Chucky ár Lá... DigDig's gonna get you!

claralara

Best of luck comrade... see you on the other side...

BTH

Best of luck Officer. All this talk of marathons almost makes me want to do one, but I'll stick to the cross training for now.

Oh, and with all the talk about your advancing years I did a bit of sleuthing the start list to see what your actual age is and, well, :eek::eek::eek::eek:

belcarra

Best of luck Digger. Enjoy the run and I'm sure you'll nail that sub 3:10 no bother!
We'll do our best on Sunday to give you plenty of alternative target times to aim for (although you'll probably be in trouble if you start aiming for my time!).
Just keep yourself within the agreed 5 min PB range for myself!

RAL3

Enjoy the experience and the very best of luck

digger2d2

So, we arrived in Boston in one piece, very cold last night, too cold for a man of my advancing years to be out in Headed out this morning at 7.30 for a group run with Hard Worker leading out, we did about 4.5 ish, all around 9 min pace with one on our own at MP........weather not great again this morning but due to improve for the afternoon. Went to the expo yesterday and got the numbers sorted, I got a Boston jacket, CL emptied the Saucony stand and at least half the women's end of the official adidas stand. Hoping to meet up with Dory Dory this afternoon.

Izoard

All the best with it, to the both of you....

It is all downhill anyway, how hard can it be?

blockic

Don't burn out those veteran legs clothes shopping will ya!!! :rolleyes:

digger2d2

So, managed to get a pair of Lunaracer 3's today so happy out with that. We ended up walking 5 miles today according to CL's New Garmin, the 910 XT no less!! Absolutely wrecked now, hoping the jet lag sorts itself out tomorrow as it's only just gone 9 here and I'm really struggling to keep the eyes open.

Great buzz in Boston today, I had the camera out and got CL to lie down on the finish line, a Boston Globe photographer pounced on my creativity, snapped away and took CL's details so one half of the glamour couple may make another 'meeja' appearance

digger2d2

So, final sleep before the big day. We met up with Dory Dory and John Dory this morning and did a bus tour of the route and then went back to the expo again! This evening we went to the pasta party and met some of the Wellesley girls, they were asking for you TRR

All on track but the news from Rotterdam is still a reminder that.the task ahead can't be taken lightly.

digger2d2

Desperate day for me and desperate day for Boston. I fell apart at 10 miles, legs went to jelly and I felt too hot, however, l get to run again, many others will never walk, let alone run again.

RacoonQueen

BTH wrote: »

Best of luck Officer. All this talk of marathons almost makes me want to do one, but I'll stick to the cross training for now.

Oh, and with all the talk about your advancing years I did a bit of sleuthing the start list to see what your actual age is and, well, :eek::eek::eek::eek:

That wasn't even his real age. He cut 10 years off it when applying, the liar. :eek:

Well done Digs. Relieved you guys are safe. Horrible addition to what should have been an amazing experience.

Mr Slow

digger2d2 wrote: »

Desperate day for me and desperate day for Boston. I fell apart at 10 miles, legs went to jelly and I felt too hot, however, l get to run again, many others will never walk, let alone run again.

Well done A.

run44

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/irish-athletes-return-home-from-boston-marathon-1.1363141?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

PaulieC

Alan Dignam (age withheld) from Dublin said there was a surreal atmosphere following the first explosion.

menoscemo

run44 wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/irish-athletes-return-home-from-boston-marathon-1.1363141?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Media whores

tang1

Well done Monday, i know the time didn't go your way but as you said yourself you can run again. Hundreds never will again, you should be very proud of your efforts. The time will come.

menoscemo

menoscemo wrote: »

Media whores

Just seen you two on the RTE news now.
Is that the glamour couple's first TV appearance?

blockic

tang1 wrote: »

Well done Monday, i know the time didn't go your way but as you said yourself you can run again. Hundreds never will again, you should be very proud of your efforts. The time will come.

+1 to that. Well done on grinding it out when the going got tough. A super effort and shows great character. Boston Marathoner...not many can say that. See ya in a couple of weeks.

digger2d2

Pre Race

Friday - Arrived in Logan Airport where we were met by Eugene (Hard Worker) who was our group guide for the event. Got settled into the hotel quickly and headed out to the Expo along with a girl from work who was on the trip along with her sister in law. Numbers organised, check, marathon jackets purchased, check, CL buying a pair of Kinvaras, check, CL buying another pair of Kinvaras, check. This was followed by one of many visits to our local Starbucks.....

