Final Saturday, September 6, I ran my forty eighth full marathon, the Dingle marathon in Dingle, Eire alongside the Atlantic shoreline.
Dustin and I flew into Kerry from London (Luton airport) on Friday; it was our first time flying RyanAir (a reduction Irish airline) and our first time flying out of Luton as a substitute of Heathrow, but it surely was really fairly straightforward. From Hampstead, we took the overground to the Thameslink prepare then the Luton Dart. It took about an hour.
(We really had good luck with RyanAir on the way in which to Eire, however horrible luck on the way in which again, so I don’t know that we’ll go for the low cost airline once more….)
The flight from London to Kerry is barely about an hour; we employed a automobile in Kerry to make the hour-ish drive to Dingle, the place we checked into our resort, the Dingle Skellig. There are usually not quite a lot of accommodations within the small village of Dingle, so you actually do must plan forward on lodging. Our mates did the half marathon and needed to keep in an air bnb about 4 miles outdoors of the village.
After checking into the Dingle Skellig, we went to the small race pickup, which was held on the marina.
In-and-out, very quick.
The race included a half marathon with out 1500 runners, and solely about 700 full marathoners. It was a small one!
There was a stunning quantity of cute race merchandise at race pickup; I purchased a water-resistant bag (that I ended up utilizing for my checked bag) and my good friend Tina purchased a cute knit hat, which got here in helpful on the end line because it was fairly chilly! (Additionally, all marathon finishers did get a hooded sweatshirt on the end line, which was actually fairly good!)
Later that night, Dustin and I ate our common pre-marathon dinner of a margarita pizza at an area Italian restaurant. That was about it for the pre-marathon day!
Race morning:
Each the half and the complete began at 9 am. Our resort was lower than a 1/2 mile stroll to the beginning line on the marina (identical location because the packet pickup.)
There have been loads of loos firstly space; we received fairly fun because the DJ was taking part in a mixture of music, together with 2LiveCrew’s “Hey, We Need Some P*ssy…” Attention-grabbing selection, Dingle!
The race began promptly at 9 am. It was a small beginning corral, so for one of many first time, Dustin and I have been really proper by one another firstly. But it wasn’t chaotic or crowded as we crossed the beginning line; these small marathons are so low-key and straightforward!
You’ll be able to inform by my loopy hair how windy it was firstly! It didn’t REALLY begin raining till after the half manner level…simply a number of wind!
I went into this marathon with out a nice thought of my health; I additionally knew that it was a extremely powerful course with a ton of hills, and the climate was not going to be useful, with rain and excessive winds. So I made the choice fairly early on to not have a look at my Garmin in any respect. I simply ran on effort….and took in as MUCH gas as I presumably may! I believe this really helped me A LOT. The gas included one in every of these GU liquid energy gels proper firstly, after which about 5 extra GU gels, a full packet of Honeystinger chews, a number of salt chews (with electrolytes), one other liquid vitality gel, a number of “jellies” on the course (sweet) and possibly extra. I believe overfueling helped me fairly a bit and my abdomen dealt with it fairly effectively. There have been quite a lot of help stations handing out water bottles; I believe there was Lucozade on the closing stations.
The appropriate match:
I wore the Bandit Stamina top, which has pockets throughout the chest and one within the again in your cellphone, plus the Bandit Stamina shorts, which even have much more pockets. And all these pockets have been stuffed filled with gels!
I additionally wore the Brooks Hyperion Elite 5’s, which felt fairly nice for a racing shoe, (I purchased them again within the US, as they’re manner cheaper there.)
They’re wider than quite a lot of racing footwear, and I felt that they have been extra secure and supportive than others, notably for my ankle. I gained’t put on them for something however races (not for exercises, too dangerous. And it’s good to get the true increase on race day, it’s not wanted in coaching…particularly once I know that’s a part of what brought about my unique ankle tendonitis harm for the Paris coaching.)
Okay, on to my splits!
Mile 1: 9:08
Mile 2: 8:44
Mile 3: 8:55
Mile 4: 8:44
Mile 5: 8:36
Mile 6: 9:05
Mile 7: 9:20There was an enormous hill in these two miles
Mile 8: 9:33
Mile 9: 9:10
Mile 10: 9:04
Mile 11: 8:40
Mile 12: 9:10
Mile 13: 8:43 The half marathons cut up off the trail to their end line, which was slightly de-motivating after all, particularly for the reason that full marathon was so small! However I targeted on feeling “powerful”powerful” for doing the complete factor (although the wind was BLASTING us at factors right here, and the rain actually picked up.)
