Author: nigelb

The last time I ran a road marathon was 2016. It’s been nearly 10 years since I did one of those. I tried to run the Cork marathon last year, but the timing was terrible. It was right after the end of semester exams for my BSc course and I couldn’t go out to run for a solid 3 weeks before the race. There’s usually a mad rush of assignments, exam prep, actual exam, and recovering from the mental stress.

This year, I set my sights on Longford Marathon as the big event. The last few years, it’s been Ecotrail Wicklow that’s been my big event of the year. This year, the training block was starting just as my exams were finishing, so it was better than my planning for last year. I missed a few training runs here and there but overall, this was the best training block I’ve had heading into a marathon in a long time.

I drove into Longford the previous afternoon. I had a room booked starting Saturday until Tuesday morning. I didn’t want to drive back immediately after the race. I figured, I’d need an extra day to be rested and ready. This was a good decision in the end. The Longford Arms Hotel was one of the event sponsors and the start/finish line was right outside the hotel. This was an excellent decision. The hotel even had breakfast starting at 6 am the day of the race for the runners to have their breakfast well in advance of the race. I found this extremely kind and welcoming of the folks driving into Longford for the race.

The morning of the race, I was all set. I was going to take the Precision gels in a little gel flask. I had enough in the flask for about 2.5h in and I took a few extra large packs of it just in case. One of my bottles had water with electrolytes and one was plain water. I had sun glasses on and a hat. The previous day was a very wet drive but the day of the race was dry. Due to past experiences, I prefer to carry a hydration bag with my gels and some water during races. I have had races where they either run of water or I run out of water when I really want water. This turned out to be an excellent idea for the kind of weather it ended up being.

My goal for the event was 5h, it felt like a not too difficult a goal but I knew how much I struggled at Ecotrail last year after the 30K mark. I was cautiously optimistic going into the race. I was nervous all through the morning. I woke up early and went to get breakfast. The place was packed. I managed to eat some toast and drink some tea. The official start time for the race was 9 am. I was down there at 8:30 am and the energy was intense! The half marathon and the marathoners went out together. All my previous marathons, I always went out a little too fast. This is manageable with a half marathon but I really needed to control it for a full marathon. I kept my pace just around 7 min/km. The course took us out into Longford town and around back to the start line. Then it turned off.

Once we turned off from the town, people started to thin out as the initial surge of energy wore off and people started slowing down. Very quickly, the marathoners and the half marathoners were split off across 2 sides of the road. The half marathoners turned off at the roundabout ahead while the marathoners pushed on ahead. I stuck to a group of people from around the 5th km and they were around me for most of the race.

At some point, I started chatting with a fellow runner who was going a tad bit faster than me. We were talking and it was easy enough to keep pace with her. Turns out, she was running the Ultra marathon! And she was faster than me trying to run a marathon. I had to slow down after a km or so since I was worried I’d end up crashing and burning.

The best part about this race is the views. I takes you through some gorgeous Irish countryside with sheep and cows grazing along the pastures. At the 11K mark, I saw a few folks who were clearly there to cheer on their friends. They had some great posters. The funniest one was one that said “Speed Van Ahead”. They kept moving along to keep up with their friend, so I saw them at least 3 times along the route and at the finish line. Every time I saw them, I had to smile. They put a spring to my step on the last few km when I saw them.

Unusually, I started feeling tired around the 20 km. Even at the slow pace. This was super unusual since I’m usually able to keep at it for about 25 km during training without too much trouble (except for that one time, which we shall not speak about). The aid stations were well stocked with water, though, as someone carrying their own water, I was at a disadvantage. I had to stop, take my bottles off, and refill it. It didn’t help that one of my flasks started having a bad seal during the race, so it would fill up with air as I drank water and slosh around. That got annoying really quickly.

I had to take walk breaks from then on. I tried to 30 sec run/walks for the rest of the race until there was a hill. The race had a bunch of small hills but stretched out over a long distance. That was rather annoying because those bits of the route also had no shade. I was grateful I had a hat. I was strong enough to keep my position but I didn’t feel strong enough to overtake.

It was really tempting to walk at the 32K mark, but I kept remembering Sarah telling me that the goal is to keep moving. At this point, I knew I was not going to hit the pace I planned. I was a little disappointed, but I was trying to look at the positives. I felt tired, but I was not in extreme pain. Usually, at this point, my core hurts to move. None of that this time. It was just a matter of gathering enough energy to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving. There were folks overtaking me, all of them were ultra marathoners. And they all cheered me on as I was moving. And I cheered them right back.

Even the cars on the road would honk, lower their windows, and clap as they passed. At some of the sections of the national road, where it was dangerous for runners to be on the side, they closed off an entire lane so that we had enough buffer to run and overtake each other safely.

The last 3 km of the race were the most brutal. There was a huge climb up over a railway bridge and then back down to the ground under either a national road or a motorway. I was too tired to look up which one. I was walking along with yet another ultramarathoner and we were both having a little whine about the long uphill back up to the main road. I knew I had it in me to do a nice fast km or maybe 1.5 km. I figure once the hill was over, I’d start running and see how it felt.