Saturday – An early morning trot out with the group, brekkie with the girls in SB’s and then myself and CL headed out and walked to Harvard University. Probably a little too much walking was done...

Sunday – Early run with the group, SB’s with the girls and then myself and CL headed off to meet up with Dory Dory and her fella John Dory (see what I did there) and from there we all took a bus tour of the actual route. Our main points of interest were based on locations mentioned in books we’d read compliments of TRR’s Boston library and of course those hills. To be honest, after we’d seen the hills we weren’t overly concerned. Had good fun with DD and JD and bus tour over we did a little more shopping and ended up back at the Expo where a little more spending was done. That evening we went to the pasta party where we met some lovely Canadians.

Race Day

Monday – Met up with the group in the lobby and Eugene brought us to the bus area. There was a great atmosphere as we were loaded onto big yellow school buses and taken to Hopkington. At this point I want to mention the volunteers, firstly, the number of them is amazing and secondly, the enthusiasm levels were amazing and very, very genuine. No matter what level you are at you are made to feel very special and appreciated.

The athletes village cranked up the excitement and CL was beginning to get nervous. Tricolour face paint was applied, some stick on shamrocks for good luck and off she went with the Wave 1 crew. Soon after I was also on my way to the start. The atmosphere on the line was electric as the gun sounded. Steady as she goes was my mantra for the first few miles as they were primarily downhill but pretty early on you begin to get the sense of a very undulating course. As the miles ticked by my average pace of 7:05 was a little ahead of where I wanted it but that was a good thing as I’d likely need some time to play around with later. It felt like it was getting quite hot but I’d been diligent in taking alternative sips of Gatorade and water and all was going fine until about the 10 mile point where my legs literally went to jelly. This was a bit of a shock as there had been zero indication of this. Over the next mile my body started to ache, shoulders, arms etc. Quick decision to ease back saw me get to Wellsley College at 7:14 pace which was bang on target but I knew even at that mile 12 point that my sub 3:10 was gone. With this in mind I high fived about 90% of the girls along the front of Wellsley which incited even further cheering (if that’s actually possible) This gave me a great buzz and probably a quick enough mile split but the burst was purely mental and a quick assessment at the halfway point had me thinking purely in survival mode.

It’s a strange and somewhat lonely place to be when you are in trouble mid marathon. The target I’d trained hard for was gone, even a PB was likley gone and how the hell was I going to drag myself another 13.1 miles to the finish line in Boston. The demons circled around and took strength from other runners who had stopped to walk. I just had to keep running. My mind turned to Rotterdam and the troubles that the other Boardsies had endured. I began to worry about CL trying to push herself to a sub 3:05 in this heat and I started to imagine I’d see her at some stage being attended to by medics. I played the conversation over in my mind “Jaysus CL, are you ok’’.... “Yes, dig dig I’m fine, keep going’’...’’No CL, I won’t leave you’’...’’You must dig dig, save your own race’’.....

Most of the rest of the race was a bit of a blur to be honest, the hills killed my poor broken legs which by the time I got to Heartbreak Hill were popping quad and hamstring cramps. The crowd is so large and so enthusiastic they just won’t let you fail, it doesn’t matter if you are hobbling, half walk, half run, which I did quite a bit. They just keep encouraging you with shouts of “Nearly there, you are amazing” and “ Awesome running guy, keep going, you can do it”.... With Heartbreak crested I took comfort I’d only got about 5 miles left to the line but genuinely wondered how I’d actually get there. A couple more grinding uphill sections lay in wait before I finally rounded Boylston and saw the large blue finishing gantry and with all the energy I could muster I managed a windmill finish of some type. A desperately poor 3.33 but my feelings of acute disappointment were washed away by the relief that it was all over.

Post Race

I hobbled forward and got some water which I gulped down. I had taken on a lot of fluid during the race but always felt thirsty. I was handed a recovery bar, took one bite, it was like eating chocolate flavoured cardboard, that went in the bin and then the Gatorade guys gave me a recovery drink which was much appreciated. I got my medal and continued to my bag collection area which was further up on Boylston. I lay down on the ground and got a top out of my bag as it was a little windy and then fished out the mobile which had a text from CL, “Call me as soon as you get this”.... A quick call and 5 mins later we met at the barriers much to CL’s relief as there had been some delay in the guys at home getting my 40km split and there was a concern that something had happened me.

