Ballyhoura Moonlight Marathon Challenge 2020 Race Report

The first race of the year and I picked a fairly challenging one!

Not only was it a marathon, but it was a trail marathon starting at 9pm and to top it off I was sick the week before it and still not 100% at the time of doing the race, so here goes with my race report.

Given the late start for the race, I took it nice and easy on Friday as I knew it was going to be a long night.     The plan was to catch a lift with Jaime, Ger and Paul to Kilfinane for the start of the race with the aim of leaving around 6pm,  sure this would mean we'd be at the start for around 7.30pm but it's better to be early rather than late to the start of the race.

Credit: MMRA - Munster Mountain Running Association

After a slight change of plan (Ger made his own way in the end), we arrived in plenty of time and very quickly the school where the event was starting/finishing began to fill up with people for the marathon and half-marathon.   It's been a good few months since I've done a marathon/ultra so it was nice to see some familiar faces and catch up with one or two people, also got to hear about some of their plans for 2020.

The start time quickly approached and before we headed out into the night there was a short briefing to cover the course, the importance of checking in halfway etc.  After a few minutes, we headed out the door and away we went.

Credit: Jp Tierney

The plan for this "race" was for it to be really a social run, meaning that myself, Ger, Paul and Jaime would plan to stick together and from the start this sort of worked.   But after 1mile in myself and Ger lost sight of Paul and Jaime and also there was a problem with a group of about 20+ who continued up the road rather than cutting up to the right into the first forest.

Heading into the wood was the first of the nights many, many climbs and instantly I could feel the effects of being ill the week before and also the lack of training but I knew things would likely even out once I'd got a bit of a workout.    

As myself and Ger ran through the wood we figured either Paul and Jaime had either gone way ahead or they had been part of the unlucky group who continued running down the road and missed the turn into the wood, we continued on through the forest and after a few miles we hit the first of the more awkward descents which involved lots and lots of mud.  Just as we hit the end of this Paul and Jaime arrived, it turned out they had been part of the unlucky group who didn't turn right into the wood.

From here on we stuck together for a few miles but as we approached mile 6 I managed to lose the group as we hit a section of the course which was a single file climb in an area called Darragh Beg, it also involved a loop of about 4miles which took in two hills, much of it single file track as well.

This section was challenging but was immense fun in parts, fog also started to roll in on these sections due to the elevation.  At around mile 9 I came across a runner who was down due to hurting their ankle, luckily for the runner there were people already looking after them.  As it turns out it would be a number of hours until they were safely off the mountain with South Eastern Mountain Rescue.

I continued on and returned to the single-file section at an area called Darragh Beg and from here on it was road from around mile 11 to mile 16. (Not ideal when you are wearing trail shoes!)

As the miles tipped by I finally arrived in at the checkpoint at mile 14 at the Ballyhoura Mountain Lodges which seemed like a nice wooded area to stay in, the requirement at the checkpoint wasn't just to run by it and pick up water etc but instead you had to ensure you signed your name so they knew you had passed through. The second I walked in I couldn't see as my glasses fogged up (the joys of glasses!) but thankfully a volunteer signed for me.  

By the time I arrived into the checkpoint all the half marathon had been through so there was next to no coke left, but I did get the last half cup full.  Even though there was no coke there was more than enough soup, sweets and anything else a person might want.

I filled up my water bottle, grabbed one or two things and headed out the door walking and eating....there is no benefit in sitting down to eat after all!

Shortly after the checkpoint as I was walking, I met up with Ray and JP who I've run a number of races with in the past, as it turns out JP was using the Ballyhoura Moonlight Marathon as training for the Wicklow Way Solo 127km race, they were making better progress than me so by the time we started to climb again I left them off.    

Just before mile 16 I began the long climb up Seefin and again the fog started to roll in, this climb continued until around mile 17.5miles and it was hard going especially with all the loose scree. Eventually, I hit the turnaround point near the summit and was fairly amazed to encounter a race steward at this section, it was fairly foggy here and the wind kept picking up now and then so it can't have been the nicest place to stand for the night.

After hitting the top I started the descent via the very, very muddy trail back into the wood, I'll admit at one point as I couldn't see anyone else or even a head torch light being reflected in the fog in front or behind me I thought I may have missed a turn.  But thankfully I didn't take any wrong turns and eventually burst out onto the fire road at the end of the mud trail!

From mile 21 to the finish around mile 27 was a mix of road, wooded areas and fields, some of the sections were particularly frustrating due to the level of mud which would cake under the shoes and make it awkward as hell to make any decent progress.    The last 2miles or so were just on road back to the finish and it felt pretty endless,

I eventually crossed the line in 05:50:12, full details can be found on my Garmin.

Overall the race was enjoyable, but I enjoyed upto mile 11 the most by far. After that, I found the road sections frustrating to run in trail shoes and the mud got to me in the later sections.

Also in hindsight I will say that given my lack of trail running and the climbs involved I would have benefitted from bringing the new trekking poles I picked up in December.   These would have likely knocked 10-15min off my time as I really found the mud slowed me down, also there were also plenty of people who were using them during the race.

The mountain of pain!

Firstly, I have some rough plans for 2020 already including doing the Dublin Marathon because I got a priority entry. So that's one event booked for starters.

