Yesterday was to be my first marathon. All went well apart from the weather where it rained continuously for a week. Unfortunately, it was cancelled on Thursday due to severe flooding and everyone was moved to half. There was an option to defer on Friday afternoon for next year, but I could not cancel apartment booking due to short notice, so I went anyway.
A few people on FB said they were going to do the half and run a second half on their own, so I decided I'd do the same.
I left from Sligo on Friday and traveled to Cork which involved a 6-hour journey including a 45-minute stop to charge the car. I arrived at the apartment at about 5pm, went to shop to get food and another car charge whilst there, back to the apartment, got my gear ready which took a while as I was trying to prepare for all weathers. I had plenty of gear with me, most of which is thanks to a post from Tim I read last winter regarding on what to wear for the winter season. I remember going out after reading that post and spending a fortune getting the right gear.... I brought compression gear, short socks, long socks, short and long tops as well as 2 different jackets and 4 pairs of shorts (you should see what I pack when going on holiday...). I tried different variations on before deciding on Asics Kayano 29 for stability (I was going to wear Nike Vaporfly but they start to hurt my feet after 30k), short invisible socks, calf compression sleeves, trail 2 in 1 running shorts from Decathlon with zips for keys, they make the best shorts with all the pockets for gels and keys, a short-sleeved t shirt and a jacket with zip vents again from Decathlon a rainproof beany hat and clear glasses to block the wind. I have to stress that the clothes were not the problem, the actual problem was all the gels and gear I had to bring with me for running the marathon distance. I had to wear the right clothes where everything was held in place and not jumping everywhere whilst running.
I then chilled for a bit and bed. As usual it took a while to sleep. I also had quite bad sleep the few nights before as I had to wear a pulse monitoring device from the hospital for the two previous nights to monitor my sleep and that was on my mind during those two nights.
Got up at 6:30, had my porridge concoction, left the apartment and got to the venue at about 8:00. The weather was abysmal, Cork definitely has more wind and rain than Sligo! I collected my vest top went back to the car with it and got changed yet again as my short socks felt very uncomfortable and changed them for 2 layer non blister socks, which I had bought 2 weeks before. I went back to the venue queued for the loos twice, mostly out of habit, went to the starting line and waited with the other 1500 people where 2 announcers were standing on a transit van doing their spiel of introductions and thanks to sponsors etc. Thing is it was so windy that no one heard them and the handheld horn they were using to signal the start was also drowned out. I just looked ahead and got ready to run when I saw people running in front of me.
I only had one plan for the race itself and that was to complete it in 2 hours making sure I was running at the correct pace to finish in that time. All was going well until we came across the hill from hell at the 7k mark, 100m climb over a 2km stretch. I ran it all naturally slowing down quite a bit and I passed dozens of people during that climb. It was one of those twisty roads where you were hoping that it straightened or started to descend around the next corner, but no it got even steeper! I so wanted to walk but was determined not to. I eventually got to the top and it took me about 2k to recover.
The rest of the run was okay, the scenery would have been beautiful on a sunny day, but not so nice in the driving rain and wind. There were water stations spread out here and there and the last one which was only 3k from the end had all the goodies, of jelly sweets, coke, banana's etc. It was obviously meant to be for the marathon but putting it 3k form the end was mind boggling in my opinion. I was greatfull though as I thought they would come in handy for the second half. I took 2 handfulls and filled the pockets of my shorts. Some of them were covered in sugar so now I had wet sugary hands. I tried licking them and wiping them on my shorts until they felt nearly normal again.
Then it was back into the venue where I thought the run would finish. But no, we had to run for another 2k around a field on an already muddy track.
I finished the first half in 2hrs 2 min soaking wet and muddy. I collected my medal and went off to run another half marathon already feeling drained and rotten. But hell, I dammed well was not going to travel all this way for a half marathon! I ran towards the town and along a coastline, the road was a flooded here and there, a car went into a big puddle and gave me a good spraying. I ran on for a bit, but it was too open there and I was blown around quite a bit, so I turned around and decided to follow the route of the half marathon.
I had to pause watch a few times, I thought I had a stone in my shoe, but it was a big blister from my new "non blister" socks, and then I couldn't get the dam things on again because of the layers and they were soaked. I wrote about this on Strava and SkiMonday mentioned that I shouldn't change anything close to raceday. He is correct and I had already learned that from reading this forum, I did 3 or 4 runs in them, and they were grand, but I didn't envisage running through a muddy field in them. A race steward came over to me whilst I was trying to sort myself out and asked if I was ok. I explained and he asked if I wanted medical assistance, I said no thanks whilst thinking in my head that it was psychiatric assistance I need instead..... I wasn't entirely happy with my sock but decided it would do and carried on with the run. This was at about the 27k stage, and I already felt knocked for six. I passed a few runners that were running in the opposite and correct direction to the end of the run. I saw one of the watering stations and had a drink there, carried on trying to run, my times got a lot slower, and I found myself walking quite a bit.