Astonished congratulations passed to CL we strolled over to Boston Common where we had a chat with some Americans who took pictures of us on CL’s phone and then very kindly text us pictures that had been taken at the start line. We exited the other side of the Common and turned onto Charles St and that’s when I heard what I thought was thunder, followed quickly by another clap which I took to be an echo off the buildings. A few minutes later I got a text from one of the girls saying there had been an explosion near the finish. It’s hard explain the next few hours except the focus was on letting friends and family at home know that we were safe. Making sure the two friends we knew were safe ( the non runner was watching close to where the second bomb went off) and also, checking in with Eugene to make sure everyone else was okay. There was quite a lot of concern for the Wife of one of the guys who’d been watching near the finish and who was unaccounted for even a couple of hours after the explosions but she turned up and all was fine.

The next couple of hours were spent stuck in front of the TV watching the images I’m sure all of you also witnessed. We were stuck somewhere between anger and disbelief. My youngest Daughter was extremely concerned and maybe rightly feared that we were in danger from further bombs. Tuesday morning brought further media images and reports of increased injuries and at that point you start to think of what could have been. I was lucky I didn’t have to walk for long spells and finish at the times of the explosions, I had bought runners on the Saturday in the Marathon Sports shop outside of where the first explosion went off. What might have happened if we hadn’t had our phones (we didn’t have them at the end of Berlin)... We’d have both been circling around the finish line area trying to find each other. But look, we were safe. All our worst fears were actually realised by innocent spectators and runners who had come out to celebrate a wonderful event and occasion. A child lost his life, two others died and many have lost limbs. What is wrong with sick b4stards that have to wreak their own form of revenge on completely innocent human beings at an internationally attended and supported event.

Back in Ireland

Our arrival was greeted by many journalists looking to get a story. The glamour couple appeared in print and on TV. It was all very strange. Despite some of the stories those that arrived back in the Airport are not ‘survivors’. We are merely runners who attended an amazing event who were lucky not to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I’d like to pass on my thanks to all of you that passed on your pre race good wishes and messages after the explosions. Also, thanks to Hard Worker and Gerry C. For their help and guidance over there and to the other runners for their company, PaulieYifter and Purceniho to name a couple and lastly....

I’ll leave you with these thoughts... Boston is an amazing Marathon, do all you can to run it at some stage and finally, on what I and other boardsies who ran it would deem a tough bloody course, on a hot enough day to have given me quite a bit of sunburn, CL ground out an amazing 3:06. That was quite simply a fantastic performance. Her ability and dedication is to be applauded and the time and advice that TRR dedicates to our protégé is equally respected.

RacoonQueen

For future reference, some of us use the black boards skin and black on black is very hard to read even for those of us who are still young.

Just so you know.

Mr Slow

Excellent report Alan, poignant and sincere.

Younganne

Lovely report digger and so well written....congrats on sticking it out though the going got tough and finishing such a tough course...(now i have to wipe my tears and head to a meeting!!!):o

TRR

Great report digger. You technically hit the wall at 10 miles through no fault of your own and were still able to grind out a 3.33. Qualifying and finishing Boston is a big goal for most marathon runners so well done.

Letyourselfgo

Thanks for sharing digger and congrats for seeing it out.

career_move

Ah feck it I'm crying again

belcarra

digger2d2 wrote: »

Quick decision to ease back saw me get to Wellsley College at 7:14 pace which was bang on target but I knew even at that mile 12 point that my sub 3:10 was gone. With this in mind I high fived about 90% of the girls along the front of Wellsley which incited even further cheering (if that’s actually possible)

What ya do with the other 10%??;)

Gavlor

Great report.... And a great endorsement for the Boston Marathon

racheljev

Well done A, and congrats on getting to the finish line. Your race report reminds me so much of my run in Luxembourg last year - except my race fell apart at 10k I found it really tough to pull myself together and get to the end, it was a tough one. Fair play to you for continuing and finishing in (to me anyway!) a great time. And as well, fair play for such a heartfelt report.

JEmily

That's some history you witnessed...well done on the running, your making me want to do another marathon:(

Dory Dory

Well done on a tough day. And so wonderful to meet you and your guns.