However, the first event I'm planning to actually do and have also booked is the Ballyhoura Moonlight Marathon Challenge in January.

Given this is a trail marathon with 1000metres of gain I figured I better start doing some trail running so with that in mind I returned to do the Slievenamon Circuit.

I used to regularly run the Slievenamon Circuit especially before my first 100mile back in 2015, it basically follows the fire road around the base of the mountain but it is very challenging in areas and comes in at over 744metres of gain over 12miles.

So last Sunday myself and Paul decided to do the circuit, for him its no bother as he regularly runs it but for myself, it was a different story altogether given how long it was since I last ran it.
For something different Paul lent me some trekking poles to run with.

First thing first, the trekking poles made a noticeable difference and made the climbs far easier as I knocked between 1-2minutes off my best time for two of the harder sections.  I'm def planning to pick up a cheap pair of them for next time I do the circuit.

However, they didn't stop me rolling my left ankle twice, on the second roll I also fell and overall my legs took a real beating.

So due to this I ended up doing easy recover runs for the rest of the week and while they did help loosen things up my ankle still wasn't right so I decided to take Thursday and Friday as rest days to leave it finally heal up.

For now, I'm going to give the harder trail running a break and I'll start back properly once I've done the Waterford Half Marathon as its just too disruptive to my training for the legs to take the beating they've taken on Sunday.

Running this week
Sunday: 12.58miles @ 12:42min/mile
Monday: 3miles @ 8:58min/mile
Tuesday: 3.65miles @ 8:25min/mile
Wednesday: 3miles @ 7:52min/mile
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 3.35miles @ 7:27min/mile & 3miles @ 7:00min/mile

First race of 2019

First post of 2019 and not long to go to my first race which is going to be Donadea 50km, this of course is a training race for my goal race in April which is Connemara Ultra (39.3mile) which I've not actually run since 2014.

My aim for the 50km is to come in around the 4.30 mark, I've not yet decided on what my goal is for April but aiming to beat my PB set back in 2014 one way or another.

I'm also toying with the idea of doing the Wild Atlantic Ultra (50mile) in May up in Mayo.  For the previous 50miles distances I've run I've come in around the 9.30-10.30 mark but the cut off for the WAU 50 is 11hrs so it wouldn't leave a very big margin for error for a DNF.

However, for previous 50mile distances I've either been using them for training for a 100miler or I've done the distance in the middle of a 100mile race so its not a great comparison, when it comes down to it I think I could pull of 9hours or less for this distance with race effort.

The Long Way Round

Ticking along lately with my next big race due in Feb which is Donadea 50km, until then I'm taking it relatively easy.

Normally in November I try run Stook 10mile and in December I run the Waterford Half-marathon, but I've not registered for either and even if I wanted to Waterford is now sold out. Shame really as I do enjoy Waterford.

However, for the third year in a row I am doing the Long Way Round which takes place in Clonmel at night, for me its less of a race and more of just an enjoyable night trail run.   
At last years event I ran the course wrapped in Christmas lights and wearing a Santa hat, I also accidentally arrived at the start line very, very late and I was literally the last person to cross the start line so I was never going to do great with that sort of preparation.

The event is a fund raiser for the South East Mountain Rescue and for anyone that does hill walking or trail running I'd encourage them to come along, its a well organised event and a good laugh.

2016 Year in Review

It's being posted very late this year but welcome to another year in review, I actually didn't do that many races this year but it was still an interesting year and a year where I dug deeper then I ever needed to in a race before in my life.

2016 kicked off with me still being injured after the end of 2015, 2015 overall wasn't a good year for not being injured as after the Dublin Marathon in October I basically did little to no running...I didn't even manage to run the Waterford Half Marathon and I just barely managed the Stook 10mile.

But I was determined that 2016 would be different so I started off with a plan, this plan basically was running the Connemara 100 Ultra in August.

Back in the days when I first started running and I was doing coach to 5km I had learned about the Connemara 100 and I remember reading in awe about people running this distance non stop in such a beautiful part of the country, since then its always been a race I wanted to do and 2016 was going to be the year this would happen.

Initially my plan for 2016 was to do the Vartry 100mile in April and then do the Connemaera 100 in August but after being injured I decided to drop Vartry down to a 50mile distances to compensate for my loss of fitness while injured.

By February I was beginning to start to get back into the groove of doing "normal" training miles again which felt great as I did my first 20mile run at the end of February, the last 20mile being in  October 2015!

By the second week in March I did my first 30mile run of the year and then it was on wards and upwards to doing Vartry 50mile in April.

Finally Finished Vartry!

My expected finish time for the event was between 10-12hours but although the conditions were awful as it was raining for the entire race I finished it in 10hrs 22min. While it was slower then the previous years 50mile I finished in very good condition and I felt great (something I didn't feel the previous year).

In May I started doing night runs on a Friday night after finishing work, I used this as a training method to get used to running 20-25miles when very tired and it was common for me to get back to my house at midnight after doing the 20-25mile run.  I found this new training method was useful because a) it got me used to running when tired and b) it allowed me to get my long slow run out of the way for the weekend :)

Finished Tullaroan Ultra (39.3miles)

The start of June brought the annual Tullaroan race event and in 2016 they put on an Ultra for the first time. This basically consisted of 3x 13.1mile loops and it was an awful hot day to run such loops.

