me running…
Two years ago I have run Tralee. Back then I was happily surprised by my run. Wind, hills weren’t any problem… But that was two years ago. Now, two previous marathons in this year were barely under 3:45. Then there was back / chest injury was back. And I think that maybe I’m still too weak to get back in the heavy training. I think that don’t have base at the moment. Probably any marathon will be struggle for next couple of weeks…
But this time that stands for ‘Ohh jeez, what a mess’. That suppose to be weekend with easy b2b. First in the long time. Weekend runs in Offaly. For the first time MCI has organized marathons there. Saturday in Rhode – two loops, almost half of that on trail. Sunday loops in wind farm in Mount Lucas. I was happy for that b2b. But as usual nothing is simple and easy for me. Almost died during first day and additionally had three pit-stops. And second day stomach started to acting up straight from the beginning… So, it was tough enough. Too bad cause both routes were new and would be nice to conquer both.
Another day, same wind, same rain… Nothing has changed. Ohh, maybe one thing. Decided to start at 8 AM. Was checking the weather day before and it looked like same old, same old, with slightly better morning. Of course that wasn’t the case on the day… Was trying to convince Cezary to start with me earlier but Cezary woke up too late. So, I took under consideration start at 9 AM. But still wanted to have that crappy weather behind me and if there would be any chance of running without rain and wind I will take it. Besides there was still chance of me getting lost. So, running earlier more chances to see runners using proper route and follow them. Day before, tried 9 o’clock and got lost cause there was not many runners running behind me. Ok, 8 AM start. Was sitting with Cezary till 7:40. He was having his breakfast and I decided to run without him earlier…
And I’m back in Clonakilty… Second attempt to run marathon in here. As you probably remember last December run was postponed cause of the storm and floods. Hopefully this weekend will be better. It looks better now but not ideal. Weather forecast shows winds and rain on Friday and more winds on Saturday. But still they haven’t named the storm so maybe it won’t be as bad as two months ago. But needs to be prepared for all…
It is hard to give it a right name… 3 in 2 challenge or ‘At least 3 ways to die in 2 days’ 😉
I knew it will be hard… but really wasn’t expecting that. I did already couple of back 2 back’s and each of these was tiring, energy draining and tough. And now I had to do same plus squeeze another marathon between two mornings.
Organisation better than in Dublin, similar amount of participants (even though it was only the 7th marathon in Nice. Nice course. Almost whole route is on the sea front. Even though route goes from Nice to Cannes supporters can go on the train and cheer because stations are just right next to the route… All positives but there is just one thing which I haven’t considered – the route. Inclines. Knowing that we will run at the waterfront I have set my mind on the flat run (according to elevation image on the web site it should be flat with just one hump of 30 metres on the whole marathon stretch. But whoever done that incline image had to be fond of the Irish ‘ish’ – from km number 23 to 28 there was a constant incline (Antibes and Cap). You would think that at some stage you will need to go down. Nothing like that. Small decline and again up (seems that sea level is higher there than in Nice). After 28 km route was flatish. Some ups some down, some flats. And again at the 36 km you had to brace yourself for another 2 km incline. Not so steep but at the end of the run it makes big difference. Route was this time my enemy, which I have ignored. Need to remember, assuming something doesn’t mean knowing. Mea culpa…