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I did it! I managed to finish the Dublin Marathon in less than 4 hours. My official time was 3 hours 46 minutes so I'm very happy with that. I thought it was all going to go wrong though because at the 19th mile, I felt a twinge in my left leg, which gradually turned into a fairly painful muscle strain by the 23rd mile.

It all started off nicely with me able to run at a good pace of between 4:45 - 5min/km, which I was happily going at for the first while. By Dolphins Barn, I had caught up with the orange-labelled people (I had entered the green cohort, which was for runners aiming to go between 3:50 and 4:15 hours.) Rozz was there with some homemade posters, which I didn't quite catch but there was some reference to Anchorman on the first one.

My dad and Raynor were at Orwell Road to meet me around the 17 mile mark, which was a nice boost before the supposed "wall" at 18 miles. I didn't hit the wall. Unfortunately, my leg decided to hit me.

By mile 23, I was really feeling the pain and I don't really remember much of the last 3.2 miles except for refusing to give up and trying to distract myself by eating as many sweets as I could find. The crowds were really great and the cheering helped me to forget the pain somewhat but it was the sweets that really helped. People were dishing out wine gums and jelly babies by the bucketload. I also had far too many of those gels that are supposed to keep you going. My mouth felt like a sugar factory.

I was a bit disappointed that I didn't really get to enjoy the last 200 yards as I just had to keep one foot in front of the other and I'm sure my post race photo is going to have me looking sad or angry or grimacing.

However, I was happy that despite the injury, I got to the finish line in well under the 4 hour mark. If I hadn't, I was definitely on track for a 3:30-ish finish but, alas, that's not to be.

My friend, Terry, got me into his gym in the city centre to stretch out and sit in a jacuzzi and sauna. I limped out of the gym to a restaurant called Saba for a chicken curry with Rozz and some of my friends who came in to say hello.

I'm writing this in Dublin Airport. My prize for the run is a trip to San Francisco and New York...but that's for another blog!

This is some of my running gear for tomorrow. I have my race number pinned to my running vest and my sweets will sit in my back pocket. I have a running belt, which my phone should sit into and my new earphones are ready for action. The weather tomorrow will really test out their waterproof qualities. I'm also putting my phone in a waterproof bag just in case. The strip of paper at the top is a pacesetter. I have decided to use the one that says 3:50:00. Essentially, I want to finish in less than 4 hours, which would be fine but realistically I should finish at 3:50 or less. The main thing for me will be to stick with this pace for the first 10 miles or so.

Everything is ready on the bed. All I have to do now is rest for the day, get lots of sleep tonight and remember to wake up in time!

Today was the final run before the marathon - a short, slow 15 minute run. I wanted to test out my new earphones but was joined by Rozz so I only got to try out one of them in my right ear. The earphones are called Yurbuds and they are supposed to be impossible to fall out. I will test this theory tomorrow.

The weather forecast has completely changed since I updated the blog to now being absolutely certain of rain from 8am until about 12pm. It's going to be windy and stormy too. The guy in the queue for registration, who has done 33 marathons, said that it makes things more fun. I'm going to have to believe him.

In order to run the Dublin Marathon, you have to pick up your race pack the weekend before the race. We decided we'd make a day of it and drive up after breakfast to the RDS. We left the house at 10 o'clock and reached Ballbridge, as expected around an hour later, then we hit a traffic wall.

There seems to be a few other events going on in the RDS this weekend, including the Ideal Homes Exhibition and some Body and Soul thing as well as a horse show. It took over an hour to find a parking space and I think we saw most of the Ballsbridge/Sandymount as we did so.

Once I got in, it was a fairly simple process of showing my receipt, receiving my race number then collecting my "goody bag" on the way out to an exhibition hall full of running gear and various energy gels.

My goody bag was fairly rubbish. For the €85 I spent on entering, I got a plaster, one squirt of Freezing gel, a packet of crisps and a load of leaflets. There was some guy doing a Q & A session about the marathon and I asked the question that seemed to piss him off the most. I asked if we could change starting times if we had gotten better. However, he was fairly useful and most people got to ask him whatever was bothering them.

I bought a few goodies for myself, including some new headphones, some compression socks for my flight the next day and a headband/neckband/bandana type thing.