Although I experienced some very painful cramping at the 36mile mark I crossed the line in 6hrs, 3min in 4th place! (the nearest I've gotten to a podium finish!)

July for the most part was a wash out as I spent 2 weeks of it in Canada doing very little running and when I got back I started tapering for Connemara at the start of August so no more big miles anymore.

August finally came and it was time for the target race. It was a challenge and you can read all about it here. I had hoped to finish the race in under 24hrs and all went well until 86miles and then everything went out the finish and I was just thankful to finish it!

While I didn't get the time I wanted in Connemara the entire race was certainly an experience, not only did I have the support of my wife Grace but for the first time I also had the support of my family as they crewed for me. They got to see me at my lowest low which I'm sure was difficult at times. It was great to have them all at the finish line and I really appreciated all the support from all of them.

After Connemara 100 I foolishly took a break from running for two weeks which actually caused me more problems then anything as my muscles just seized up (I really need to remember to keep doing recovery runs!).    This resulted in dry needling to get things back to normal again.

October eventually rolled around and with only 2x 20mile runs under the belt I had already signed up for Dublin so I figured I better run it. But did I want to chance aiming to beat my previous Personal Best of 3:33:33 or do I just want to finish?

In the end I decided that instead of going for a sub 3:20 time like I had in 2015 and 2014 I would just aim to come under 3:30 and so this plan paid off and I finished in a time of 3:29:06.

After Dublin I took it easy but I still managed to run Stook 10mile in November and Waterford Half-Marathon in December (neither of which were PB's) but I felt I finished the year in much better condition then at the end of 2015.

So what does 2017 bring?

Well, I've only signed up for the Waterford Marathon in June, but I must say I'm very tempted to go back to Connemara for another re-match to see if I can finally break the 24hr mark!

Galtee Mountain Trail Running

After a week of feeling aches and pains after the Dublin Marathon I slowly returned to running again, the aches and pains clearly were the result of the total lack of training before the effort I put in for the Dublin marathon.

Since Dublin I've thrown in some long runs of 16-17miles and about three weeks ago I did my first trail run in months!      Rather then my usual playground of Slievenamon and headed off with South Leinster Trailer Runners members Jaime and Paul to the Galtees for what was a short run of 10miles but it took in some very steep climbs.

I've never been to the Galtee's before so it was great to see a new area, though getting up both Galteebeg and Galteemore was certainly a challenge as the two summits had steeper sides then what Slievenamon would have to offer.

The view from Galteemore

Conditions were great, although there was lots of snow it wasn't actually that cold which was also great as I was mad or stupid enough to do the run in shorts! I guess I don't like ruining my streak of  NOT wearing running tights for the past few years, to be honest I've always found tights far too warn as I generally getting pretty warm when running.

Only once or twice did I feel the cold and those times were when I stopped for a prolonged period, I was however lucky that the conditions didn't drastically change as I managed to loose my jacket as it fell through the netting on my Ultimate Direction pack which is an awful shame as that jacket got me through the Thames Path 100, Vartry 50 and Connemara 100 in the rain :(

Really felt it in the legs for a good 4-5 days after the trail run but it was seriously good fun and the views were great. Here's a Garmin log of the trial run.

As part of the run I brought alone my GoPro Session and put together a quick video which can be viewed here in 720p of by checking it out below.

Getting back into the groove!

Starting to feel like I have my mojo back when it comes to running, I'm back to running 10miles at sub 7:30min/mile pace again and it feels great!  Still have some weight to shift which I gained over Oct-Jan but that will come as the miles increase over time.

I started last week with a really enjoyable loop of Slievenamon where I ran with a group from the South Leinster Trail Runners, certainly more enjoyable to run this type of trail with a group and it makes the time go a bit faster.  I also didn't suffer anywhere near as bad compared to when I ran the same loop two weeks previously.

After that I took it "relatively" easy during the week between rest days and a 10mile and 4.5mile run to finish with a faster 10mile run on Friday.   Next week however is going to see a big increase will mileage.

Last week consisted of:
- Sunday: 12.46miles @ 14:11min/mile pace
- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: 10miles @ 7:36min/mile pace & 1mile @ 9:41min/mile pace recovery
- Wednesday: 4.57miles @ 8:16min/mile pace
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 10miles @ 7:25min/mile pace
- Saturday: Rest

Miles This week: 38.08 miles

Slievenamon Circuit Video

So recently I picked up a GoPro Session and I finally got to have a decent outing with it over the weekend when I joined a group run with the South Leinster Trail Runners to do a loop of my local favorite mountain Slievenamon.


Its my first attempt at editing video footage together and I've already learned a few things in relation to managing the camera better for future use.

STOP! Taper time!

So I'm officially tapering for the Dublin Marathon on the 26th October!

Training hasn't been very consistent since after the JJ Reddy Half-Marathon but I'm not overly worried as I don't think I've lost much fitness overall, so with that I'm putting my money on the counter and finally committing to a sub 3:20 marathon time.

For the last while I've been debating between aiming for 3.15 or 3.20 but after noticing Dublin doesn't actually have any 3.15 pacers I'm going to play it safe and aim for 3.20 and the 7:26min/avg pace required. I'm reasonably confident I can pull this off and hold the pace together on the day.