This is when I noticed that I most definitely had blisters on my toes. It felt at the time like the blister had burst. I thought about checking but I realized, there was no point. There was nothing I could do and I’d have to wait until after the race to get it checked. That’s where I’d find paramedics nearby. I started a gentle trot at the end of the hill, testing the feeling in my legs. Every step hurt my toes a little bit, but once I got moving, it felt easy to keep going.

The last km ended up being the fastest of the entire race. I was surprised I had so much strength left in me. I picked up the medal and walked straight into my room. I didn’t feel like food or water. In fact, I felt like throwing up. But first, I had to confront one of the only downsides to the hotel — I had to walk up a flight of stairs to my room.

Despite not meting my goal pace, I still ran my fastest marathon so far at 5h39m. This was fun. I was texting my coach once I felt better about what I wanted to do for 2026. I’m setting myself up for some loftier goals — A half marathon faster than 2h and a full marathon faster than 4h30m.

It’s been a few weeks now and I can process this race a lot better than I could after finishing it. The last 2h of the race has memories of pain. Two years ago, I remember looking at the 47K and thinking to myself, “Oh boy, that looks scary and impossible.”

The Ecotrail Wicklow race was on the last Saturday of September. There were a lot more distances this year than the past years (A new 10K!). The routes for every distance have changed a little bit over the years. This year we went through Kilruddery again. I prefer this route as it’s less technical than the route we took last year through Belmont. Of course, the steady rain made everything messy last year. The last bit of the race had some stairs, but more on that later.

The race started off as a gorgeous day with no rain and beautiful sunshine at the start line. I was listening to the music from Come From Away for the first bit of the race, making friends, and humming along. I didn’t push too hard and took walk breaks when I felt like I needed to slow down. I was not aiming for a specific time. I had a high level goal of trying to come under 8h, but I was not fussed about time this year. I kept telling myself, if I finished this race, it would be the longest I’ve run in my life. I’ve finished 2 marathons in the past and had one DNF for a marathon. It has been 8 years since my last marathon, though, so it’s been a long time since I’ve done this distance.

I breezed my way up Bray Head, down the other side, onward to Kilruddery, and up Little Sugar Loaf. This was the first challenging climb but I was feeling good all through this. I felt strong as I crossed the N11 over to start the Big Sugar Loaf. In the last few years that I’ve run this race, I found the Big Sugar Loaf a bit long and tiring. This year was no different. The uphill trail is tricky and with thorny bushes on both sides. I fell into sync with a group of runners though I could feel myself slow down as I went further. The route was too narrow to let someone pass me. I remember reaching a point and thinking, “when the hell is the right turn to the downhill”.

At this point when I synced up with a group of women who were running together as a group. We’d see each other on and off for the rest of the race. I would overtake them for a bit and then have to take a break and they’d overtake me. I was taking more walking breaks from here on. The next step was Djouce and Powerscourt falls. This bit of the trail was familiar and I could race down, though my quads were starting to be sore from the downhills. The Powerscourt falls was my spiritual halfway mark. I sort of felt good at this point! Hooboy, I was going to get smashed by the climb.

The climb up into the Wicklow Way from Powerscourt was steep and I felt drained at the top. I had overtaken the group of women in the flats around here and we went uphill together as I struggled. The hiking stick helped but it did not stop me from feeling completely drained of energy when I got uphill. I need to sit down and ran into Ellie (of Tough Soles) who was also not having a good time. We chatted for a bit while I caught my breath. The group of women were fantastic and they checked that we were both fine and had everything we needed. I had a gel and waited for my body to catch up with the sugar before I went on. I walked for some more time with some bits of running.

There’s a long downhill followed by a long uphill near Djouce and I enjoyed this bit during my training runs. Both the uphill and downhill are technical and I enjoyed them both despite being quite worn out. I got a big kick of inspiration as I made the turn heading back. The fourth placed 80k runner (first woman) crossed me. She was like a blaze of lighting. Despite it being a flat and downhill section, I did not see her again. These folks had already finished over 50K of their race and had been running for 1.5h more than I had been. The rest of the way was downhill and I was able to pick up pace for a bit. I came to a clearing where I ran into the group of women again 🙂 We had a chat while I refilled my drink mix. This was tricky enough that sitting down and doing it saves more time and mess than trying to hurry it up.

I was quite sore and feeling like I “hit the wall”. Somewhere along the way, I lost track of having enough gels with the correct frequency. The combination of the energy drink mix and the gel were not sitting well with me and I felt a bit queasy. I cannot express in words the relief I felt getting back to the Big Sugar Loaf parking lot. There was less than 20 km left and I knew I could finish it even I had to walk. I considered DNF at this point, but I told myself I could do it. The last marathon I ran was a DNF and I hadn’t done that distance again. I knew I had to challenge myself to finish.

Once I got moving though, all the fears were gone and I could keep going. This section of Big Sugar Loaf is the most difficult of the lot because it’s a sharp downhill with a turn. Maintaining balance while going downhill fast is Type 2 Fun. Finally, the end was in sight, it was flat again. I chatted with a couple along the way and we were motivating each other to keep going. As someone said recently about trail running, all you have to do is keep moving. As long as you’re moving, you’re making progress.

