Race: Connemara International Marathon a.k.a. Connemarathon
Date: 28th March 2004 Goals: Sub 4 hour. Sub 3:50 would be
better but training has been patchy. No LSD since January.
My only other marathon was Dublin last October and it was
hell. I'll never forget the last 6. This time I was better
prepared. I've now been running 11 months and I have quite a
bit of mileage done. So I wasn't worried about failing to
finish this one. To avoid the wall I planned to drink plenty
fluid, eat a bag of jelly babies and not try to break any
records in the 1st half of the race. The setting: If there
is a more beautiful course anywhere on this earth I'd like
to know about it. This course isn't fast, but it's very
tough, hilly and picturesque. It's basically a lap of the
Maamturk Mountains, taking in some stunning scenery along
the way. Other than fellow runners you're very much on your
own because the area is quite remote. So no crowds cheering
etc, other than at the water stations every 3 miles or so.
Very hilly. The weather: Very mild. About 12C. Some sunny
spells. Perfect. The start: The start was by the side of
Lough Inagh. Lovely scenery, little traffic, traditional
music to entertain us. The ultra marathon started 13.1 miles
back down the road with a 1 1/2 hour start on us. About 10
minutes before we set off, the leading ultra man went
through to a huge cheer from the 300-400 marathoners. He
went on to do the 39.4 miles in 4:10!!! My race: At the
start I latched on to the only pace group there was, which
was aiming for 3:30. I knew the group was going to be too
fast for me but I figured I'd go with them until I got a
rhythm going. I stayed with them for the 1st five miles and
then dropped back to my own pace. The 1st 7-8 miles were
into the wind but once they were out of the way we were
sheltered by the mountains. Around mile 8 the sun came out,
the wind died down and the hills got hillier. We ran on by
Killary Harbour (stunning views) and into Leenane (halfway
point). In Leenane I found a very-much-appreciated portaloo.
Spent about 5 minutes there :-) After Leenane it's back
uphill again. I was feeling very good at this point. I was
drinking plenty fluid and the jelly babies were keeping my
energy levels up. My only problem was some mild blistering
on the soles of my feet. At this point I was passing quite a
few runners. At mile 16 I joined up with another runner and
we ran most of the remainer of the race together. Around
mile 20 my legs felt great. I had loads of energy left. But
the blisters were beginning to trouble me. At
23/24 there's a climb up "The hell of the West". It's a 2
mile long stretch up the side of a mountain and it's
positioned at the point where it can cause the most
damage. It's pure hell, but very pretty. At this point
my blistered feet were slowing me down a lot. At the top
of the hill there's a final water station so I grabbed
an energy drink and ran on over the hill. Once over the
hill the finish can be seen 2.2 miles down the road.
Mile 25 is downhill and mile 26 is flat so I finished
quite strongly. Time was just under 3:57 and I'm very
happy with it. If it wasn't for my blistered feet I'd
have done better, but I'm very happy that I felt very
strong other than that. No joint or muscle pain or
fatigue at any point during the run. Roll on Dublin next
October :-) Conclusion: Great course. Great race. I
can't recommend Connemara highly enough. Get there. Test
yourself. Splits...
24: 8:40
25: 7:51
26: 7:41
27: 7:47
28: 7:56
29: 8:23
30: 8:48
31: 8:04
32: 7:48
33: 9:45
34: 8:14
35: 8:16
36: 9:18 14 & 15: 21:50
37: 7:36 17 & 18: 19:25
38: 9:42
39: 10:02
40: 9:15
41: 9:05
42: 10:46
43: 12:39
44: 8:06
45: 8:20 .2: 1:29
--
Colm