On a side note, for the last few weeks I've been enjoying some night trail running by taking part in group trail runs organised by the South Leinster Trail Runners, its early days but numbers are promising with the most recent runs having 16 and 14 participants respectively.

The runs so far have taken part in the Co Kilkenny area so far but here's coping it goes from strength to strength as its seriously good fun.

For anyone interested in coming along and you're curious about the types of routes, you can see Garmin profiles for the three trail runs so far below:
- Jenkinstown Wood
- Castlemorris Wood
- Knockdrinna Wood

1000miles and its now time for some training...

I've finally committed to the Dublin Marathon 2015 and I've officially signed up to run the event and with that in mind I've also officially started training for the marathon as of the 1st July, up until now I've been taken it relatively easy with a few runs now and then and varying distance of between 3-10miles.

Kilcash Woods Elevation

My pace on my runs is slowly increasing and I'm now starting to run my 8-10mile runs at between 7:20-7:40min pace once more, it feels like finally things are returning to normal after the Thames Path 100.

Course Route, Kilcash Woods

Last week I got back on the trails and headed to Kilcash Wood at the base of Slievenamon and put in 8 miles. It was also a opportunity to test out my new Montrail trail shoes.   I must say it was seriously enjoyable and some cracking views of the mountain and parts of the wood, its certainly a trail I'll be running again in the future!

Overall the course was a simple out and back route (Garmin Link) but it could easily be converted into a nice 8-10mile loop through the Forrest and then back via the road to Kilcash, anyone living in Kilcash is lucky to have such a nice area for walking/running.

On another note I finally hit 1000miles run since 1st January, I'm behind last year as last year I hit 1000miles during the Portumna 100km in the middle of July. This year I didn't hit it until the first week in July.   Being sick in both Feb & May has really thrown off my target for 2015 of 3000miles, oh well...

Miles This Year: 1020 miles

Thames Path 100 2015 Race Report

Finally I've written a race report!
Why the delay?  Well, you'll find out if you read on.

It was an early enough start on Saturday morning as we headed to the starting area in Richmond, we wanted to beat the crowds at registration as we knew they'd be checking out mandatory kit prior to the race.

Once that was all sorted and checked out we were able to relax before the start, having a bit of a chat and of course take a few photos before the start.

Ready at the startline, David Sheridan, Marie Chapman, Ray Lanigan, JP Tierney & Myself

As the 10am start time approached we were all requested to file down towards the start area for a pre-race briefing about some minor changes to the course route and also any safety issues to be aware of.   

Throughout you could feel the nervous energy from everyone building up as everyone just wanted to get underway, finally the countdown started and we were off!

0miles - 30miles:
So we were off and the aim was to run at around a 11min/mile pace for as long as possible with the aim of running the first 1/2 - 1mile after each aid station while taking on food....or at least that was the rough plan.

I decided to put the head down and enjoy the easy feeling miles during the race.  Within the first 8 miles we experienced our first crossing and it became clear that if you weren't going to pay attention at these crossings as the miles went on and as the mind got tired then this was going to be a a very easy race to get lost in.

I continued my run out of London, passing Hampton Court and other tourist sights.  Just before the 1st aid station at mile 11 I met up with Marie and we decided to put in a good few miles together to help pass the time.

It was also at aid station 1 that I saw Ray, unfortunately he had to drop out at this early stage in the race. Given that Ray was well capable of finishing top 3 in the race it must have been a hard decision to drop out like he did.

After a very quick stop at the first aid station myself and Marie carried on. I must say its a credit to Marie as she was maintaining a solid constant pace throughout the time I ran with her.  But I managed to encourage her to walk on occasion, we even stopped at an ice cream van and got some HB Calippo's to enjoy since the weather had warmed up a bit.

Time for a sock change!

The miles continued on and we chatted about this and that and we finally started to approach Windsor and we could see the castle off in the distance. We finally hit the aid station at mile 30.5 and it was at this point that I lost Marie as I had decided to take a few minutes to change my socks as I felt I was starting to experience a blister on my left foot.

After a few minutes break and a new pair of socks I started up again passing another few miles.

30miles - 60miles:
The miles after Windsor were pretty uneventful for the most part, the blister on my left foot was causing me problems now and then. Thankfully, it stopped bothering me after a while....it just seemed to have been beaten into submission.

The miles eventually switched to farm land and there were some slight climbs along the fields, at one point I passed an area that seemed to be hosting a party and could hear the music drifting along the river.

As the final miles counted down towards the aid station at 51 miles and I could still hear the music floating along the river the darkness started to set in. I held off putting on my headlamp as I figured I'd wait for the aid station at mile 51 when I could get a full change of clothes and sort out my headlamp, hat etc.

I met Ray & Nicola and my drop bag was quickly located.  I moved into one of the tents to sort my full change of clothes and to make sure everything was re-greased up.
I also opted to get some food into me in the form of wraps, crisps and pasta.

Initially I had opted to leave the aid station just in my compression top (which Ray wasn't happy about) but I had kept my long sleeve top tied around my waist.    I'm glad I kept it within easy reach as within 300metres of walking I could feel the cold starting to set in so I put the long sleeve top over the compression top and I kept on walking for a little while. 

