DCM 2023 Mentored Novices Thread

Best of luck guys, your about to have one of the best days of your life.

Hope everyone had a good run!

God bless the pacers!

My watch didn't get GPS until around 14k in and was all over the place with times so I just used it for heart rate and stuck to the 3.50 pacers for the whole thing. It turned out to be such a relief not to have to think about pace and just move with them.

Someone said here to add 40 seconds per km to your half marathon pace and you were spot on. That was 3h50m for me and it was perfect. Didn't stop once. Had notions of 3.40 from Cromwellsfort Road and bumped up the pace a bit but that was a nope after just a few mins and fell back with the pack.

We got over a hill near the end and I had to ask if that was heartbreak hill. There was elation all around. We are going to make it.

Some heavy rain then at RTE but nothing like the cold sideways rain a good few of us experienced on one of those 32k training sessions a few weeks ago so it was no bother.

At the rds the pacers said push on if you have anything left. I felt like I had the energy and heart rate was good but the legs at that stage were hilarious. They were moving but in a weird way. I think I was doing John Cleese Monthy Python legs when pushing ahead a bit and the crowd were amazing out in the rain just willing you on screaming at you to keep going. Got 3.48 and am delighted with that :)

See you all next year!

Fanbleedintastic!!!

What an incredible debut marathon J, hold your head high.

Can't wait to hear more.

Enjoy the celebrations everyone, pat yourselves on the back.

I posted my mini report in the wrong thread yesterday apparently!

I had a real tough day yesterday, 5:31:22

I hit the wall around 20k/21k. despite practising with gels on all my long runs, including the half marathons I've done, I obviously didn't get my fueling right. I've never hit the wall before so I wasn't actually sure what was happening to me, but I obviously was able to guess.

In hindsight, I probably didn't eat enough in the morning to account for drive up and nearly 2 hours of waiting/walking around for the waves. I don't typically eat in mornings before running so I thought my eggs and toast would be enough, then I had a protein bar when I arrived in Dublin and a banana are the start line.

I paced myself exactly as I hoped, was just in front of the 4:40 Pacers, they even passed me in park for a bit during the long straight. I knew I wasn't feeling as good as I have been on other runs at the 10k mark or whatever, I think I even said as much to @Sunny Dayz when we bumped into each other outside the park, but I've felt like this early in my first half too so I was hopping it was just a phase and said I'd trust the training

But when it happened it just happend. My legs just didn't want to go, I felt like I was in a dream and my eyes were going a bit blurry, text book "wall" apparently.

I didn't even have a period of slowing down, I was basically on pace til I wasn't, I guess that's my lack of experience showing, if I knew what I was experiencing up to this I would have dropped back a lot and tried to grab some food or something.

To compound matters, I really started to not feel well in the stomach after my 4th gel as well, I couldn't stomach another one after it. Even the thoughts of it was making me sick! I tried to take some food off the crowd but the first thing I got was some very chewy wine gums, and a Jamie dodger which was drier than the Sahara! Neither helped anyways unfortunately.

I should have gotten Jaffa cakes off my crowd when I saw them at 26k, but it was very emotional meeting them having now been struggling for the guts of an hour, I wasn't really thinking straight.

My kids and wife probably kept me in the race, I definitely could have dropped out at this point, it is not a nice place to be trying to calculate how much longer you need to struggle around for when it's a huge chunk of the race left. Especially when the calculation is pointing to an extra 3:30 hours

The support was fantastic, and a huge thanks to people who came out, but around half mark, I'll be honest, I was embarrassed to be struggling.

As the distance left started getting shorter, the thoughts of dropping out also left thankfully. When I could I tried to run on the downhill and didn't even attempt to run up any hills.

With 800m to go I gave it one last push so I finished relatively strong

I'm happy I finished, proud of the training I put in to get there, but I'm really disappointed with how it went. I know I had a better run in me, that is the most frustrating thing.

@witnessmenow it was good to meet you en route. Aww no sorry to hear that things got worse for you as you went along. I know when we met we both agreed that it was feeling tougher than we had expected.

