Run a half marathon

I’m now in County Mayo, near Achill Island. I have run my first half marathon this morning, and I feel awesome! (The time was calculated with the timer of my mobile phone, so it might be slightly different than the “official” one).

Landscapes were really wonderful!

I also went to the summit of the Croagh Patrick later on the day, as the bed and breakfast was really near it. The top was cloudy, so I couldn’t see anything, but it was exciting getting there.

NOTE (added on 14th July): The official results are online! My official time was 1:51:46, just a few seconds different than expected :)

I’m very excited, today after work I’m going to County Mayo, and the race starts tomorrow at 11:00!

Will I be able to do the 21 something km in less than two hours??

Technically I have run twice a half marathon: today I ran a 23 km run (the other run was last 14th June, but I have just realised I didn’t write an entry about it. I forgot, as I had a flight a few hours after that).

But the “official” half marathon will be next Saturday. Now I’m sure I will be able to do it (if no injuries happen).

Running so much one week before the race is not exactly what I would call “tapering”, but I felt so good! At Phoenix Park there were deers on the way with thier way young fawns, I ran at five or six meters, and they were not scared! Obviously they are used to see running humans there. Next week I will run 10 km on Monday, 6 km on Tuesday, 4 km on Wednesday, and other 4 km on Friday.

Today I ran the 23km in 2h 12’00”, just 11 seconds more than the one I ran on 14th June (it’s a pity I didn’t make a new PB on this distance), so I should be able to ran the half marathon in around two hours.

It is around ten days for the great day. Next weekend I will not run a long run, as I have to start tapering. I have been reading something as well about carbo-loading. It seems the best option is eating lots of pasta next week, especially the last three days, to have a high level of glycogen in my muscles for the race day. Great, I love pasta!

Meanwhile, I am getting faster. This morning I surprised myself performing my second personal best time in a 10K (some 48’50”), which is wonderful!

Today I have beaten once more my distance record! I am so happy. I planned 18 km, but when I was at km 17 I thought I wanted to close the circuit I was doing at Phoenix Park, so I just ran a bit more.

Sometimes it is really difficult to stop, when I am finishing I feel so good that I always want to run a bit more. In some ways it is not much different the inertia that keeps you running than the inertia that keeps you in bed in the morning! But I know that being patient is very important when running, it is better not to exaggerate to prevent injuries.

Speaking about injuries, I know now that the pain I have in one of my toes might be some kind of metatarsalgia. It didn’t bother me today (which is great), but I have to keep an eye on it if I really want to be ready for my half marathon next month. It is clear now that I can run that distance without problems, so the real threat here is that toe and other potential injuries.

So I will focus now on next week’s long run, which should be 20km. The problem is that I will be in Spain next week, so I am not sure about where to run. I will have to check again the wonderful Google Earth ;)

Wow, this is my distance record. If I had run so much before, it must have been in another life. I went this morning to Phoenix Park and ran two laps in an circuit that is 7.67 km (if we trust Google Earth). Then, I ran a bit more to complete the 16 km. Everything without walking a single metre! Probably this is nothing for somebody who has run a marathon, but for me is a lot!

This has been the second weekend I increase the distance in my long run. Next week I have to cut on my long run to control possible injuries, so I will run just 12 km, aiming an 18 km run for the weekend on 7/8th of June. Meanwhile I will enjoy my usual 10km morning runs in my neighbourhood.

I am so happy! Running is wonderful.

I am already used to run 10km every two days. But I will not run a 10K as I did last month: I have to be prepaired to run 21 km! So my plan is running a long run once a week, on Saturday or Sunday. Last Saturday I ran 14km, so tomorrow I will run 16km. The place? Well, to take advantage of the grass, which is a softer surface, and at the same time enjoying better views, I will go to the Phoenix Park (which, by the way, is where I ran my first official 10K last month…)

OK, I am already subscribed to the Achill Half Marathon. The great day will be the 5th of July.

I have been a bit busy booking a B&B for the night before (public transportation in Ireland is too bad to get there on the same day, even if it is just 350 km away from Dublin), and it seems that my friend Marek will help me with the transportation. Doing these things, you realise that it is much easier flying to Spain than going to the other side of the island…

I want to run the Achill Half Marathon on the 5th of July, and then the Dublin Marathon, on the 27th of October. I really enjoy running, it’s funny I discovered this now that I am 30!