During and after this year’s race is that the only part of body that hurt was my quads. Unfortunately, they were quite sore, so both uphills and downhills hurt. I was taking a break along the climb to little sugar loaf when I saw Ellie again. I was glad she managed to catch up! We ran (who am I kidding? We walked) together for a little bit. Every single year, the Little Sugar Loaf kills me. It’s less than 10 km from the finish line, but the climb is steep and I struggle climbing up. This year was no different. Ellie had to go on ahead without me about half way up the hill. I was better last year, but this year, my energy management didn’t work well. The rest of the Little Sugar Loaf was somehow past me. I ran through Belmont and then the next bit of the route was completely alien to me. I had no idea what it was like.

I wanted to run but my body didn’t have the energy for more than a few seconds of running at a time. There was a climb I struggled with, because I had to first go up to Bray head and my legs couldn’t do it. A couple of the 80K runners passing me encouraged me to keep going at it. I could hear the announcer from the finish line and it kept me moving. Besides, I was too close to the finish line to quit. Finally, I could see the end, I got to Bray head and now it was downhill all the way. Except for the 10K participants.

The 10K had started a few minutes ago and they were running up the routes I’d use to go down. There were a lot of cursing from the non-runners on Bray head. I had to be not nice and force my way through some of the tighter spots so I could head to the finish line. And then, I arrived at the stairs. These stairs have been unused for a while and had been recently cleared by the race organizers. My quads were not happy with the stairs. I could not climb them down like a normal person. I had to do one stair at a time. It almost felt never ending.

The last bit by the sea was the best. There were people clapping and cheering me on. As I got closer more and more louder cheers. I finished the race!

Oh, that 80K sure looks scary and impossible.

The start line was crowded. I’d normally start a race at the back of the pack. I was chatting to Phil at Black Castle, where we awaited being called to the start line. Phil is a fast runner and a friend. I went along with him, starting further ahead than I had ever started, or so I thought. Then, two organizers held a rope just ahead of us. We were going to be the start of Wave 2! That’s not an experience I’ve ever had! I’m not a fast runner. According to my watch, I was capable of doing a 2h 10m half marathon on the day of the race. Phil, meanwhile, was hoping for 1h 50m or thereabouts.

We started as soon as the horn went off. From South Quay, around the little rectangle around Bridge St, Church St, Wooden Bridge Rd, Bachelor’s Walk, and ended back at Bridge St, but this time turning towards the sea. The route went on towards Rathnew (again a lot of familiar roads and hills), Magheramore, and back into Wicklow Town with the finish line at the Wicklow Goal. This is the first race I’ve done in Ireland where people come out to cheer on the streets. I’ve done the Clontarf Half Marathon twice before and the atmosphere was nowhere close to this one.

My two previous times for a half marathon in Ireland have been 02:28:45 and 02:27:25. I didn’t do well in either of those races compared to how well I’d trained. I remember feeling quite disappointed. There’s the added fun where the route in Clontarf is flat, but oh boy, the headwinds are brutal. The race this past weekend was hilly but the breeze was gentle and comforting rather than pushing me around.

Since I started working with Sarah, I’ve trained fairly consistently except for a bit in the early days where I was struggling to make time to train. With the layoffs in the last year and general life events, I’ve made a more conscious effort to put my health first. The last year or so has been super consistent. In the last year, I’ve only taken 2 weeks off from running completely. Both those times, I’d fallen sick and took time to fully recover.

The familiar roads of this race felt easy even when the terrain was not. I pushed myself to keep running. I didn’t focus much on my pace. I kept telling myself that this is just a training run. Just keep moving and focus on not bonking. In Ecotrail last year, I distinctly remember feeling completely out of energy going up the Little Sugar Loaf. To prevent that situation, this time, I planned to have a gel every 30 mins and boy did that work! The taste of the gel was a bit disgusting towards the end, but I didn’t feel super weak at any point. In the future, I might alternate caffeinated gels with non-caffeinated gels. I only had one flavor so I had to make do this time.

The weather was perfect for T-shirt and tights. Briefly, I wished I wore a pair of shorts instead. It was a bit of a warm day. The last few races, I’ve always I had to take a walk break. On the trail races, it’s inevitable, because the terrain gets tricky all the time and the safe thing to do is to walk it. On road races, I haven’t been fit enough to run the whole thing in the past. I distinctly remember at the 19 km mark, I was a bit surprised that there was only 2.1 km or so to go. I was feeling well enough to push harder!

I finished this hilly and sunny run in 02:12:11. It is a superb improvement from my past performance. In addition to just the improvement in time, I’m glad I made great strides in my fueling strategy.

Wicklow Town really embraced this race. There were people on the road cheering and clapping with signs. There were old ladies on the street telling us, “You just have one short hill and it’s downhill all the way”, and the finish area was packed with people cheering everyone on! Some funny posters I saw included one that said, “Run like you’re being chased”, “Run like you stole something”, and my favorite, “You run better than this government” held up by a little kid.

I think I will swap Clontarf Half Marathon for the Wicklow event in the years to come.