But you made it to the finish and you saw your family along the way which is a boost for both you and them. Well done B.

Awake since early morning with aches and pains. Well if that's not proof I did it!

It didn't work out exactly as I had planned which was start infront of 4:40 and work up to 4:30 after half way mark. The hillier first half really went to work on my quads and I found I couldn't really pick up the pace after half way. Mile 21 was really tough and had to dig in when the 4:40 pacers passed me at 22 and spent that next mile down Fosters catching and then passing them and realising that I was going to finish my marathon.

I know people always commend the support on the DCM route - but truly it was unreal. Had my name on my bib and it was strange hearing people call my name. The noise and the cheers, the music and the signs.

Quite happy to come in with 4:38.

Thanks so much to @MisterJinx and the other mentors, to my fellow Novices - we've graduated!! And to other Boardsies who have popped in her with nuggets of wisdom and support over the last few months.

3:52 for me, I was surprised how well it was going for 90% of it and passed the 4 hour pacers after going off behind them. The hill towards the end there slowed me down a lot and I trundled through the rest of it more or less. Target was sub 4 so I can't complain but it's a bloody long distance and I think I was found lacking a bit the last 5 k. There was no chance of a sprint for the finish which I had been planning on for bit of time shaving at the end. Conditions were great though, I thought the rain cooled me down a bit when I needed it. I definitely think I'll do it again, knowing what you're facing seems like it would be a big help 2nd time around. Congrats on getting the marathon done and wear yizzer medals today!

Loving the reports, keep em coming.

Well done to everyone who finished, and a massive well done to the people who had a tough time and hit the wall and just kept going anyway and got it done - that’s the attitude that completes a marathon!

I was a bit over my 4:40 target at 4:43, but honestly don’t care as so delighted to complete it! Found the first half pretty nice, though hilly. (As someone else said mile three was one of my longer ones). Then had a nice run through phoenix park, and castle knock. The second part of phoenix park was a lovely downhill two miles, and I remember thinking the leaves on the trees were beautiful!

Hit the loo at 9 miles, just to get it out of the way, then a nice run on to the half. Then the heavens opened and I got soaked and mile 14-18 were very tough. Just somehow lost all my energy, and got really worried that I was gone then, as I had so much left to run - mile 17 took me the longest to run in the whole race (11:50 😳), as I really couldn’t lift my legs - but I knew my mum was stationed at mile 18 and that kept me going for that stretch. She had lucozade sport and a gel which was great!

Somehow meeting my mum combined with the rain going away and a nice downhill at Dartry made things much easier. I knew I was on the home stretch after 18, and I was in my area too, (as I grew up in Clonskeagh). I had family at the bottom of Roebuck, and one of my school friends surprised me with a sign and everything, which was lovely! Meeting them and my family put my head in the right place, and I sailed home slowly but steadily after that, (Though I must say the last 2 miles went on forever 😅). Funny how distance running is such a mental thing isn’t it?

Gotta say again, the support was just incredible all the way - people are really fantastic, and some of the signs were hilarious! I wished I had a camera along the way to take photos of them.

Fabulous reports folks 👌 😊

Firstly I would like to thank the help and support received here from MisterJinx and co. Your advice and guidance really made the difference for me.

This is probably going to be a long post as I am going to try to write for the two forums that I follow, which are Healthunlocked (under the name of Freecloud. I got guidance and support from them when I was doing my CT5K 2 years ago) and this one. I have written quite a few reports now on my previous races on H.U and go into a bit of detail on those ones.

