The Boggers Log

Gavlor was right (I hope)!

3.10.02 clock time

TbL

Limerick Marathon.

Limerick marathon has been kind to me in the past with two sub 3.20's times there previously, so when Seville went pear shaped, I didn't need much convincing to sign up again.

I felt that I had a good chance of breaking my PB that was 3.15 from Waterford in 2012, as I had a good marathon prep run at the Race Directors Connemara, and had broken my 5 & 10k PB during this training cycle. I was far less confident, however, of hitting 3.10.

Was up just after 4.15 this morning and while downing a bowl of porridge, I put my recent 10k time into the McMillan running calculator to try and bolster my rapidly dwindling confidence. I checked the weather forecast and while the temperature looked good I was worried that there was a bit of a wind blowing and it was predicted to get stronger. Nervous energy was starting to build and it didn't help that I was in the car and 100 yards down the road before realising that I had forgotten my Garmin.

Tried to listen to some decent music on the way to Limerick to get the blood pumping but doubts and demons were swirling through my head, with the Seville demon continually rearing his ugly head.

I was lucky that one of the guys that does multi marathons had organised a place for me to park, change and shower and I got there with enough time to have a chat with a few of the lads and top up with Weetabix and banana.

The short stroll down to the start had me feeling queasy with nerves, I could hardly talk! Met a load of the guys from MCI and had a bit of craic with them. Went over to the 3.15 pace area and introduced myself to DocQ. Spoke briefly to Ecoli who sounded more nervous than me Also met Marthastew, Snailsong and Opus, (who all had fantastic runs today, well done all), the bit of banter between us all really helped me calm down. Before we knew it we were off, and I set off beside Q, he suggested that I provide drafting cover for the entire 3.15 group, made me laugh and the last of the nerves quickly dissipitated. After about 3 or 4 miles I felt reasonably ok and decided that I'd pick up the pace slightly. Hit UL still feeling ok, but I didn't like this section of the course, you know you are carrying too much weight for distance running when a suspension bridge sags beneath you

Took my first gel at mile 8, and got a shout from Ecoli as he passed in the other direction with a big group in tow. Got a big shout from Aiman and Ger around mile 9 and this gave me a big lift, thanks lads. Mr Stew also appeared to be everywhere, his encouragement was so loud that I could still hear it 200 metres later. He's obviously better

I was starting to pick people off now and was on target to hit the half around 1.36, I actually hit it in 1.35ish. Felt great. Took another gel at mile 14 and had a serious wobble shortly thereafter. The gel made me nauseous and I dry retched a few times, my head was starting to drop, this was the quietest section of the route (Gavlor was right here too, I was on my own for long stretches) and thoughts of quitting started to knaw away at the periphery of my mind, there was a good breeze blowing into my face and I was struggling. The thoughts of posting another DNF kept me going however and soon we changed direction and got some relief from the wind. Started to feel better again, was in between two minds as to whether or not take another gel, decided I'd probably need it, so took it around mile 18 with some water. No adverse reaction, felt great, in fact I'd say this was the best section of the race for me and I bashed out some decent splits.

Having your name on the bib is great as I got some fantastic support on the way into town. Bulmers74 shouted out around mile 20/21, I didn't hear him at first and gave him a perplexed look, until I realised he wasn't Father Horan out to disrupt another marathon. Got another massive lift from that and blasted out my fasted mile of the race.

Heading out of the town again is a little demoralising and I was starting to feel the pinch now. I didn't remember those inclines around mile 22/23, from previous years and had to work very hard here. Got to mile 24 and knew the 3.10 was touch and go, so tried to get the last out of tired legs. That last stretch was very difficult and just when I was starting to flag Fog Horn Leghorn, Mr Stew appeared in front of me and roared encouragement, enough to ensure that I at least kept it ticking over. I approached the gantry with 3.09:45 on the clock and tried my best to come in under 3.10, wasn't in the legs but delighted with a 3.09:56, and 4th in age category.

Delighted with that.

Thanks to Q, it was great for my confidence to run those first few miles with you and set me up nicely for the rest of the race. Thanks too to Snailsong & Marthastew, possibly the nicest, politest person I've met. (I keep bad company though )

Seville demon finally slayed and today gave me confidence that a sub 3 over the next few training cycles is not completely beyond me.

I gotta say that the support on here is just unreal, better than any online coaching system.

Save your cash folks and start a log

Thanks to each and every one of you. A special thanks to AMK, who adopted me very early on here, thanks man.

Onwards and upwards (with apologies for the blurb as I'm still buzzin)

Splits;

1. 7.22
2. 7.15
3. 7.09
4. 7.11
5. 7.13
6. 7.12
7. 7.20
8. 7.15
9. 7.03
10. 7.20
11. 7.10
12. 7.12
13. 7.19
14. 7.18
15. 7.16
16. 7.16
17. 7.07
18. 7.00
19. 7.12
20. 7.14
21. 6.36
22. 7.15
23. 7.21
24. 7.13
25. 7.15
26. 7.10
0.2 2.38

TbL