Often becomes easy when the easy is often..

Damo 2k9 wrote: »

Plan sounds spot on Conor. What I done wasnt good by any means basically jumping straight into Marathon Block with a really poor base (my own fault btw), I think going forward going into the Marathon Block with up to HM training already done will make it less taxing on the body, I found myself really tired at the start of my training as I was adapting to the increased load.

Hopefully catch up with you at JB.

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Great to see this log motoring again.
I'd an idea you'd sign up for DCM 2020. You're right not to worry about time targets or strategies for now - see how the next few months go.

In the meantime, I'll probably be chasing you down the hill at Jingle Bells. See you there!

The Black Oil wrote: »

Same as yourself on the illness front. Take your time with it. I'm not back yet. The body will know when it's OK to get back out there.

OOnegative wrote: »

All the best Saturday C, run well!!

Baby75 wrote: »

good luck C, hopefully I will see you there

Lazare wrote: »

I'm still buzzing.


Tapered from a week out, all short recovery paced stuff bar some strides and 800 at race pace on Thursday.

Had an easy night on Friday, had a couple of beers but bed early. No beer & early nights Sat and Sunday had me feeling amazing. Took a half day on Monday and Tuesday off. Monday night was tough though. Was helping my wife get a college project over the line, her big day was Tue too. Was very irritable and irrational, proper taper madness. She asked me to paint a model spiral staircase with red nail varnish and I was convinced the fumes were knocking double digits off my Vo2max Mad stuff.

Got to bed late and had a rough sleep. Felt wrecked on Tuesday. Mother in law saved the day though, she came up to look after the kids and I rocked off for an hour's sleep at about 3pm.

Had a good laugh after when I told our whattsapp group I just had a nap, Omeceron replied 'good man, that's what the Kenyans do' :pac:


Left good and early, listened to my go to playlist on the way down to get revved up, went over all my training in my head convincing myself that this was doable.

Met Sean and C (Scotindublin) in the car park and we had a look at the map of the route, Sean giving great guidance. Went for a warm up recce of the last 2k with Sean, then on up to the start area. Just shy of 4 miles total. Met up with Murph there for a nice nervous chat about our expectations.

Did a couple of strides then got into the pack with Sean. Was a bit concerned about how tight it seemed. Looked like we were gonna be forced to run a bit in this knee high grass verge. Not good. Just then there was a bit of commotion as the lead car was trying to inch through the packed crowd.
This worked out great for us, the car caused the crowd to part and we got sucked in in it's wake and ended up in the middle of the road about 20 feet back from the start. Perfect.

Gun went and we took off. Was congested but it was fine, everyone around was running my pace or faster, no getting hemmed, no hold ups, no dodging.

Checked the watch and I was bang on, 4:00 pace. Slight drag up the dual carriageway but felt really comfortable.
Sean arrived at my side after 400m or so. No words. Can't afford words.
We turned the bend, which wasn't as tight as I had been warned, no slow down at all. First km beeped 3:59. Brilliant.

Everything still felt comfortable enough but I knew the pain was in the post. Sean had moved on from me by about 20 yards, I let him go as I was still bang on pace and on target. Km 2 beeped 3:56. Inner fist pump. This is on. Jesus.

Pain came around 2.5k. Got held up a touch by a car on the road and a line of runners I couldn't get past. Got by them then and turned to see Murph on my left shoulder, I muttered hello D, but probably sounded more like 'mauhayoo desh'. Km 3 beeped 4:02.

Real pain now. Flicking between doubt and belief. We're into familiar road now from the warm up recce. I'm telling myself how close we are. Can hear the MSB 20 min pacer helping his comrades right behind me. It's helping me. Try to glance around at him to, I don't know why, nothing is making sense, my brain is boiling. I want this so bad. Watch beeps 4:06. Balls.

It's downhill from here. I can do this. So much expectation, can't let everyone down. I'm thinking about ariana, kellygirl, baby75, everyone here, don't want to fail, don't want a damp squib after all my hard work. Want it so bad.
I make some quick calculations and incorrectly deduce that I need a 4min last km to get there. I pick it up and dig deep. 3:55 on the watch. Then 3:53. Humpback bridge that feels like a mountain. People all around me gunning for it, we're animals. Pain. 500 to go. Kick. Pain. I can do this. 3:50 on the watch. Can't stop checking the watch. I'm looking at the distance and the pace. Weirdly, not the time. Stride by stride with a girl who's also kicking hard. Gantry comes into view and 20 is flashing, not counting, flashing. I'm confused. Guy on the mike is shouting 'give these guys a round of applause, the last of the sub 20s' about the guys ahead crossing. I don't know what's happening. Crossed the mat and pressed the button.

Looked down at 19:58, punched the air and let out a roar. Then died. 19:56 chip.

Km 5 clocked in at 3:51. Turned out I needed a 3:54 last km. I'm not sure how I would have handled it had I not got the maths wrong. Who knows.

Met Sean straight after for a fist bump after his incredible performance, then C came along dripping in sweat with a massive smile on his face after cracking 18. Singer then joined us again with a massive smile after a cracking pb.

Day of Irish pbs came early. What a night. Drove home with tunes and fists pumping.

I'm so so happy. I said upthread that I wouldn't be too disheartened if I didn't crack it at BH but truth be told, I would have been. I've put 20 weeks of hard work into it and had a lot of patience. To actually pull it off gives me immense satisfaction.


I want to thank all you guys, on here and in our little whattsapp group for giving me such great positive vibes, encouragement and self belief.

Believe.