unironedman

After the exertions of Dublin and then the Waterford Half, it was time to stop the rot! Okay, that’s a little overly dramatic, but given the great plans for another marathon at the end of the year (it sounds further away when you put it like that) plus yet another half marathon in January, with thoughts of a return to the scene of the crime in Donadea for another crack at the 50k… one can’t rest on one’s laurels. Or one’s arse, for that matter.

So this week, we managed to get back out into the park again and clock up up four runs of about 10k each. I had planned on getting out for a longer run yesterday, but I was tired. Not to worry; at least we’ve reversed the trend since the end of October when the training programme officially finished, along with six days of running a week. We ended with only 11 runs for the whole month of November. See what I mean?

Or to put some stats on that, according to Garmin, October (half of which was tapering for the marathon) notched up about 270k, whereas November was about 96k. After ten days of December, we’re back up to 62k so the curve is up!

So hopefully we can manage the marathon on December 31st. That’s assuming the canal bank is fit for purpose, and they run the event. There are rumours… Then, to celebrate World Half Marathon Day*, I am doing one in Donadea on January 13th. Much thanks to Eamonn for the tip-off; I would have missed this, which would have been a shame. It’s limited to 200 runners and sold-out very quickly. It is of course 13.1 miles, on the 13th of the 1st month, starts at 13.10 in the afternoon, and in fairness, they kept the price at 13.10 euro. And that’s for a chip-timed race. Good stuff! That should be a bit of craic.

And perhaps if we are in reasonable shape, we might return to Donadea a few weeks later and try again for the 50k. And then there’s the summer plan. The summer plan could be epic. Or it could be awful. The idea is to run the Barrow Way, all 120k of it. We’ll do that in two stages, and hopefully S will ride shotgun on the bike for company, moral support, snacks and first-aid, plus fulfilling the role of official race photographer. Not that it will be race per se. It will be roughly four sessions of running per day of about 2 hours each, then a bed and breakfast somewhere, then rinse and repeat.

I’ll flesh this plan out more in the new year, and when I do, I’ll post up a few more stats. The Barrow Way promises to be lovely. I’ve run short parts of it, so I am looking forward to getting more acquainted with it in the Summer.

* No, I didn’t know about World Half Marathon Day either…