What I didn't know at this point was I was about to enter one of the lowest parts of the race. During the next 7miles or so I went through an awful low patch as I started to experience a blister problem with my right foot.   This was to become a major problem as the race progressed.
But I kept on running, by the time I hit the next aid station at mile 58 I was so very close to just calling it a day.

My energy levels had dropped to an all time low and I must have looked awful as one of the aid station volunteers suggested I eat some black cookie thing that was very clearly laced with tonnes of sugar.   Still I knew this was just a bad patch and I knew from experience that it would eventually pass.........even if it took 1-2hours.

As I left aid station 58 in the darkness the rain started to pelt down and this did nothing to lift my spirits, I was on my own for the next few miles and I was still at a serious low point as I headed into the detour near the center of Reading.


60miles - 84miles:
Just after Reading my spirits started to lift as I started running in the fields on the softer mud/grass surface. This started to give me much relief compared to the concrete or gravel track where I could feel every little stone on my right foot.   I'd imagine the sugar from the aid station at mile 58 had also finally kicked in. I decided to up the pace from walking and run as many of these miles through fields as I could and it felt fantastic! I felt like I was starting to make progress again and every so often I'd reel another runner in as I passed them running.  

Some of the runners for some odd reason had red lights on their back, one chap had two red lights (one at either side) which for a while I was convinced must be a car or a quad bike driving through the fields.  When I eventually realised it was actually a person walking he made an easy target to aim to pass.

Eventually the fields ended and I came across Nicola & Ray again at the crew stop just before the aid station at mile 67. At this stage I figured switching from my road shoes to my trail shoes might be the best plan as they'd give me some relief from stones/gravel underfoot. I was also mindful as I'd heard from a few people that the later parts of the race can get pretty muddy if it rains. So I switched them over and headed to the aid station.

The aid station location and Thames Path signs were somewhat confusing at this stage and I met 1 or 2 people coming back towards me who shouldn't have been walking towards me at all. Eventually after chatting we all figured out the aid station location and were able to check in.

Once checked in I must say I felt in a better mood and I was determined to make some progress in the trail shoes and I got the perfect opportunity to do just that!   About 1-2miles after the aid station at mile 67 the trail surface returned and the trail type became far more technical with a lot of small climbs and twists and turns.   I was glad as hell I had switched to trail shoes for this!
Throughout this entire section I ran and I felt great but eventually the pains from the blister in my right foot returned and I was forced to walk more and more.  

The next few miles were once again a period where a low point returned with a vengeance but I kept moving forward, it was around this time that I remember mentioning to somebody that when I cross the finish line the first thing I want to do is just lie down....the simple pleasures! 

During some periods I'd get the occasional boost and was able to run a mile or two but eventually the pain would become an issue and I'd have to walk again.   In addition to the pain the rain decided to lash down on and off which made the running more difficult to manage in the mud.

When it came to trying to run in the rain my only way to manage this was to wear my rain jacket as a sort of cape to keep the bulk of the rain off; if I wore it as a normal jacket I'd start to overheat when running after only 100-200metres. I may have looked silly but it did the trick.

It was at aid station 10 (mile 77) when I knew my foot pain could put me out of the race, I hobbled into the aid station and did my best to try sort something with the blister but to little relief.
In addition to this the section after mile 77 was awful as I found the trail surface seriously painful with each footstep, at this point it was about 6.30am on Sunday morning, I knew I could finish this but knowing I had hours and hours of walking ahead of me was not a very uplifting thought.

It was around this point that JP passed me, I hadn't seen JP since the start and apart from Ray telling me at a previous aid station that I was around an hour ahead of JP but I didn't know how his race was going.  

Just after passing Benson Lock I met JP coming towards me, at first I thought we had all made a wrong turn.      As I found out later unfortunately JP and the guy he was with had made a wrong turn a number of miles back and they had completely missed aid station 10 at mile 77.  They now had to run back approx 2miles to the aid station and then run back 2miles just to get to Benson Lock.

Unfortunately Eventually JP ran into difficulties and by mile 85 he was unable to keep down food or water and he had to make the difficult decision to drop out. I'm dead certain that had JP not made the wrong turn he would have finished the race well ahead of me as he looked in good shape when he initially passed me.

The next few miles just seemed to be endless fields, they seemed to be never ending and while I had initially hoped that the surface might be kind to my feet it wasn't as my right foot was in agony with almost every-step.


85miles - 100miles:
By the time I hit the 85mile aid station I was in a bad way, my foot was in complete agony and I wanted anyone to do anything they could to try give me some relief, I met Nicola and Ray before I went inside and Ray checked to see if anyone might be able to help.

Luckily there was a nurse on hand so he taped up my foot while I was trying to hold back tears of tiredness, frustration and pain. When I arrived at the 85mile aid station I was convinced that I had actually done 87miles so when somebody mentioned I had only 15miles to go my heart sank.

Then off I went again into the pouring rain.....shuffling forward. I must have looked as miserable sight.

The first few miles after the aid station really didn't help my feet, the path was very very narrow and many parts of it had two levels. The mud was also being an issue as it was just clumping at the bottom of my shoes which meant I had no grip what so ever and I just kept slipping from time to time.

As bad as the mud was with my trail shoes I was very glad I had switched from my road shoes and I had my gaiters on as I'd have been taking off my shoes all of the time to remove mud and stones from inside them otherwise.