I think I left Sligo at about 8am on Saturday for the RDS which was more or less straight down the N4 M4 into Dublin. Well that was all going swimmily until I got confused with Google maps at the very last millisecond and mistook the M50 turn off for the N4 one. NNNNoooooo!!! I thought to myself as I inadvertently drove onto the carpark aka the M50 towards the airport. Google very kindly rerouted me and gave new directions. I can’t remember the route, all I can say is that it was just a constant line of stop start traffic. Also, to top it off, I was getting quite desperate for a pee. This wouldn’t be so bad in the countryside where I could just pull the car over and get it over and done with. But being stuck in a traffic jam in Dublin was a different story altogether. I began to panic like crazy trying to find a side street off the road I was on or hoped I would see a pub or something but nothing was around. I began to make all sorts of funny shapes in the car to hold it off and thought someone would think I was going mad or something. I eventually saw a side road that wasn’t a dead end and found some pay and display spaces. I quickly got out of the car and rushed over to the machine. Unfortunately I got there the same time as someone else and I stupidly said he could go first but HE WAS THERE FOREVER!! Anyway he eventually left and it was my turn. I was paying by card and wasn’t really concentrating on time or money. I pressed the + button twice and paid with my card only to see that I only had 10 minutes. I ran over to the car threw the ticket in closed the door and hastily walked to find a shop or something. All I could see were tiny coffee shops with only a few chairs inside and no toilets. I did eventually find a small hotel, so I rushed in there and found the toilets just in time. I then had the mad panic of trying to remember where I parked the car before it got clamped. I eventually found the car in time and set off to the RDS and parked in Clyde Street.

The RDS was full of buzz, I had a quick look around and went to get my pack. The lady scanned the code on my phone and asked for photo ID. Problem was that my names didn’t match up. My parents named me Michael Anthony, they call me Anthony because my father is Michael and I go by the name of Tony to confuse things even more… I was asked if I was collecting for someone and I had to explain it all to the lady. Why do parents do things like this? Anyway, I eventually get my number and pack take another look around and buy a pair a beany hat and a pair of shorts because they have gel pockets and a decent zip pocket at the back.

I then found my way to the hotel I was staying in near Swords, got some food, did my final run, went to the pool did 10 easy length of the pool, went to the steam room, went back to the room, watched the Rugby match (meh), turned the tv off and tried to sleep.

I left the hotel at about 5 the next morning to make sure I could find a space somewhere near the start. I then had a bit of a rest before I got ready. I couldn’t make my mind up if I was going to use the bag drop off or not. I decided not to and got myself ready making sure I had everything I needed and set off. It then started to rain and I thought I didn’t want to be standing around in wet clothes at the end so went back to the car put on my tracksuit bottoms and a top, packed my bag with dry clothes and set off again.  Then thought I left my bank card on the dashboard so had to go back again.

That’s when Legits saw me and asked if I was from Boards. We got chatting and decided to run together as we were both aiming for about the 4hr 30 mark. We dropped off our bags and went to the loos. I remember seeing one of the pacers in the queue and was wondering how he would manage to get in with his balloon. He simply let it float on the string outside whilst he was inside. A lot of people found it funny and were taking selfies standing outside the loo with the balloon outside.

I think the plan was to start in front of the 4:30 pacers but there was just too many people around so we started a few meters back from them. We weren’t really too fussed and we had plenty of time during the run to get passed. We both had similar strategies where we were going to hang around the pacers until 30k and then go a bit faster if we able. We had both also planned to take our gels every 30 minutes and walk at the drink stations to take our drinks instead of soaking and sipping.

We stopped at the first or second water station, got out bottle of water and quickly used the loo and set off running again. I then had a quick drink from my bottle and started to laugh. I thought I left my bottle of water down when I was in the loo and picked it up when I left. But I actually put my bottle under my armpit, forgot it was there and mistook the other bottle for my one and started to drink from that instead.

The crowds were great and were calling out our names. I could only hear mine and told legits that I was famous. I also thought that I saw witnessmenow running in front of us as he had a blue singlet, baseball hat and tight shorts on him. We eventually caught up and both ran either side of him had a look at his face and pulled behind again where I said I didn’t think it was him. I then got out my phone to see if I could find the picture witnessmenow posted of his race gear. But I was wrongly looking on the forum and not on Strava. I then said the name a couple of times to see if I got a reaction. I knew it wasn’t him when I saw the face (as I’d seen him when we were running in Kilkee and the fella in front was a tad older looking) but was just messing to pass the time. The only result in all that was that we had started to run too fast and had to slow down.

