With many thanks to John for this great report…

I’d always had a personal goal that at some point “in the future” I’d love to give the marathon a go. My perception, not without good reason, was that it was a very time consuming effort to get fit enough to firstly begin the training and then to follow a program to completion and actually reach the start line – never mind actually getting to the finish…

After a few years of sporadic running in March 2013 I arrived to the club in Dunboyne for my first training session. The senior runners had just finished the Bohermeen Half Marathon that weekend and the buzz around the place was great. Everyone was very welcoming so I wondered where this might take me.

As time went on and race by race my times began to come down the distances hadn’t yet stretched out further than a 10k, but I felt it was just a matter of time and in August 2013 I undertook the Rock’n’Roll Half Marathon which I found tough and knew that the full marathon distance was going to be a tougher challenge.

A number of problems and injuries stopped me from training for a marathon in 2013 and 2014 but I had managed 3 half-marathons and knew that following the full Hanson training plan wasn’t going to be so easy.

Tony O’Neill advises all of the senior group to follow the plan during July and August with a view to keeping it on for the full schedule and if nothing else it will improve your running.

By the end of July and the Fingal 10k I was quietly thinking that this was the year to keep going through to October and the full Dublin Marathon. I kept it to myself and didn’t commit mentally until the 10 mile race was completed. By then I felt the strength was building and yes this schedule is working. On the evening before the Half marathon in August I decided that now that I was 12 weeks into the schedule it was time to register for the full marathon in October.

A PB at the 10k, 10 mile and Half-Marathon distances indicated that all was going well and this Hanson Plan was doing exactly what Tony had promised…

However, there was a little voice repeatedly saying other marathon programs had at least 3 long runs of more than 20 miles but Hanson didn’t have any over 16 miles… Was it the right plan?

Each time we discussed it with Tony he would explain the science and benefits of the system. However each time I’d meet friends and relations who I knew were very experienced runners and had run many marathons they’d take a look at my plan and ask if our coach had lost the plot… “You need to have at the bare minimum one decent 20 miler under your belt”.

There were a few in the club who had tried Hanson after other marathons and shown that it produced the results they’d hoped for. However, I hadn’t met anyone that had followed Hanson for their first marathon but decided that Tony knows what he’s talking about so I kept faith in the plan.

That was the other thing… As a newby I never really knew what target to set for myself. I knew that I wanted to finish and do so in under 4 hours which is quite respectable for a first attempt. I’d trained with 3h45 to 3h50 as my target, but even then I felt I was giving myself that 10 to 15 minutes window that allowed for the 4hr as a plan B should there be a difficulty on the day.

The next challenge was ensuring the training had low impact on the family, but no matter what you do a six day training schedule is going to have some impact. However if the longer sessions were completed early in the day then the impact to the rest of the family would be reduced a little…

Throughout the schedule there was a core group of us who ran together for the evening sessions on Tuesday and Thursday but there were only a small few who thought it best to get our long weekend runs out of the way early in the morning. At 07:30am every Sunday morning we would meet up at the Castleknock gate.
The Sunday morning group was usually escorted around the park by our second mentor in the shape of Mick-the-schtick-Bailey who was not running the marathon but for similar reasons runs early.

There were many conversations about the GAA results and other deep discussions during our long runs. At one point I think Galway were even going to win the All-Ireland, but alas they went close…

Subsequently myself and Paul Lord would do the same thing on Saturdays in Dunboyne except these were calmer mornings where we discussed all sorts of things (I think the deprivation of a lie in made us delirious!)

We kept it going and as both the morning and the evening sessions began to take place in the dark and the colour of the leaves in the park turned from green to brown we knew that October was approaching and the day was getting near…
Strategies were discussed and hills were debated and Mick in his ever encouraging way was having none of our nervousness. He had a solid belief in us (most of the time) and told us that we grew stronger by the week so he declared that he was going to meet us on the marathon course with a length of pipe to clip us along if we weren’t moving fast enough… What a motivator!

The fortnight leading to the October Bank Holiday weekend arrived and all over social media there were runners discussing their boredom from tapering and what they’d do to get out for a few miles. That wasn’t the case for those following Hanson. The final 2 weeks were full on as per schedule until I woke up on the Friday with 10 days to go with a severe pain in my back… The pain subsided somewhat after a day so with just one session missed I got to see Rory O’Neill in Ratoath Physiotherapy who worked some kind of voodoo magic to sort out a problem with my glute & hips and gave me some exercises in the hope that it wouldn’t be a problem on the day… Another worry to add to the list.

