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What??? You're running ANOTHER marathon!!!
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Pageant Messiah wrote: »Congrats ncmc. Delighted for you
+1 very well done Enjoy those hard earned beers 
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Well done N and it was great meeting you today.
See you in Belfast for the 24 hour race!
:-p
LOL, you're going to do your best to get her to join the ultra scene (or are you looking for a support crew for Belfast?)
Great race today & great to meet you today, dont worry about missing your target, you still knocked a chunk off the PB in that heat and means the next time you race and get the sub 3:45, it will be another PB and consistant record breaking 0 -
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Right, race report time.
Was up bright and early yesterday morning, my husband was working in the city at 7, so had porridge and coffee on board by 6:15. Wasn't really feeling nervous at all until I got to the city and had to wait around for so long. Headed down to meet some boardsies at 8:15, met Blockic, DocJewel, Ecoenergy, Scriba and Mr Wiggle. Steroo appeared as well, so it was nice to have a chat and it kept the nerves at bay.
Started up with the 3:45 pacers and we were off. First few miles were fine, got chatting to a few people including Shane McCarville who is running 52 marathons in 52 weeks, he is from Monaghan, very close to my home town so it was nice to hear a Monaghan accent. He had done Derry the day before in 3:47 and think he finished in 3:5X yesterday, serious determination. Took my first gel at 6 miles and my first High 5 tablet. I had stupidly wrapped them in tin foil to keep them dry, so had to stop at the water stations to unwrap them. Definitely will be going down the salt tablet route in future.
The course starts to get a bit more challenging at 6 miles, but running through the tunnel was cool (though hot!) met tomred at that stage and ran with him for a couple of miles. Lost him at a water station unwrapping my tablet! I think the heat started to get to me at about the halfway mark and I was really feeling it when we ran by the railway track, the course was narrow there so it felt like there was body heat to contend with. It was about this stage that I realised the pace was feeling like more effort than it should, for the first time I had niggles of doubt about 3:45. By mile 17, I was in trouble and made the cardinal error... I stopped, got going again, but once I stopped once, I kept on stopping. The pacers were fading into the distance and I knew I was going to struggle to catch up. It's funny, looking at my mile splits, I didn't slow down significantly until mile 19, I thought I had slowed down earlier than that. Met DocJewel and his friend somewhere round here and was dismayed to see he was walking too, he was having a tough one too, story of the day so it seems.
The run/walk continued to Wilton and Model Farm Road, I was losing about a minute a mile at this stage and cursing myself every time I stopped. I didn't even care about 3:45 anymore, I just wanted to finish and any sort of PB would be a massive bonus. Met a guy at that stage that was on his 15th marathon with a PB of 3:12, and he was really struggling. Everyone I spoke to was having a total nightmare. As we turned on to Carrigrohane Rd, I said F*ck it Niamh, you're going to run every inch of this road. So I pushed on and began to feel a little better, don't know what happened to me, but I started getting my 8:XX miles back. Stopped at the water station at the top of the road to have my last High 5, but other than that, I ran the whole of the remainder.
Turned on to the Mardyke and I knew the end was in sight and that I was on for sub 3:50, I pushed as much as I could for the last mile and began to feel quite emotional as we came down the quays. Turned on to Patrick street and the noise was incredible. The end seemed so far down though and I thought the 100m remaining sign was the finish. Those last 100 were a bitch! Crossed the line in 3:48:XX
Off to the pub I went to meet up with the boardsies where a different kind of marathon began. There was a good few of us there and it was good craic. Beef and Ecoenergy looked a bit unwell, I hope you guys are ok today. I think Blockic was the only one of us there to actually hit his target
so rough day all round for the boardsies.
Felt like a total fraud afterwards though, as I felt pretty good crossing the line, I could have run another few miles ( no Belcarra, I am not doing the 24 hour race!) I even ran up the stairs in the pub!
All in all, it was a great experience. Tough, but great. The heat definitely added a challenge and it was very humid too and no breeze so it was difficult to run in. I know there were some issues with the half starting late, but I thought the full was well organised. Tons and tons of water stops which was great as I drank every second one and poured the other over myself. I think in future years, they need to start the relay 10/15 minutes later, there was a lot of congestion at the start with people starting in the wrong place and getting in the way. While it was great doing a local marathon, I don't think I'd do Cork again, the weather is just too warm.
So what next, well, taking at least a week off to start and then will aim towards the Clonmel half. I would hope to do another marathon next year, maybe Connemarathon or something a bit different. I had already decided I wasn't going to apply for London, which is lucky as I didn't get a gfa time!0 -
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Great report ncmc, you did very well to dig in and finish the job. I must admit reading race reports makes me kick myself that I didn't do things differently in Limerick. Believe me you should be very proud of yourself for finishing in tough conditions - not finishing is much worse, the time is actually quite insignificant and anyway you still got a great pb Sounds like you did well in the pub too
very well deserved beers 
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