for what I was essentially treating as a 10k. Mile 2 clocked at 6.00. We now headed back up towards UL. Loads of marathon runners coming against me was a nice distraction. It was on Mile 3 I really started to feel it. I knew once I entered UL that it would be nice and flat. Effort levels were high. Was starting to have doubts. Can't let the team down P. Keep it going. The gap to the two marathon lads had stayed consistent which told me I must be doing OK. Mile 3 clocked at 6.05. I remember looking at the watch and expected slower. The route in by UL is just odd. Weird and pointless. At one stage we were routed down a cul de sac to run around a cone and back up the hill and out of the cul de sac. Don't want to be overly negative but christ, how do the marathon runners do it. I have a lot of respect for anyone running a decent marathon in Limerick. The route does you absolutely no favours. A couple of weird bridges in UL and running on cobbles for a bit. One wrong turn and a couple of very confused looking volunteers. Mile 4 and 5 clocked at 6.10 and 6.07. Ive combined these two miles as I don't really remember much apart from being directed all around various parts of the campus and eventually making it out to the canal. I know this route very well as I have ran it in the opposite direction on my long run numerous times. This time was different. Effort was high! Hang in there P. The team! The team! Mile 6 is flat. Laces opened. Panic! Ignore P. Just keep going and if you fall you fall. No way can I stop to tie them. Nothing really to say about mile 6 apart from it was tough and was here where I was starting to think maybe the organizers had the distance wrong. It felt like I was more than 0.5 miles from the square although I doubted myself as I have an awful sense of direction and hoped I'd come off the canal and magically see my teammate. Mile 6 clocked at 6.07. Nothing spectacular but I was managing to not fall apart. No sign of any company behind me either which was my main goal, to hand over the baton in first place. Halfway through mile 6 I realised I'm going to be running a fair bit more than planned. Balls. Balls. Balls. 6.5 passed on my watch and I am nowhere near where the handover is meant to be. Keep going P. Kept repeating these words "Good Good Get to Mark Good Good Get to Mark" over and over and over again. Synced it with my cadence. Positive Rhythm. Keep fighting the negative thoughts. I really felt the heat at the point. Effort is high. Form is going a bit. Legs feel pretty dead. Mile 7 clocked at 6.03 and I'm finally off the canal. Volunteers cheering me on. "Where's the fecking handover?" "1km up the road keep going". 1km? are you for f*cling real! I was so annoyed. Struggling. In hindsight I should've stayed focused but it's hard when your mentally putting everything into that distance and then you're asked to keep going. I saw the spire of the church and knew where I was headed. Up and awful drag of a hill on wrecked legs. I finally see my teammate and curse that baton. In my mind I honestly said to myself when I handed over "take the fu"*king thing! ". Dropped to the ground shattered. Last mile was 6.03 and 6.18 for the 0.39. I ran 7.39miles vs the planned 6.5. Crusaders lad right behind me. He had made up the entire 1.5mins on me and we were pretty much level going into the third leg which was our strongest runner. The had a fantastic battle by all accounts. Their splits were crazy. I also had a good laugh later in the day when I saw the online tracker. It looked like our first lad had ran a stunning leg and then I made an utter balls of it. Rest assured the tracker is wrong. Haha.
I recovered for a bit and met some friends. Cheered on the marathon runners. Kept an eye out for my buddy but it turned out he dropped out after 2km with an injury.

Headed down to the Strand which was the meet point for the relay team to all head to the finish together. Met my missus and she checked the tracker for me. We were level going into the last leg. Saw Sergiu pass to win. He was a joy to behold. Complete and utter control and strength. Looked at the tracker and Crusaders had taken a minute lead so we knew we were likely going to be second place. Low and behold we saw Crusaders lad come over the hill and him and his team headed off to the finish. Not too long later our lad came and off we went with him. By God did my legs get a shock going back into race pace. The finish was spectacular as always. Wow. And to finish so far up the field was a cool feeling. Crossed the finish line in 2.33 I think? Pretty soon after the HM winner came in and so did the 6 mile winner. And we were there with them. Surreal. There was a presentation ceremony later where we were in the victors area. Also surreal. The finishers area was super again. Got a massage and a bunch of fruit, water and bars. Met the missus and we had a lovely day in town.

Really felt it last night and also today. Hip flexors are sore which tells me I was losing form.

It's hard to read too much into yesterday. Some thoughts.

I need to get over the fact I ran close to 36 mins for the 10k last year. I'm not there right now. Need to be patient.

It's not a time for overreacting and doubting training. That was just a tough day.

That route is ****e lads.

No more races til dunshaughlin. I want uninterrupted training for the next 6 weeks.

Ye'll laugh at this but the marathon bug is biting. I don't see it happening this year but I would say all going well I'd like to target the marathon next year. God knows people even outside of boards have strong opinions on me and my avoidance of it. Haha. It seems like a challenge that's too good to be missing out on. I think at this stage I'm starting to realize I probably will never be a 31min 10k runner so maybe I can relax about not maximizing potential at 10k while I'm "young".

Anyway final thoughts on yesterday. Solid, unspectacular, fun (despite my negative report), not the breakthrough performance I'm so desperate to get. No panic...... Yet....

skyblue46 wrote:

Hmmm...controversial! A ****e course? Gotta love your honesty. Luckily it's not something I'll ever have to worry about. No doubt a marathon is in your future but no need to panic. You'll get a 5k and 10k PB this year first. Marathon will suit you, so will the training but enjoy this year first....unless you're being tempted by the resale of DCM entries?

I would seriously consider if baba wasn't due in Sept.

Honestly on the course comment. The section out by UL is just not a nice section. In town you're made run up that lidl hill three times. Rossbrien is out and back. UL is out and back. Your plunged in with the start of the HM. North Circular is horrible. Brought into a huge atmosphere in town and then sent out into wilderness. Running around cones and down cul de sacs just seems mental to me. That being said I'll probably run it. Haha

skyblue46 wrote:

I have to say, from the perspective of someone who has a 3:16 PB which I'm looking to improve, that from reading both yours and shotgunmcos's reports I'd be inclined to give Limerick a miss for the fact that I'd most likely meet the chaos of the HM runners.

Easy to avoid it S. Just get into sub 3 shape and you'll pass them before they start

skyblue46 wrote:

I plan to! All ye lads in your thirties targetting sub 3....soft target! AMK still wins run of the year because of the A in AMK!

It's only May. Give us a chance.