I went through some awful low points before I hit the next aid station at mile 91, at which time I found out I had only reached the aid station with 30min to spare!!  

Now I was getting really worried, I had kept going for hour upon hour and now the only thing that might take the finish away from me was the cut-off time and ironically not the pains in my feet!!
With this new information in mind I decided I was going to push things as much as I could towards the finish, what I didn't know was that basically all of the route between mile 91 and mile 95 (next aid station) was very sticky mud, and some of the route also had some small climbs especially around the 92/93mile mark.

By the time I hit into aid station 95 the place was almost deserted with the exception of one runner who had decided to drop out and was just being collected, as I entered the aid area they informed me I had 1hour 45min to complete the last 5 miles...plenty of time according to them.  Ordinarily I'd completely agree with them as most of my training runs are 5miles completed in around 35-42min......so plenty of time! However, on this occasion between exhaustion, and blister issues, I wasn't sure that I would be able to complete the race before the cut-off time.

I wasn't planning to stick around and wanted all the time I could to cover the last 5 miles so I filled up on water, grabbed some gels and soldiered on towards the finish.   Once again the surface underfoot was agony!  It was full of sticky mud and lots of twigs and branches which seemed to be left over from recent tree cutting.   Eventually after about 2miles of this the surface finally changed to a field and then onto concrete.

Once I hit concrete I knew I was on the home stretch as I kept meeting more and more people out for walks and the Oxford boat crews were out training; but I wasn't taking any chances so I kept pushing myself. Urging myself to try keep some sort of pace faster than the slow walk my body and feet wanted to do, it must have been worked as I passed perhaps 3-4 runners in these final miles.

Finally after what seemed an endless time I finally caught my first glimpse of the blue finish line and I knew I was safe to finish under the cut-off. So I decided to try up the pace and finish the race the way I had started it...running.

I finally crossed the finish line in an official finish time of 27hours, 35min and 43sec, cutting it pretty close to the 28hour cutoff limit. 

I was never so happy to just lie down on the ground after a race, this was something I had promised myself and my feet over 14hours previously. I can honestly say that this was by far the hardest race I've ever ran both physically and emotionally. But it was worth it!

Aftermath:
So why did I take so long writing this race report?
Well, I didn't start it until almost two weeks after the race as I've been absolutely floored by a seriously bad chest infection and fever.

While I was pretty okay after the race and on Monday morning (outside of the expected sore feet, legs etc.), by the time I eventually got home on Monday evening to Ireland I knew something was starting to set in.

In all honesty its been a very long time since I've been floored by such a bad chest infection and fever.  The fever meant that if I wasn't roasting I was shivering like mad. Over the time I was sick I also lost an additional 8lbs below the weight I was two days before I ran the 100mile.

As I write this report right now I'm still not 100% as my appetite is only coming back to normal, in addition my energy levels are completely shot and I'm still finding I get tired during the day. All in all its been great fun the last few weeks!

It goes without saying that I've not done any running since the 100mile race.

Thames Path 100 completed!

Thames Path 100 completed in 27hours 33min (approx),  was on track for sub 24 until around mile 70 after which I was forced to do ALOT of walking for last 30miles

Race report to follow.......

Slievenamon & Home

My route around Slievenamon & home

Last week started with a rest day but then I decided on a long slog of a day on Tuesday by first doing 17miles around Slievenamon on trails and then running all the way home, this totaled approx 36miles but I paused my watch for approx 1mile by accident so I'm going to say 35miles.

I'll admit that the climbs on Slievenamon took alot out of me, this is likely because I've not done any trail running on it in a few months now so I did alot more walking then normal.   Overall really I did more walking then I would have liked.

The good news however is the muscles in my left leg did behave throughout so that's something that's very much positive especially given the issues I've had lately.

The rest of the week included alot less miles but I still managed both a 10 and 13mile towards the weekend, this ends a high(ish) mile week and I'll be taking it handy this week ahead of doing the Vartry 50mile on Saturday.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: 35miles @ 13:43min/pace (paused the watch for 1mile)
- Wednesday: 5miles @ 9:19min/pace (Recovery)
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 10miles @ 7:48min/pace
- Saturday:13miles @ 8:49min/pace
- Sunday: 8miles @ 8:29min/pace & 1.67miles @ 25:33min/pace

Weekly Total: 73 miles
Miles This Year: 575 miles

Copper Coast Running

Courtesy Ray Lanigan

What a productive week mileage wise!
Well, ok I didn’t run every day but I did some good long runs of 20 and 35miles and I felt great the day after each of these runs.

My quad muscle in my left leg also held up pretty well during the entire week, although I could feel it on the hill climbs during the 35mile run that I went on in Co Waterford around the coast.

The more regular stretching is giving results it seems....although I really need to stretch more!

I used the 35mile run on Saturday as a test for roughly what I was expecting to carry for the Thames path 100 in May, while the pack appeared to be heavy enough it was certainly manageable.