I also spent a lot of time eating pasta and rice today and feeling rather sleepy as a result. The clocks are going backwards tomorrow so I look forward to taking advantage of a nice sleep in as tomorrow, I'm doing my final run before the big day and making sure that all my gear is ready.

Today is my wedding anniversary and the second last run before the marathon and it was only a 20 minute affair in the end, (the run, not the anniversary.)

The day started on the physio bench where my shoulders, calves and quads got a good rub down and were declared fit for action. I feel nice and ready for the race and the Night Nurse has almost done the trick as my cold is a lot better.

My run of 30 minutes was interrupted at the 20 minute mark when I was happily listening to my marathon soundtrack going at around a 5min/km pace and my phone rang. My phone was snug in my belt and I guessed it was Rozz ringing so I picked it up and continued running but it wasn't her. It was a fairly important call for work so I had to slow down and walk and talk. The time above represents 20 minutes of good running and 7 minutes of phone conversation.

I also learned that I must definitely not forget to double knot my trainers on race day as a single knot seems to loosen quickly. I had run about 12 minutes when it happened. I decided to take a route around the college as it usually takes about 20-25 minutes.

My last run is in two days - it's 15 minutes and I'm supposed to do it in my running gear.

Tomorrow I'm heading up to Dublin to the RDS to collect my stuff for the race and have a look around the exhibition. I'm then going to put my final race plan into action and make sure I remember where and when I am getting my drinks and energy sweets. I should also have Rozz at the 11th mile and somewhere around the 21st mile. My dad and sister have indicated they might be around the 15th mile and my running partner said he's going to come to Dublin to cheer me on near the 7th mile so that should be good.

The weather is still quite mild but wet but the current forecast is looking ok with a 10% chance of rain but colder - 8 degrees at 9am so I might bring an old top that I can throw away.

The photo above is not of road or a route map or a summary of a run. I still can't shake off my cold and I've decided to not run today. I have taken Disprin. I have drank coffee. I feel ok but not 100%. I will have an early night tonight and hopefully the cold will be gone by tomorrow. The photo above is a pub where I am drinking said coffee as I wait for Rozz to emerge from a nail salon.

My cold better be better as tomorrow I will have my face down on a physio's bed as I get my final pummeling before the race on Monday. I've been booked in before work at 7:30am. Tomorrow is the last day of term and it's traditional in my school to dress up for Halloween. Thankfully my costume this year is easy enough to put together without me having to wear it to the physio!

I'm hoping to get back to a run tomorrow after school too. It's not going to be too long. As I'm missing today, I'll probably just do a 30 minute run around the Carlow IT and back home.

Today was my last interval training session and it only lasted 20 minutes. I ran it with Rozz and with a bit of a cold. I decided to take a photo of the well-beaten pathway I've been treading almost everyday for the last 5 months. It's only 5 days to the race and I just want to get through it without being sick or injured. I may skip tomorrow's session in order to get rid of the cold.

It was nice running with Rozz as her running has improved greatly. I used to be able to walk beside her while she ran when she started but during this interval training, we went fast for 30 seconds and slow for the other 30 seconds. We were doing a 4:30min/km pace for the fast bits, which was amazing! When all this is over, we might head out together more often.

I've been already thinking about my running life after this and I'm really fond of the 10K. I seem to be able to run it under 50 minutes with a little effort and I managed to go sub-45 minutes for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I think I'd really like to break the 40 minute barrier so I might try that. Another part of me would like to reduce the distance further to 5K and I'd like to see myself doing that in less than 20 minutes regularly. Ive done it a couple of times and wouldn't mind trying that again.

When my gym membership runs out in the next year or so, I might join one of the local running groups, which will keep me focused. One thing I didn't stick completely with was my gym training. I was good when the runs were shorter but found it increasingly difficult to commit to them. I also hate the gym so motivation wasn't very high. We had bought one of the those XBox Kinect fitness games but our sitting room is too small for it so unless we get an extension or move to a bigger house, I'll just have to stick with real weights.

It's my last "long" run before the big race so I thought I'd do a nice 10K to celebrate. The weather was pretty rubbish so I said I'd try out my phone under my t-shirt in my running belt to see how it would survive, just in case. The phone survived fine but I was completely soaked thanks to a nice heavy shower in the middle of the journey!

I'm also feeling the onset of a slight cold, which I hope will be out of my system before next week. I'm sure the weather hasn't done it any good!