Mile 14: 9:13
Mile 15: 8:35
Mile 16: 8:37
Mile 17: 9:03
Mile 18: 8:48
Mile 19: 8:43
Mile 20: 9:24 an enormous hill (although a lot of the course was rolling hills.)
Mile 21: 8:50- I knew the BIG hill was arising…and it was a doozy!
Mile 22: 9:34 – tough spot in a marathon for a climb!
Mile 23: 10:14 – I didn’t stroll up this hill, but it surely was sluggish going!
Mile 24: 8:03- time to cruise down the hill after which to the end!
Mile 25: 8:29 – it felt so good to have fuel within the tank and move folks by. I felt so sturdy!
I did pull out my headphones to blast some Taylor Swift Repute within the closing miles, but it surely was so windy that the AirPods weren’t staying in my ears. This image is me making an attempt to place them again within the case….
Mile 26: 8:49- after all, mile 26 isn’t straightforward, however I felt higher than I had in a very long time on the finish.
Remaining 0.2: 8:17
Official end time: 3:55:48
Woohoo! 30-ish minutes sooner than my final marathon, the Paris Marathon. Sure, I used to be injured at Paris, however this one felt so a lot stronger.
I undoubtedly give credit score to my coach Donal Moran, the additional energy coaching I’ve been doing, and fueling a lot through the race. I actually didn’t suppose I used to be in sub-4 form based mostly on my coaching, particularly on a course like this, so I used to be actually proud.
Its nonetheless removed from my PB (which is 3:35) however that doesn’t take away from the expertise. Feeling nice on the finish of a end line is such a beautiful feeling- and I’ve finished loads to know that it doesn’t often occur!
I discovered Dustin simply on the end line (he ran a 3:09) after grabbing my medal and a few goodies.
His lips have been turning blue from the chilly although he had already become heat dry garments!
We shortly met our mates on the pub (it WAS Eire in spite of everything!) and I additionally become heat dry garments from my checked baggage and had a celebratory pint of Guinness!
You’ll be able to see the marathon finisher’s hoodies within the image!
All in all, it was a really profitable marathon in Dingle.
And the city of Dingle was SO charming, even with the garbage climate! I actually liked it.
We checked out Dick Mack’s and Cunning John’s, two “well-known” Dingle pubs. which we each so enjoyable! It was a blast hanging out with our mates (and my coach Donal Moran, who’s Irish, ran the half! It was enjoyable to have a good time with him too, particularly as he appeared to know everybody within the city and everybody was so so pleasant….what a day.)
The following day, Dustin and I left Dingle and drove the Ring of Kerry, ending in Killarney the place we stayed for 2 nights on the Killarney Park Hotel, which was proper within the city middle and fairly pretty.
Listed below are a bunch of images from the Ring of Kerry drive, which was good.
The second day in Killarney we noticed extra of the pure sights and did a number of hikes, just like the hike up Torc Mountain (sunshine at first, adopted by quite a lot of chilly rain. It’s Eire!)
We additionally walked the Hole of Dunloe:
And explored Muckross Abbey:
I really like Eire. This a part of the nation was simply as a lot enjoyable as different a part of this nation that I’ve skilled. Such pleasant folks, cozy pubs, nice pure magnificence. 10/10! In fact my rose coloured glasses are partly as a consequence of the truth that I had a robust marathon and felt so good. That undoubtedly helped!
What’s subsequent?
I’m recovering now, after which will ramp again up for the Amsterdam marathon on the finish of October. You might recall that I used to be meant to run this marathon once we first moved to London in 2022, however the day earlier than our flight, I examined constructive for Covid and couldn’t run (learn extra about that HERE. I ended up operating the Porto, Portugal marathon that fall as a substitute.)
Dustin nonetheless ran Amsterdam, and liked it and had an ideal marathon. I additionally need to “catch up” to him, as he has run 49 marathons, and Dingle was my forty eighth. If I efficiently end Amsterdam (he’ll solely be spectating that one), then we’ve tentative plans to have a good time quantity 50 collectively subsequent yr (which may also be Dustin’s fiftieth yr in age!)
I’m linking up with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner; try their blogs to attach with different health bloggers for exercise concepts and inspiration.
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