What a awesome experience in Ireland! The Dublin Marathon is known as the friendly marathon and for very good reason. The crowd was amazing and provided some incredible motivation to continue the journey towards the finish line throughout the 26 mile journey.
Having not been able to find a decent massage treatment during the week there was no doubt that I was extremely tight in the first half of the marathon and produced a corresponding time for the first half of the just just over 2 hours.
I was pleased with the second half of the race and at no stage did I contemplate stopping other than to stretch out my calf for a moment. Although the weather was extremely cold and I could feel the winds sweeping through me there were many little towns along the course where crowds gathered in numbers to welcome the runners.
On approach through Dublin City and towards the finish line the crowd numbers were massive and it provided me with the added incentive to pass a number of people on the home stretch. The streets were fairly narrow along the majority of the course and this presented a few challenges throughout the race though on the home stretch I found myself calling out to fellow runners as I dodged through the gaps!
When I finally reached the line in 4:13:03 I was pleased to complete the third of my five international marathon adventures. I did not have long to process the result as before I knew it the media swamped me and I was being interviewed and photographed by the print media and television which was a great opportunity to get my message out and hopefully raise further much needed funds for Facing Africa.
Total field 11700
Place overall 4714
Place in cat. 762
10km time 00:58:41
1st-half time 02:02:09
30km time 02:57:43
Chip time 04:15:22
Finish time 04:13:03
I will forever know the Dublin Marathon as the "Fair Play Marathon" as there were a number of Irish people congratulate me on being the Marathon Man and on the achievement of completing the marathon by saying "Fair Play". This is certainly a unique Irish saying and one that I really like ... Fair Play Dublin and thank you so much!
It was very rewarding the next morning to see the Marathon Man featured in the leading newspapers in Ireland with a front page feature in 'The Irish Times' and prominent features in the 'Irish Daily Star' and the 'Irish Independent'.
Bring on New York ...
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