All weather marathon

After Lusk b2b continues… this time route near University of Limerick…

Just before getting into the car I have asked Cezary what kind of shoes I will need for the run. Ansser was – ‘Road runners would be ok’. So, took my Hoka’s. But already on the way down I knew that there will be problem. Most of the route was along the canal, on the forest path (proper forest, not tarmac). But I had to ‘work’ with what was there… Anyways, arrived into Castletroy Park Hotel. Really nice but very busy. So, decided to eat in near by Chineese restaurant – Chungs Cuisine. Just to let you know – food not great, OK maybe and the stuff… not organized at all. And there wasn’t much guests in there…

Next day has welcomed us with heavy rain. Wanted to start at 8 AM but decided that one more hour in bed will do me much better after marathon day before. In the back of my mind was the idea that rain will stop till my start. Ohhhh… I couldn’t have been more wrong. But first things first. Arrived to UL car park in lashing rain. But there was still 50 minutes to go, so time to clear up. In the boat house (where we were dressing up, having snack and so on) alarm was set off. Apparently was like that since 6 AM when the power went down. Wet and in very noisy environment waiting for marathon. Already knew that route was amended. Didn’t knew the reason for that but instead of route from point A to B we had 4 loops mostly on the mucky (already) path and some on the tarmac…

Not ready, but started the the run. And straight away it just came back to me – memories of ‘Lock-up the year marathon’. Thought. And it was. Road runners, weren’t ideal for that run. But you could live with that. On the other hand having Hoka’s on my feet was a nightmare. Sliding, slipping, legs all over the place. Now I know that I have to carry always second pair of runners with me and if there is any chance of trail have a trail runners. Better have too much than just one wrong pair. I knew that I should be running slowly and I have tried to do that. Was aiming for 3:45 and got 3:42 but I had to dig really deep. For the first time I had to stop beside water station and take some jaffa-cakes and coke to get some energy back. That was on the midway point of marathon. Still 2 loops to go and still before hail and strong winds blowing in your face when you were climbing up the hill. Tired as hell after 3rd loop and again need to get zip of coke, jaffa once more. And off for the last one. At this stage I really just wanted to finish in 3:45 and was trying to keep my pace at level where I can still have a small cushion just in case something will go wrong. At the end I have finished with over 2 minutes still in the bag and very happy after that ‘all weather’ marathon. Definately place to come back next year if that b2b will be organized again…

After run, nice shower and snack with hot tea there was small celebration for me. I got my first ‘milestone’ medal. Completed 25 marathons. I was really nice feeling to be awarded with that medal. That medal wasn’t just for me. It was as well for my Wife – Bozena. Without her I wouldn’t be able to finish couple of these marathons. Thank you…

Quite amount of pictures…