Rotterdam Marathon

The Rotterdam marathon is over and all the training is long since forgotten. I'm on my post-marathon meltdown now which means I'm tired, grumpy and permamently hungry. But I'm jumping too far ahead now. I did a race report over at Team Geared Up which you can read over there or else here it is:

Marathons are scary events. Only a couple of people in the race are out to win and the thousands of others just want to do their best, whether that means just finishing or getting a Personal Best. Failure is so scary.

To say I was nervous would be an understatement but I’ve been worse, standing on marathon start lines. I got a Race number that allowed me almost right up at the start banner, so I waited till less than ten minutes before start time to get into my place. Looking around me was scary.

Once we were off I felt like I was moving quite fast. I hadn’t a clue how fast though because my heart rate went through the roof and I missed the first few kilometre markers so I just hoped it wasn’t slow!! I tried to relax and get my heart rate to settle but it wouldn’t so I chose to ignore the readings of between 185 and 190. When my foot hit the mat at 10k in 40 minutes I realised I was well inside the 3 hour mark (shock!) and decided at that exact moment that I wasn’t gonna let that go without a huge fight. I was thinking I was moving at too fast a pass to sustain for too long, but what the hell, let’s just go for it and hang on and I thought if I let it slip a little later on I could still break 3. And so I continued, despite hitting low points at 16k (feeling sick for a minute) I just pushed and pushed. It was killing me to be moving that fast while thinking I still had a long way to go. So I took a gel and as JackieO said to me “put your head down and dig in”.

I hit the half way mark at 1:27:42 so was still moving quickly enough. Finding things to focus my brain on was difficult. At 27k we came right back into the city but by 30k we were back out into a really quiet park which felt like a real lull after the buzz of the city. It was hard to push on at this stage. But I actually caught a glimpse of the leaders on the opposite side of the road who were at the 40k mark and thought, what a lift, to see them racing this close!

At 35k I was over a minute inside the 3 hour pace but the pain in my calves was increasing. I had worn super flat racing shoes and I suppose this was the price I paid for wearing light trainers. So from this point on it was head down, push hard through the ever increasing pain. But I knew the pain of being just outside 3 hours would be a pain I might have forever if I didn’t go for it! I can’t even describe what happened in the finishing straight. I couldn’t see the clock properly, but I could see metre markers counting down the last couple of hundred metres. I could hear the crowd do the countdown till the clock hit 3 and just as my foot landed on the mat the clock hit 3 hours exactly (and my heart rate hit 199). I couldn’t believe it. It took a couple of hours to get my chip time of 2:59:58, giving me a placing of 28th woman and 341 overall. Running buddy Bronagh had a PB of 3:20 and new friend Anthony ran his first marathon in 4:25.

During my marathon preparation Nige had said I could go sub 3. I didn’t believe it really, I imagined even as I stood on the line I would finish at about 3:03. I wrote before about how Nige was helping me but I didn’t imagine the help would ever get me this far. Training under pressure (with the heart monitor) made racing under pressure much easier, he said I would suffer so suffering during the race became normal, not something I should be scared of. (Normally you slow down when you’re suffering). His two words Push Hard became a mantra during the whole race and I couldn’t let it go. To run well I believe you also need a good club and a good coach. You need people to push you, to believe in you and they act like a support group. I sound like I’m doing an Oscars speech but I really have to thank my coach and brother Eugene for support and encouragement and his wife Gina who looked after my legs!

End of TGU post.
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I really didn't think I would do it. A sub 3 hour marathon is one of those elusive things I thought I might spend the next few years chasing and never achieve. My previous best was 3:13 in Chicago. If it hadn't been for TGU and the help of Nige I think it would be an entirely different marathon story I'd be telling right now and it wouldn't have a "2" in it.

Plans for next year...

For me this is post number 117 and a year and a month since I started this blog. I started really because I was getting old (in running terms) and felt I wanted to record the running events I was doing. Of course then it became more of a personal blog but you can't help that really. It's not a traditional running blog anyway because I don't really record how much I run (too much probably!)
Anyway I haven't been racing and that's because things have been busy and once you get out of the habit of racing it's hard to get back into it. I ran in the Dublin Senior Cross Country and the Gerry Franham and after that it was just the Duathlon. I've gone and entered for the Rotterdam marathon next April (and the snow race in France in January). My plan was to give the ultras a break for a while and try and do a fast marathon. I know I'm yet to do the marathon I'm capable of. I feel I can get close to 3 hours and now is the time to try. After that I'll go back to the ultras as I already miss them! I won't be running Connemara next year (my favourite ultra) and I'll probably not be on the mountains afetr my experiences this year. One of my ambitions has always been to try an ironman. Just because I've never done a triathlon doesn't seem to bother me (maybe it should). The day I decided to start running I wanted to do a marathon and that worked out ok so I'm hoping that it will be the same for an ironman. I'm in the gym swimming most days but I'm so bad I'm gonna get some proper lessons. I feel that with the kids at school I have the capacity to at least train for it. The UK ironman is in September and that gives me a number of months after Rotterdam. Friends have been encouraging me towards the glamorous ones in France, Austria etc., but they are all in the Summer and I feel that's too close to Rotterdam in April.
Anyway this isn't a post looking for pats on the back, it's more about wanting to get things out of my head.
This year was mad in terms of goals. I ran two ultras early in the year and trained for the Wicklow Round. Then ended up in the European and World Mountain Running Champs, not the most pleasant experiences and not ones I'm likely to get a chnace to run in again but they were totally unexpected so new expereinces are always worth a try. Jungfrau Marathon was probably the highlight but still felt I should have gone faster.

Anyway on the personal front the family has grown from 3 to 5 and that has been crazy, good crazy. Christmas will be completely different with a 5 year old lunatic in the house. He gets excited about having dinner every day so you can imagine how wired he is about Christmas! The house is lit up like the Griswalds and presents are wrapped and ready under the tree.

I've made new friends on other blogs: Team Geared Up and For Nine Pounds and of course our running group Wednesday Night Runners and of course the bloggers who comment here. Thanks for all your encouragement, it's been great to log on and realise someone has dropped by and said something, it's been a real lift.

Team Geared Up has allowed me to write lots about adventure kinda stuff. Things I wouldn't have written about here. I've loved every minute of it and the hard work put in by Robin over there has meant the blog seems to have changed recently and become even more vibrant. He's worked so hard at constantly thinking about what's needed to develop the blog and move it forward.

For Nine Pounds was something I came across via the lovely Midget Wrangler. I first commented over at MW's blog when she wrote a post about her new Party of 5. I loved the fact that she was the most un-traditional-Mummy type I'd ever read. It was hilarious and serious at the same time! She eventually dragged me into the For Nine Pounds cult and I haven't looked back. I don't write as much over there as I'm afraid I'm not as funny or witty or interesting as the rest of them! Anyway we all eventually had a meet up and a great night was had by all!!

WNR is our running group and we've become a very close bunch. You don't go through tough stuff without realising who you can count on and they're a great bunch. We're getting hoodies made up with our newly designed logo and we had a great run and lunch last week, even exchanging kris kindles!

Wow this turned into an epic post! I doubt anyone will read this far!!! Happy Christmas!