Greetings from Ireland. We arrived early Saturday morning in Dublin and proceeded to the Marathon Expo, where we loaded up on Dublin Marathon gear and Ireland running paraphernalia. My brother Mike is not a runner, but he has a disturbing morbid interest in nipple chafe, so he had no trouble initiating conversation with runners he encountered. The marathon was not until Monday, so we exercised extreme restraint and avoided the various pubs that were beckoning to us on every street corner for the next two days. Race day was beautiful; partially sunny with temps in the low 50’s at the start. The course was beautiful as well, but very hilly and challenging. We also had headwinds that were particularly strong the last 6 miles. By that time, I felt like I was hardly moving (and have the splits to show for it!). The crowd support was great- everyone was shouting “WELL DONE!!, WELL DONE LADS!, WELL DONE GIRLS! Mark was shooting for a sub-3 hour marathon, and came heartbreakingly close (3:00:38). But if he can do that on this course, he will have no trouble breaking 3 in Houston. WELL DONE MARK!! Irma and I were planning to run this one easy, as Houston is our goal marathon. I wanted to do 4:30 or better, but came in at 4:42. Under the conditions I was happy and truly felt “WELL DONE”. Irma surprised everyone including herself by running 4:25- a new PR!! WELL DONE IRMA!! When I finished, Mike was there with a bouquet of flowers. He watched the race start and finish. My brother is not a runner, so he was perplexed when people threw gloves and clothing at him near the start. It was a learning experience for him. That evening we all had a great dinner followed by many pints of Guinness- a perfect ending to a “Brilliant” day. Kathi |
