Well it was great! We arrived good and early and landed ourselves up at the front. Clonliffers did a brilliant job, the baggage area was super and the place looked great. Tony had spent Saturday helping set up so he knew where everything was. We had parked at Spencer Dock and walked down. The walk down was just like the very early bit on the morning of the marathon; lots of worried looking beginners heading towards the start.
Of course Liam knew absolutely everybody, Tony calls him the Lord Mayor. There were lots of familiar faces when myself, Tony, Liam, Gary and Tommy (who disappeared, barely saw him the rest of the day, never met Ken either) landed ourselves on the start line. Zoe was there stewarding at the start along with Jean Carr and Eugene. There was great atmosphere; eager and exciting (and Frank handing out new Irish Runners annuals!) It felt like such a long wait till we finally got going adn the gun went, downhill start but relaxed enough pace.
Soon as we got into the tunnel it was spooky but in a really good exciting way! Lovely surface to run on and the gradual hills didn't start for a couple of kilometres from what I can remember. Myself, Liam and Gary had done a long run the day before and were probably feeling the slopes more than most and we actually stayed within metres of each other the whole time. The best bit of the tunnel was the amazing mexican roar that happened about 3 times while we were in there. It was UNREAL. It sounded like a jet engine coming behind you, and then suddenly you realized it was a roar from the crowd moving it's way through! Bloody brilliant.
People complained of the heat in the tunnel but I wasn't overdressed so was OK. It was warm but tolerable for me anyway. After a couple of kilometres you were dying to get out of it though, even for just a couple of seconds at least! As you came out of the tunnel at halfway you could see a bridge with a big banner for the race and the only spectators we saw for the whole race. After a really sharp turnaround we headed back into the tunnel again. Lovely downhill for a couple of kilometres which was great! I never spotted any mile markers so was just guessing from my watch but with about a kilometre to go my legs went completely to jelly. Liam reckoned it was some kind of lactic acid thing in the legs cos of the long run we'd done the day before. We finished together in about 41 minutes, not a PB but it was still a great experience. Tony was a few minutes behind in about 46 minutes.
After we finished we had mucked in to help in the big clean up. (Included in the things we picked up from the START line were lipstick and a pair of knickers!) There was a great atmosphere among all the finishers including all the mountain runners we met. I think people really felt they had taken part in something special and because it wasn't a long difficult event everyone could really have fun with it. I really enjoyed it, the whole day was great from beginning to end. I met up later with the girls from Clonliffe for a meal in Milano's in honour of all the hard work done during the year by Bronagh and Eugene. They both deserve medals for their commitment to the club and all the personal time that their efforts must take from them. 3 cheers!!
If I get some photos I'll post them here
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