The Boggers Log

Murph_D wrote: »

Looking forward to the report already. Have a good one.

Tnx Murph,

Bit all over the place this week so not sure what way the Lemon pips will pop tomorrow!

Well done today yourself, nice run to get that in in the middle of a marathon cycle.

TbL

The plan today had called for a half marathon race and Longford was the location of choice. I was a little bit all over the place in my preparation for this, I was mad busy with work last week and my brother has come home from New Zealand and was staying out in the Lemon house, with his family, for the weekend. Yesterday was a glorious day in Connemara and the BBQ was on the go virtually all day, my feeble will power caved in and I probably ate the meat equivalent of a Wildebeest! I was also a little apprehensive after my struggle with the progression LR last weekend.

Anyway got up at 5.30 this morning and was surprised to see the brother already up, said he was suffering from jet lag and wanted to come along for the spin. Lashed into a big bowl of muesli and a bagel and we headed off.

Got to St Mels, the registration area, with no drama and plenty of time to spare. Met Yaboya on the way in and he was looking as fit as fock. Collected my number and goody bag and joined the short queue for the tee shirt. "What size please"? "I'm aspiring for medium but today it'll have to be extra large", I said. "Only goes up to large". "Diet starts Monday so!" Headed out to the car to store my large t shirt in the boot as emergency gear backup.

Met Dave Brady from Raheny Shamrocks in the car park, he was doing his 408th full marathon today and is in the middle of 12 marathons in 12 days! We had a good chat and a bit of banter, Aiman came along just before I headed off, think he might have been pacing today.

Got back to the car and had a quick look into the goody bag, choc bars, crisps, bread rolls and tooth brush and tooth paste!!! Not bad compared to some of the muck they put into "goody" bags at some races! The race number was made from cardboard, proper cardboard, not the waxed paper stuff that it tends to be made from these days. The pins were huge too, then again they needed to be to pierce the cardboard bib and attach it to the vest. Felt like I'd a book attached to the vest

Tried to get a quick kip in the car, then grabbed a banana and headed down to the start line. Met a couple of other auld timers that I know down by the start and had a bit of a laugh before lining up at the start. Met Yaboya again at the start and had a little chat with Krusty, who was wearing a very luminous vest (maybe he had planned on running home afterwards and needed the extra visibility in the evening)

Had a quick look around just before the off, Krusty to my right, Pauline Curley right beside me on my left with Yaboya and Mick Rice a little further over. What the fock am I doing up here, too late to take a step back so I just did my best to stay out of people's way as the we got underway. Yaboya took off like someone had taken a nail gun to his arse and I lost sight of him very quickly. First mile seemed to be a bit quick and I tried to dial it in a bit. Said a quick hello to PaulieYifter who looked very comfortable running with the sub 3 lads. Was pretty comfortable for the first few miles and then around mile 3, I saw the 1.30 pacing bus been driven very capably by Dublin Runner. I was worried that I had miscalculated my splits and put in a bit of a spurt to catch the 1.30 (mini) bus. There seemed to be only a couple on board and I tagged along for a mile or so and had a bit of a chat with DR. He mustn't have had his contact lens in because he mentioned that I was running well

Got to mile 9 feeling very strong. I think the second half of this course is harder as there we a few hills/inclines over miles 9,10 & 11. I had been steadily passing people along the way and was picking people ahead of me to drag me along. Bit of a wobble along this section but on miles 12 & 13 I picked it up again. Finished strongly with a bit of a sprint to try and come in under 1.26.

Met Krusty and Yaboya at the finish, both had fantastic runs (Krusty finished 2nd using it as a training run!!!) we were soon joined by DR and the lads started talking about a few miles cool down run. I left them too it and went in search of a Full Irish

It was a super day for running today and I was delighted with my time (I would have accepted a 1.28 this morning), so this may seem stupid but I have a nagging feeling that I got my pacing wrong over the last few miles because I wanted the 1.28 at all costs. Probably had a small bit more in the tank but if I keep up this momentum for Amsterdam I'll be a happy boy (auld lad)


Splits:

6.39
6.40
6.43
6.44
6.37
6.35
6.34
6.30
6.33
6.38
6.42
6.26
6.06
& a bit

TbL

SamforMayo wrote: »

68 - you kept that quiet, you are ageing very well, have you got a portrait going bad in the attic?

Ha ha SfM,

Don't feel too bad now, I see a 72 year old finished ahead of me and a lad of over a 100 just a bit back!

TbL