Just over three years ago I was standing on the side of the road, cheering on thousands of runners as they ran 42km around the streets of Dublin. I did not run at all and the idea of running sickened me. If I was going to run, I would do it through another sport, probably involving a ball. I was supporting my Dad that day in 2016 and the plan was to cheer him on at 6 different locations on the course. A route was marked out to intersect the course and a plan was made. Somewhere between the 4th and 5th spot however, I realised I was running behind schedule and my only option was to run to get to the 5th location in time. Taking off too fast, probably like a few out on the course that day, I found myself tired very quickly. As I attempted to maintain a slow jog the thought occurred to me, “I should be better than this”. That thought coupled with the roaring crowds and the incredible achievement of each person running, grabbed me and didn’t let go. Two days later I went out for my first run.

That first run roughly measured roughly 2km, was mostly downhill and took almost 11 minutes to do. I was exhausted and my pace was horribly inconsistent but I did it. Something had clicked and there was no looking back now. Many kilometres, races, shoes, early mornings, running tshirts, medals, PBs and bottles of water later I now look forward to my next challenge. I ran my second Dublin Marathon last October in 3 hours 12 minutes which was an unbelievable experience. And even though running under 3 hours 10 minutes is an admirable goal, I feel sub 3 has to be my primary focus. I might not be an elite runner trying to beat the 1:59 challenge but I will take inspiration from it, for my own 2:59 challenge. This blog hopefully will serve as a diary of sorts of that journey and some motivation for myself.

Getting myself to the finish line in 3:12 took a lot of work last summer. It was the first time I started to make more concrete plans for my runs. I began to do interval training once every two weeks and plan routes around difficult hills to get some hill training. Planning became a bit better when I began to track my running on a weekly basis in a spreadsheet. And yet most other experienced runners would say I under trained for it. The maximum kilometres I ran in a week was 61km, which most would say is quite low for my output. Some of my training is still quite naive and I feel like there is a lot left to learn. Sharing that will give myself a better understanding of the things I do and others might take something from it as well.

Starting 2020 meant expanding my knowledge of running and improving my training schedule. The spreadsheet was reworked to track every day instead of just the weeks. I am more deliberate with the types of runs in the plan (slow, tempo, long, recovery) and I am attempting to not do too many fast runs at the risk of injury. My body has had plenty of time to prepare for this increased training but I still want to be careful. Slowing down is actually a challenge as I want to run faster all the time. At this point I do not think I will attempt to run sub 3 in 2020. The first goal is to improve my training and get more marathon experience. After that I will evaluate where I stand. The Manchester Marathon is coming up in April and I am preparing for that right now.