It was a nice change to head out for a long run part of a group instead of on my own as by far the vast majority of my runs are on my own so it certainly makes the day pass faster.  It was also good to meet some of the people I'll be heading over to the UK with in May.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: 20miles @ 9:35min/pace
- Wednesday: 10miles @ 8:08min/pace & 2miles
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 2miles @ 9:11min/pace
- Saturday: 35miles @ 11:46min/pace
- Sunday: 5miles @ 7:26min/pace

Weekly Total: 74 miles
Miles This Year: 356 miles

Looking back and looking forward

So it’s a new year and new plans and challenges, but before I get into what I’ve planned so far in 2015 I thought I’d just recap 2014.

Overall 2014 has been a good year, sure I didn’t get a new marathon personal best like I had planned but I managed to run 7 marathons, 2 ultra’s and one of the ultra’s was my longest ever distance and longest time on my feet at 62miles and over 12hours running!

Looking back I think the first part of the year went better then the second and this was likely down to me not properly recovering after Portumna 100km and instead going into training for the Dublin Marathon and expecting to set myself a new personal best, it was just too much, too soon.  Live and learn I guess.

Still, I did manage a nice improvement on my Half Marathon time at the Waterford Half Marathon in December so at least the year ended on a high for me.

Outside of doing races I also gave trail running a good try this year and dispite injuring myself at the start of October I must say that I really enjoy the challenges on a technical trail, alot more to think about then if your just road running.  I'll certainly be doing more trail running in 2015.

Looking forward to 2015 so far I’ve the Thames Path 100 in May and I’m doing the Vartry 50miler in Wicklow in April instead of my usual run of the Connemara Ultra Marathon. I wanted to opt for a 50miler instead of a 39miler in Connemara to ensure my last long run is of a reasonable distance.

I also plan on testing out my kit and tactics during the 50miler to make sure everything works out like I expect for the 100miler in May.

However, before either of these runs happen I'll have to run several 20 and 30mile runs in preparation as well as increase my overall weekly mileage and that's something I've already started, more on that in my next blog post.

I'm looking forward to 2015!

Total Miles for the 2014: 2,005miles

Upping the mileage

Last week I decided it was time to up the miles again with the aim of getting closer to mid to late 40's instead of once again having under 30miles done in the week. I'm wary of the drop in weekly miles as I need to start heading into training for the Thames Path 100 in May so more miles are badly needed.

On Tuesday I headed back to Slievenamon for my first 20mile trail run (Garmin link of route) on the mountain, this time I ran 10miles out and 10miles back along the loop rather then finishing the entire loop which is around the 17mile mark.

Very low cloud cover throughout most of the run and I must say I found the last 5miles hard going, without a doubt 20miles of trail where I need to leap from one rock to another or over boggy ground is far far harder then 20miles of road!

When I was at mile 19 I found the entrance to Kilcash wood which I never knew existed before, from what I can make out on Google maps this wood must have at least 7-8miles of trails in it. So that's something I plan to explore in future.

A quick search on the net however does bring some bad news about Kilcash woods, Coillte plan to clear the entire wood by 2016 and from what I observed on Tuesday they may have already started this as they were doing an awful lot of logging at the furthest end from Kilcash.

On Wednesday morning my legs felt awful heavy...but then I guess 20miles of leaping from rock to rock and over streams will do that, I still headed off for a very easy 5mile run.  After the run though I found my right ankle was bothering me and it hurt a bit.

As my ankle wasn't feeling any better on Thursday I decided on a rest day as I didn't want to chance making it worse by doing another run.  Come Friday I decided on a very easy 10mile run which started at 9:30min pace but I gradually upped the pace as the miles went on and the ankle wasn't bothering me, I finished the run with the last mile at 7:00min pace.

Overall its not been a bad week, but abit annoyed that I fecked my ankle abit on the Slievenamon run. But I suppose that's part and parcel of trail running and running on such rough terrain, it was just bound to happen at some stage.

Less then 40miles to go to 2,000miles this year.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: 3miles @ 8:54min pace
- Tuesday: 20miles @ 11:54min pace
- Wednesday: 5miles @ 9:33min pace
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 10miles @ 8:14min pace
- Saturday:Rest
- Sunday:7miles @ 7:56min pace

Weekly Total: 46 miles
Miles This Year: 1,963 miles

Recovery

After the Waterford Half Marathon I took it easy for the first part of the week and then upped the pace towards the end.

On Tuesday as I had the day off work I decided to do something different so I did opt to go up to the summit of Slievenamon for a change, it was seriously windy though so in order to try not get blown off the track I ended up walking most of the way up. But I was able to slowly run down (again trying not to be blown off the track!).

 On Saturday I took park in my second Kilkenny Park Run and it was a pretty cold afair, I was only starting to warm up by the time I hit the finish line. I likely would have set a better time only for I was almost late for it and I didn't get a chance to warm up before the run.

As of this week I have less then 100miles to go before I finally hit 2,000miles for 2014. It's a little later then I had planned but its still more miles then I ran in 2013. So happy days :)

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: 5miles @ 8:55min pace
- Tuesday: 5miles @ 14:03min pace
- Wednesday: Rest
- Thursday: 5miles @7:25min pace
- Friday: 5.25miles @8:44min pace
- Saturday:Kilkenny Park Run 3.18miles @ 6:44min pace
- Sunday: 5miles @8:45min pace

Weekly Total: 23 miles
Miles This Year: 1,912 miles

all abit meh...

Not much going on last week, I took it easy starting off and got a nice trail run in at the end of the week.