I guess I better take it easy for the next few days in case it develops but hopefully I should be fine.

Week 20 stats

10K run: none (PB: 43.19)

Predicted Marathon Time for Long Run: 4:22:54 (PB: 3:29:12)

My long run has become my former short run as I continue the taper down with 8 days to go to the marathon. Myself and my running partner took off a little quicker than we usually do as the run was much shorter. He has entered the Waterford half-marathon in December so I might do that but I'll get through this marathon first.

The run was fairly uneventful except for it being a new route, which I wish I'd discovered before. It's a perfect 65-75 minute route and, unfortunately, I won't be doing a long enough run like this again before the big race. I have 4 runs left before the big day - one 60 minute run and 3 very short runs.

I guess the focus is now going to be on eating properly, sleeping properly and checking the weather forecast. Apparently the next few days are going to be very rainy so hopefully it will all be out of its system by Monday week.

Predicted Marathon Time: 4:22:54

It's hard to believe that today was the first day that I've run in proper rain - the type where I got worried about my phone being water-destroyed. It's been raining all day and when I got home, it seemed to stop a little so I took the opportunity to do a 45 minute run. All was well until the 30 minute mark when the rain decided to come back.

The run was one of my better ones in that I kept my speed very consistent from beginning to end and I was happy that I could have kept going for a lot longer. I don't have any more long runs until the marathon but tomorrow might be an hour and we'll see about Sunday. I forgot that the marathon is on a Monday so my training has been out of sync from the beginning. However, I don't think I could have fitted in a 3 hour run on a Monday ever!

Another thing I learned on the run was how lovely a shower feels after it! With only 6-7 runs left until the big one, all I hope for is that I don't get injured between now and then and that I have clean socks for the day!

Tapering continued today with a 40 minute run. I must admit I messed it up completely as it was supposed to be an interval training session but I set out too fast, so I couldn’t keep up the fast intervals. However I kept a fast enough pace throughout and was able to sprint the last couple of hundred metres. I’m now less than 2 weeks away and it’s getting exciting!

Quick run in between work

Today was one of those work days that started at 8am and ended at 10pm with a small gap of under an hour to fit in a run. By the time I got home and changed, I calculated I’d manage 20 minutes so didn’t bother recording it on Endomondo. I also decided I’d run with my wife. We ran just over 3km. After that, a very quick shower was had and the work clothes were back on. Then, it was back to work.

Week 19 - Stats

10K run: 48m55s (PB: 43.19)

Predicted Marathon Time for Long Run: 4:31:18 (PB: 3:29:12)

After a nice lie-in and breakfast after the Blog Awards, I decided I would run around Naas for a change. I had a feeling that Naas was reasonably near Sallins and Newbridge so I thought I may as well run to one of these places and back.

I set off at a decent enough pace considering the night before and kept it up for the full 10km. I reached Sallins at 5km and turned back to Naas. I'd never really seen Sallins before and it looks like a nice village. I noticed there's a river running through it and there's a few little shops, which look dinky enough.

On my way back, for some reason, my phone's GPS signal decided to disappear so my app believes it took me over 7 minutes to do my 8th kilometre and under 2 minutes to do the 9th.

Overall, I was happy with this run. It was one of the first times that I have gone under 50 minutes for a training run and I wasn't knackered at the end of it. Whether I could keep up this pace for the marathon, I'm not sure and I think it's a little late to try it out!

I am at the Blog Ireland Awards tonight so I thought I'd do my long run today rather than tomorrow when I will be too tired. I went with my running partner again. As I'm in tapering mode, we went for a two hour run and went on two loops. The first one was around the old Bagenalstown road looping back on to some road, which leads back into town (11km) and then a short loop of the town looping at the Athy Road roundabout then back to my house. The weather was nice and fine and it was a decent run out.

Predicted Marathon Time: 4:31:18

I am still book-less. The gym don't seem to have my running book so I am really in trouble. I copied a few of the pages from the book for my running partner so I'll text him and see what I have to do. In the meantime, I decided to do a little bit of sprint training.

The temperature has decided to dip significantly today and I was cold. Endomondo is giving it a rather generous 12 degrees, but it's definitely single figures. I'll have to get the skins out tomorrow, I think.

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3:59:59