4th November 2019, one year exactly since I registered to do the DCM 2019.
Why did I sign up? I signed up because all my running buddies had signed up and my FOMO meant that I upped and signed up too. I didn’t tell anyone for ages, I think probably because I don’t think I really thought that I would do it. Every so often it would be mentioned but it was so far away and nothing to worry about. I kept going to my DBR runs three days a week and signed up to do the Mullingar Half Marathon on St. Patrick’s Day. It was one of my first ‘races’ as I am not a fan of entering races so I was pretty nervous and the weather on the day was horrific. I ran the 13 miles on my own in the rain and hailstones and I literally could not wait for it to be over. Not an auspicious start. By May, I had just about forgotten about Mullingar and Dave announced that the marathon training would begin in earnest. The first month was grand, because I had trained for the half marathon already it didn’t seem like a big jump although we did need to add a 4th run to the week, but it was manageable, about 30 miles a week. Problem was but Dave wanted the long run done on a Sunday and which no matter what way I looked at it that wasn’t going to work for me. I would wait for Dave to send the weekly schedule on a Sunday night and spend an hour just think about planning the week ahead and swapping the days Dave recommended so that I could fit in the runs around the kids, work and all the weekend activities. It was tricky at times and there was plenty of times I had to keep the head down to avoid a telling off from Dave for not following the plan. But really at this stage it was fun, it was really only when the summer holidays hit that things started to get tough.
For July everyone was in the middle of holiday season, the runs were getting longer and the kids were off school so trying to manage runs/camps/work meant I couldn’t run at the normal times with all of the DBR group. I didn’t like running on my own so I drafted in my lovely husband Patrick who loves running but had been injured for a lot of May and June, despite the fact that he wasn’t signed up for the marathon he decided he would go on my long runs with me. This really made a difference when we were away in July as it was lovely to get up and go for runs on our own, we were often back before the kids were even awake. July was also when I got my first injury. I did something to my calf and had to take a week off, I wasn’t expecting the panic that I felt having to take that time off and not being able to run. I was like a demon foam rolling and rotating ice/heat. After 6 days I went back - the relief! Training was pretty steady for the next while with 4 runs a week and one long run of around 12 miles.
Then we got to mid August and the dreaded 5 RUNS A WEEK, the long run got longer and suddenly everything started getting harder to fit in to the normal schedule. At this stage my sister had also decided she was going to do the marathon and as Patrick had already done a lot of the training he joined up too. The three of us were trying to figure out how to do our long runs and it ended up that the early morning was the only thing that would fit around children and work. This is when we started getting up at stupid o’clock. 5:31AM was our earliest start and we did feel pretty mental, the advantage was having the roads to ourselves. We rarely had to wait to cross any road as there weren’t too many out at that time on a Fri morning which was when we did our really long runs. I definitely struggled at this point, the weekly mileage went from about 35miles per week to 45 miles per week. The kids were back to school and all the after school activities kicked off, work was busy, the days were getting shorter and colder. There wasn’t a point where I said I wasn’t doing the marathon but once September came I really wished it was all over. Then I got injured again!! Be careful what you wish for. I don’t know whether it was just all too much because I didn’t pull anything or fall but my calf just started giving me trouble. I took a couple of days off and then tried a 5k – had to stop, went to physio took another couple of days, again tried 5k and had to stop. At this stage it was 1 week before the Dublin Half Marathon. More physio, more rest to try and get it ok for the race. Even though the running schedule had been so hard, the frustration of watching Patrick and Maria go out for runs and not be able to go was phenomenal and then Dave told me I couldn’t do the half. I was so frustrated dropping them to the race and not being able to go but Dave was clear – if I did the half then it was very likely I would not be able to do the marathon and as that was the goal I had no option. It was at this stage that I realised Dave had turned me into a mad woman. I had a wedding and a work event to go to and I was given orders that if I absolutely had to go I was not to dance and I was not to wear heels. I wore the sturdiest pair of rotten shoes you have ever seen and was home in bed by midnight – I had officially lost the plot. Finally after 16 days on 23rd September and with a very attractive pair of compression socks I was allowed back running. Just over one month to go. Problem was my confidence was shot, both Maria and Patrick had aced the half doing it in 1:48 and they were flying. I was conscious of every niggle and felt I had lost a lot of fitness during the few weeks off. I really struggled for the next couple of weeks and my heart rate during runs was off the charts. Looking back we also probably were doing our runs too fast but the problem was that the runs were so long that in order to finish early enough we had to do them a little fast and the downside was it was probably taking too much out of us. We couldn’t start any earlier though. It felt like we were never going to taper and being honest I got to a point where I wasn’t enjoying any of the runs, it was something I had to do but there was no joy!
During these last few weeks we tinkered with food/gels/toilet strategies. As the three of us planned on running together we needed to have a plan, but everyone is different, as it turns out we all had totally different food strategies. For instance, I didn’t eat at all and took half a gel every 30 mins from 45 mins onward, my sister ate like bear about to hibernate in the morning before the marathon. It worked for both of us so I have now llearned it is important to listen to other suggestions but make sure to try a few things out and see what works, the one run I did where I had eaten was probably the hardest run I have ever done but I needed to do that to learn it didn’t work for me. This was also the time that we figured out what our goal was. We had decided we were trying for sub 4 so Dave literally gave us a pace for every mile of the marathon. After setting the goal we also needed to plan what we would do if one of us wasn’t feeling it on the day, this was quite tough because we had done all our training together and we really didn’t want to think about back up plans that involved us not finishing together.
Finally it was the day of the race. The weather was perfect,, the atmosphere in town was electric and t. The queues for the portaloos were long. We started in Wave 2 and we stuck to the plan. Super coach Dave’s training plan had us ready and the pacing he set was spot on. All the hard work was done and honestly the actual marathon was AMAZING. The support around the course is so hard to describe, it absolutely keeps you going, I had my name of my top and everywhere I could hear people yelling ‘Go on Dee’ it was brilliant. There were so many DBR supporters around the course (the can of coke at the top of Heartbreak Hill definitely gave me a power boost at the right time) , half of the kids from my children’s school seemed to be out supporting and my family kept popping up a few times as we went around. I did something to my knee at 24km but the atmosphere and support was so good that I just forgot about it. Everything went according to plan and I can honestly say that as much as I struggled with the runs in September and early October I totally enjoyed every minute of the actual marathon and the thr. The three of us finished together and we all broke the four hour barrier, running 3:56, what a feeling. .
8 days post marathon, my knee feels slightly like I am an 80 year old every time I go to stand up, I haven’t run in 8 days and my watch is telling me I am ‘detraining’. At least this time it is right and I amn’t quite as angry as the many times it told me I was detraining and unproductive over the past year!
It is one year exactly since I registered to do the DCM 2019. I haven’t signed up for next year but I haven’t said never again either. I am so proud of myself and my children are so proud of me and that is priceless. So was so was it worth it? Hell yes. HELL YES!
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