I did however confirm that I have the day off work the day of the Waterford Half Marathon so I will be able to run it (which is good as I had already paid!).

The course isn't as hilly as Stook 10mile by a long shot so my plan is go out with the 1:30 pacers and run the course as hard as I can to see if I can finally get that sub 1:30 I've been hoping for since last years Waterford Half marathon,

My I did my trail run on Sunday  I decided to do 15miles in Castlemorris Wood but my aim was to keep my heart rate around the 150 mark throughout instead of running a set pace.

This worked well enough and I was surprised how much I had to pick up the pace on downhills in order to hit 150 bpm,  overall I felt pretty good.

The day in the wood started lovely with a nice bit of sunshine...so much so in fact I put on my sun glasses at the start. However once I was 7miles in the fog descended in a big way and by the end I couldn't see more then 100metres on parts of the route.

I got to say I'm looking forward to getting back to Slievenamon trails once the Waterford half marathon is over.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: 9miles @ 7:46min pace
- Tuesday: Rest
- Wednesday: 4miles @ 8:36min pace
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 3miles @ 8:46min pace
- Saturday: 2.5miles
- Sunday: 15.08miles @ 9:40min pace

Weekly Total: 41 miles
Miles This Year: 1,854 miles

First time running Comeraghs mountains

Last week was a lax enough week and that’s the way things will be staying until after the Waterford Half Marathon at the start of December,

Although I've not added miles I have started to increase pace on my midweek runs to ensure they are much closer to 7:30min pace instead of 8min pace as I've found I've been running alot of my runs slower then I should be....in essence I've not been pushing myself enough.

I took it easy during the week with a mix and short and slightly longer runs and I also paid my first visit to the Comeragh mountains on Sunday morning with some of the lads from Co Waterford. 

It was good fun if not abit tiring on the climbs…I will say one of the lads made it look seriously easy and almost enjoyable going up the hills, maybe some day I'll manage this myself.

Courtesy of Ray Lanigan

Courtesy of Ray Lanigan

But as with everything, what goes up must go down and there was a seriously enjoyable range of trails on the descent to enjoy and plenty of streams and puddles to run through.   After some trail running it was back onto the roads and a not so enjoyable climb out of Dungarven town on the main N25 road.     Overall we finished the run at just over 14miles, so it wasn’t too bad mileage wise (Garmin Link).

Next week I’m taking part in the Stook 10mile race, this is a enjoyable course and it includes the flying mile which is all downhill and has timing mats at the start and end of the mile which is great craic so I’m really looking forward to it. 

I’m not expecting to set a PB but I hope to at least beat last years time of 73:12….I’m hoping the recent venture into trail running and the hills I’ve had to climb will stand to me.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: 3miles @ 9:19min pace (recovery)
- Tuesday: 5miles @ 7:39min pace
- Wednesday: 8miles @ 7:46min pace
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 3miles @ 8:12min pace
- Saturday:Rest
- Sunday: 14.09miles @ 9:36min pace

Weekly Total: 33 miles
Miles This Year: 1,786 miles

Returning to the mountain

Its now been 4 weeks since my fall on Slievenamon which caused the pain to the muscles in my chest and things are just about back to normal as there's next to no discomfort at this stage.

After my 10mile trail run last Sunday I took it easy starting off the week but things started to feel good again so I upped the pace.     During the week I decided to do all my runs as at sub 7:40min pace as I really am just not pushing myself enough on alot of my runs and this means I'm just not making the progress I should!

All the mid week runs went fine and it was great to get back on on some of the usual routes.

For the weekend I decided to return to Slievenamon for yet another 18mile loop of the mountain on Sunday, this time I took my new Ultimate Direction SJ 2.0 pack to test it out properly and I must say I wasn't disappointed.  I found it great to be able to carry all the stuff I wanted and still have tonnes of space.

I will say I did find it heavy at the beginning with the two bottles full but after awhile I got used to this.

New Gaiters!

As well as the Ultimate Direction pack I also got myself some gaiters as I was getting tired of little stones etc getting into my shoes on the trails. They aren't anything fancy but they did the trick just fine :)

At the beginning of the run I decided on a slight detour to avoid around 3-4 fallen tree's which I encountered last time.

Unfortunately this made my run a little short so in order to make up the miles I decided to head for the Killusty Cross, this was the first time I've been on this side of the mountain and infact until recently I never knew there was anything other then trig points and cairns on the mountain.

As you can see from the first photo belong the trails were pretty wet, infact in some patches it was basically just all water. Last time I wasted time trying to walk around the water when the trail was completely flooded, this time I just picked up speed and ran through it and I must say I loved every minute of it.

This worked fine up to a point due to the Gore-tex trail runners and the use of the gaiters, but eventually by mile 10 or so my shoes were full of water. Still it didn't cause me too much bother.   The run went great but I must say I found the last big climb hard going at mile 16.

Slievenamon Loop Elevation

This weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: 3.6miles @ 8:39min pace
- Tuesday: 5.05miles @ 7:20min pace
- Wednesday:6.01miles @ 7:32min pace
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 8miles @ 7:39min pace
- Saturday:Rest
- Sunday: 18.40miles @ 13:29min pace

Weekly Total: 41 miles
Miles This Year: 1,753 miles