Tired legs – part two

4:01:43 – time I got for the trail marathon. Same route as the one at the end of the 2014. On the New Years Eve I got 4:07 but back then my IBS was in the full swing and my time was sum of me running and me spending time on the pit stops… So, I was assuming that this time I could get time below 4 hours without even trying. Oooo, I couldn’t be more wrong. But back to the beginning.

We had to be in Le Cheile AC back at midday to register and to catch the bus which would take us to starting line. When we have arrived to Leixlip we could see less runners than couple of hours earlier on the track. Some new faces, running just trail marathon, some runners continuing the two marathons in one day chalenge. Everyone seems to be in good spirits… but that has changed in the bus. All went quiet, some of us trying to couple more minutes of sleep (Cezary for example), so of us thinking about what in front of us. When we have arrived to Moyvalley I was feeling ok and that has continued for the first 12 – 15 km but… what I have forgotten was:
– before midnight marathon on Friday night I haven’t got any rest/sleep,
– woke up on Friday at 6:20 AM,
– I have run midnight marathon quite fast,
– had just 4.5 hours sleep before trail one,
– it was very warm and hummid,
– pace for 4 hours is not 5:05 minutes per km

All above just killed me. I was really strugelling. Started too fast. I was feeling relaxed, my body was in ok shape, no pain. So decided for 5:05 pace. I started and was acompanied by just one runner. He wasn’t running midnight marathon so he was fresh. We had small chat on at the km number 6 he just took off and I started my solo run. It was ok till I hit the grass trail. Pace went down. Energy was draining very fast. I was checking the watch to see how far is to half way point? How far is to only water station (my water has disappeared somehow, whole 1 litter). And just before kilometr 20 I was overtaken by another two runners. But at this stage I was in bits already. Ate already one energy bar, one gel. Energy was nowhere to seen. Gone permanetly. Next couple of km and ‘Superman’ pass me by (same guy who was running in the ‘Batman’ UnderArmor shirt during night run). After him Deepak. I was on the slipery slope. Was just thinking about when the better track will start. Was waiting for little bit of harder ground. But I could get that just after passing Kilcock, on the way to Maynooth and then towards Leixlip. But from Kilcock there is still about 15 km to go. And must say, one of the longest one for me. 6 miles I was saved by Niamh McGoldrick. She just put there, not planned, water station with some important jaffa cakes and dates bickutes. Thanks for that. Still 6 miles to go. Step by step. Looking at the left side and trying to recognized where between Kilcock, Maynooth and Leixlip I was. Passed Kilcock GAA, got to Maynooth train station. Next couple of minutes and saw entrance Carton House. So not far away. Couple of km to go. Last bridge, only marathon marker – 1 km to go. Onto street and run to bus stop where the finishing line was…

Time was crap. I was wrecked… Glad that it was over. Got my recovery sweets and toast… And next time when having back to back I will need to pace my self. I think if I would stick to 4 hours pace from the begining I would be able to get that time and probably had still something in the tank to finish stronger and below 4 hours. Didn’t happend this time. Paid the price for being naive.