Dingle - 3:29:Something

Fantastic day in Dingle today. The rain and wind cleared overnight for a bright and mild morning - perfect for running a marathon.

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The pacers met up the night before in the "Blue Zone" restaurant for a bit of carb loading before retiring to the B&B. I was sharing with Shane (the 2hr Half Marathon Pacer), who came with the gang from the "Bridge" - soon to surpass Dublin as the most prolific marathon destination in the country. If you haven't run a marathon in the Bridge you haven't lived (I haven't lived - yet). Tom (head pacer) and Paul also made the trip from the Bridge to pace the 4:30's. Frank was down from Dublin for a bit of gentle 4 hour pacing after surpassing the 100 mile mark in the Belfast 24hr. He had Ken in tow, pacing 1:45 for the half and doing a hard sell for sponsorship for some charity walk he is doing in NYC in November. Thomas was over from Killorglin to keep me on the straight and narrow, with Niamh as official photographer and cheerleader. Aonghus, pacing the sharp end of the half at 1:30, and his wife completed the ensemble.

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Thomas and I wore our pacing kit from Cork (the promise of gear for Dingle did not materialise) with Balloons tied to our back (My balloon burst about 5 miles in - can't keep anything, me). With an undulating course and the worst hill at mile 21 our plan was to run by effort more than pace and to bank about 2 minutes by the time we reached the 21 mile mark. To cut a long story short (See Thomas for the long version) we more or less stuck to the plan, but despite our best endeavours we lost all our pacees - we had 6 followers at mile 18, whittled down to 2 at mile 21, including the 2nd female (we think) but lost them going up the hill and passed a few more on the way. Hit the top before the 23 mile mark and exchanged places with a few guy on the road down to Dingle - our Female pacee nearly caught up with us on the downhill but fell back as the road levelled out - she wasn't too far behind us at the end though. With the finish line in sight and no one to pace, Thomas showed his competitive spirit and sprinted the last 50 yards to come in a few seconds ahead of me - if he's any gentleman he'll let me have the "win" in Dublin.

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After the race I met John Meade, fresh from winning the half for a second year in a row - great running John - and Denis Kelliher who swore after the Connemara ultra that he would never race longer than 5 miles again - a man of his word (tells me Dublin will be his 13th and last marathon)

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While the course was the most undulating marathon I have run I was relatively comfortable throughout, leaving the 2 "insurance gels" in my pocket with my fuel consisting of water, a quarter of orange and a few jellies at mile 18 and a banana at mile 21. A great run on a perfect day for running - over a very scenic course - what more could you ask for? Well how about a pink digital skipping rope and an XXL reflective cycling bib (that would be a hazard to cycle in)that greeted me from my goodie bag at the finish - just what every runner needs (someone must have been clearing out their attic).

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