Everything more or less went to plan, we had a few chats and got to the halfway point in what seemed like no time at all. It then started to get a bit quiet. I was thinking about what happened to me in Longford and compared it to how I was feeling during this run. I had a little niggle at the top of my left thigh but generally felt great. I was very pleased with the way my training had gone and had been going to bed before 10 for 3 weeks (even if I didn’t sleep all of the time). I asked legits how he was feeling and he said that an old injury was starting to show and I could go off ahead if I wanted to. I said it was ok to see if it got any better. He then started to slow down quite a bit at the 25k mark and suggested that I should go on ahead again as there was no way he would be able to achieve 4hrs 30. We then wished eachother good luck and I set off like a dog being let off a lead.

I felt fresh and picked up my speed a bit and went off in pursuit of the pacers, which were nowhere to be seen (I’d say that they were so far in front that we were probably in danger of being passed by next lot of pacers). I was passing the other runners as if we were in two different races. I was aware of this and I saw that my watch had crept up to Zone 4 (orange), so I slowed down a bit until it got back down to zone 3.

I eventually caught up to the pacers at 31k, they were all singing and jaunting and keeping their runners in high spirits. My head wasn’t ready for the banter so I continued running passed them before I slowed down.

I then got to a bit of a hill and thought that was Heartbreak hill until I saw the other hill. I took on both hills and was feeling it by the time I got to the top of the second hill. There was a DJ at the top of that hill, he said “Look who’s here, lets give a big hello to the 4hr 30 pacers” I though Nooo it cant beee!!! and picked up speed again. I was definitely feeling it by then but was able to pick up a bit of speed as I was then going downhill.

I felt absolutely wrecked physically but very good mentally. I also thought I was running too slow and my heart rate was too high but my watch was showing I was in the high 6 mins and in the green zone. I tried to slow down but It’s kind of had to tell your body to slow when you think you cant go any slower. I continued on like that for a few more kms still passing other runners.

One of the pacers caught up to me again and I heard him telling someone that there was only a quarter of a mile to go after that bridge. I couldn’t see a bridge but thought not far now. We then got to the big screen and I heard the PA say smile your near then end. I did exactly that and had a fixed grin on my stupid face until the very end, because I frigging did it. Yeah it was the 3rd one of the year for me. I was a Zombie due to a very bad period of insomnia for Belfast and fell apart at the halfway point in Longford. But I knew that I had conquered it with the DCM and felt proud as punch.

I finished in 4hrs 27. I also managed negative splits of 2:16 in first half and 2:12 in second – thanks to my 10k pace between 25k and 32k.

I did go to the pub and walked around 3 times but it was just mad in there.

Anyways, that’s my story. It’s a race I will look back on and be proud of.

I just want to end this by saying that my wife got talking to one of her uncles recently and was talking to him about my running because he used to be a runner. She told him that I was doing Dublin. He said that he did ten of them and started when he was 55 and stopped when he thought he was getting too old (he is now in his 80s). I have just done my first Dublin Marathon at 55 and have just signed up for next year, so who knows….

Thanks very much. This fella had a good bit of a stubble and he had murphy's written in a black border near the bottom. I did try to look out for you when we were in Kilkee and saw you when you were about 1 or 2 k from the turning point. You were running towards it and I was running back. I would have probably said hi Brian if I knew your name back then because witnessmenow is a bit of a mouthful when your not sure 🤣.

Btw, I felt just like you in Longford and I haven't gone even near writing about that one yet (and probably wont). I think I have probably run at about 40 or so events since I started last year. Id say that 80% of them were great and 20% crap where I just fell apart. But a marathon is a different beast all together. I needed to do it 3 times before I got to say I conquered it.

Just don't let your experience get you down and put it down to your head playing mind games. You have done fantastic work in your training and your always one of the first for people trying to encourage them when they are down here. It would be great if we crossed paths and ran together at a running event in the future.

P.S. I just remembered. find DCM here and you will see your video crossing the finish line

https://www.tdleventservices.co.uk/

Same re spring marathon, I'm very tempted by Limerick. No hassle like an expo and will be a good chance to compare it to Belfast.