For anyone who has been reading this website on a regular basis will have noticed, this blog is about 'the' road races, not about 'my' races. I usually avoid mentioning what I do myself but the 2008 Dublin City Marathon was a special race for me.
My Marathon history.....My first 3 Marathons were in Dublin...1994 (3:37), 1995 (3:15) and 1996 (3:10). That last race was a real nightmare for me. 1996 was a year in which I set all of my PB's for the shorter races and I went to Dublin to try and break 3 hours. I got to 22 miles, hit the wall big time and struggled to the finish line. It was really really awful and I can remember that when I crossed the finish line, I swore Never again.
And I kept that promise, never running a race longer than 10 miles for another 11 years. Then the Cork Marathon started in 2007. With everyone talking about it and training for it, I ended up on the start line on Patrick Street in Cork in June 2007. I was back running Marathons again.Yesterday in Dublin, it really was a special race for me. At last I broke the 3 hour mark with a time of 2:58:26. At last, 12 years later, I finally had the satisfaction of putting that ghost of 1996 to rest.
Rest in Peace...
Congratulations Mr Desmond well done,Lets do it again next June but in your home town,Would just like to congratulate all other runner's from Cork who completed this marathon well done to all.
ReplyDeleteJohn Dunphy
Midleton Ac
Well done John - all the hard work finally paid off.
ReplyDeletePat Twomey
Well done John
ReplyDeleteSub 3hr for a marathon is a great achievement. It must be nice to finally put that one to bed and say Yes I did it.
Fair play
Congrats John, You not only got under the 3 hrs yourself but you also dragged along a few more of us with you by encouraging us and pulling us along over that last mile!!
ReplyDelete