I passed a few stewards in their vans where they were clearing the rubbish from the roads and taking down signs. One of the stewards pulled up next to me looked a bit confused and then asked if I was just someone who was out for a run? He kind of asked it in a way that he just wanted to hear me say yes, so I complied (I had already taken off my race bib just in case). I think he was happy (or confused) and he drove away. A lot of posters including myself wrote about doing the full anyway on FB and I don't think it was appreciated as all of the posts were later deleted.
Anyways, I doggedly struggled on. I ran along the coast section and a few kilometers past that onto a different road that looked a bit flat and sheltered. I then realised that my car may well be locked in a field like a mad bull on its own and I would have to call someone to release it. I turned around and plodded back another 7k towards the car, I arrived back at the car an hour later and there was one other car in the field. I paused my watch as I didn't want to show that I had picked up speed all of a sudden 🤣, gently drove the car out of the field as I didn't want to get bogged down. I then drove out onto the road and parked at a place nearby where I had spotted on the way. I looked at the time on the car and I think it was 13:15 and I remember not being able to comprehend it as i thought it surely would have been close to midnight! then looked at my watch and I think it was in the early 30kms, and yep, I got out of the car and struggled on heading back following the run route. I calculated how far I had to run before turning back and stuck to that plan. I found that I was slowing down more and more walks than I would have liked. At one stage I realised I hadn't taken any photos and did a nowster 😂and stopped and took a few of foggy flooded fields and coastlines and carried on. I eventually got to the turning point but wasn't too sure of my calculations so ran on a bit more. I turned back with about 7k from the car and carried on. I then saw in the near distance another runner probably half my age obviously doing the same. He was however a lot faster than me and disappeared into the abyss ahead, I struggled on as best as I could.
The stewards were almost finished at this stage but in the distance, I saw an oasis, ok it was real, it was the last watering station, and a steward was there packing up. I asked if I could take a drink of water and he said "of course! take what you want!" It was still pretty full due to the cancellation of the full marathon. He was almost throwing stuff at me. I took a drink of coke from a cup and then 3 water cartons, he said take some jellies and passed me a family sized packet, I thanked him very much and ran on with an armful of goodies and nowhere to put them! I then drank one of the waters, squashed the carton put dropped it where there was still rubbish to be picked up and stored the rest of the stuff in my pockets and plodded the last 3k back to the car. I emptied my pockets rested for a bit and went to Aldi to get food and a few cans as I felt that I deserved them! I could hardly walk in the shop and my mind was all over the place. my wife sent me a message to see how I was getting on, I called her when I got back to the car and then went back to the apartment, had a nice long shower, put on the roast beef dinner I got from Aldi, had a few cans, put on a world cup match, I think it was France and then watched "Taken" as it was on afterwards. To be honest they were all on in the background as I was still recovering and reading from my phone and posting on Strava and packing most of my stuff into the car leaving the minimal in the apartment etc. I took a couple of pain killers and went to bed at exactly midnight, slept like a log (first time in years) woke about half an hour before the alarm, got ready, had my breakfast and started back home at about 8:30, stopped for a charge and got home about lunchtime, hugged my wife unpacked, chilled for a bit and had a nap.
All in all, great experience but I have a long way to go before I can beat the four-hour mark. The running time on Strava was 4hrs 23 minuets, and it was probably an hour longer than that with all the pauses for the socks, moving the car and the pauses. My longest km according to Strava was 7:43 and yeas there would be a few pauses in here and there. The actual run started at about 9:05 and I was in the car driving to Aldi at 14:22 according to my timeline so all in all it wasn't too bad.
So that's my post for Tims run. I was going to actually run a slow conversational run this evening (now yesterday, I have tomorrow off), but I doubt that my legs would agree to it.
I would just like to conclude that I would not have been able to even comprehend running the 20 or so events I have run this year spanning from 5ks with my granddaughter to this marathon distance to date without following the guidance from Tim and all the other wonderful people on this forum. I did however think that this was my last run of the year, until I looked at my calendar and saw that I had another run which is a 10k next Sunday!
So, thank you Tim and everyone else.
My First Half Marathon
First half-marathon distance report
My first half marathon - I think 🤔 
Ran my first half marathon and first trail run!
My first half marathon!