The morning of the race arrived and there were last minute arrangements made for where to meet the family on the route. The girls (my wife Georgina and my 2 daughters Ella & Lily) were going to meet me in Walkinstown at the 15 mile mark and then at the finish line. An earler plan to also be in Castleknock was cancelled just in case they didn’t have time to get a parking space in Walkinstown.

The crowd at the start was immense. The excitement was building as if some rock band were about to come on stage, but that old 16 mile longest run was whispering… One of the issues I had in planning was where to be in relation to the 3h40 pacers (my target was 3h45ish) so it was agreed I’d stay a little bit behind them, just enough to keep them in sight for the first half of the race at least.

The gun went and we took off. Before long we had passed crowds of people lining the streets and hadn’t even got to the first mile marker. Up Patrick Street and down to the quays… up into Stoneybatter and over to the Park… shouts of Go Dunboyne from all over the place and we were almost 5 miles in before I could think about it too seriously. My pace was planned to be around the 8mins 33sec or so per mile and if anything it was settling to a rate just below that but the 3h40 pacers were still ahead of me so my pace wasn’t too far off.

Chesterfield Avenue and the stretch up to Myos’ in Castleknock is a constant incline or drag as it’s described, but we all know this place so well from our Sunday runs that it felt like home and knowing that once onto Tower Road we had passed the highest point on the route.

Getting up to Castleknock felt easy due to the fantastic Dunboyne support and fantastic crowd which was screaming and shouting above the loud music. I think I’d waved to every supporter and high fived every kid along the way. The funniest part though is that I was clearly so wrapped up in it that I high fived my own daughter (Lily) not expecting them to be there and didn’t know anything of it until later in the day!

My strategy included the fact that there were a couple of miles downhill from Tower Road, back in to the park and down through the bends to the Chapelizod gate. I planned to stretch out a little bit here and just allow gravity to take me faster, but the thing I hadn’t accounted for was the large crowd of runners around the 3h40 pacer which meant I had the brakes on after half a mile and couldn’t get by. This added a bit of strain to my quads but not so much that it hurt (yet).

On into Chapelizod and up the dreaded hill towards Ballyfermot and Inchicore. I still felt pretty good here and the 3:40 pacer was very close. Kilmainham, Rialto and Crumlin road past the halfway mark felt like I was in a race, but again the crowds were amazing. At this stage there were people passing out jelly sweets, quarters of oranges, bananas, you name it. The people of Dublin had come out in force to support me in my race!

The Crumlin Road, which the analysts had predicted to be the next uphill drag was exactly that, but what was missing was the wind (Mick had told us it’s always windy on the Crumlin Road and as I spent a lot of my youth cycling on those roads I also knew that he was correct). It was smooth and we were approaching Walkinstown roundabout and 15 miles where I was expecting to see the girls… On the way I spotted Mick Bailey (I think he hid the plastic pipe behind the bus shelter) but he said “keep it up, you’re looking fresh!”, so I was doing something right!

Just after the roundabout I spotted the girls. I had to stop here to give them kisses and thank them for their support not just on the day but for the long weeks through the summer. I moved on and for at least the next quarter of a mile there was a lump in my throat with the emotion of seeing them and holding back the tears. I decided tht it was time to breathe again and BANG… this is where the dreaded wind had been hiding… It was a south-easterly coming straight down from the KCR all the way to Crumlin and to top it off the rain began to dampen the spirits. At this point I began to struggle a bit. Every “tall runner” I tried to shelter behind was going slower that me and I needed to move on to the next one (where was “Tall Paul” Lord when I needed him).

It was time to dig in and the pace was suffering a little and my hips were quite sore. Miles 17 & 19 were a little over 9 minute pace as I needed to slow up almost to walking pace for 20 metres or so a couple of times at this stage. However the support from the crowds and meeting a friend on the Templeogue Road once again helped to raise the spirits and trying to run slower than my target pace was a struggle… At this stage the 3:40 pacers were off around the corner up in the distance, but I was OK. Time was still on my side and at worst case it was still going to be sub 4 hours.

More miles, a few hills and huge crowds… A nice bag of jelly-beans from a youngster in Terenure helped to forget the aches for a while… Still keeping a relatively good pace the fabled Roebuck hill arrived and went… Was that it?… We’ve better hills than that on the Dunboyne by-pass!

It was downhill most of the way from here, but in my mind this was the unknown… still a good few miles to go and at this stage there were casualties falling to the side with cramped muscles and other injuries, but the crowds remained and the shouts for DUNBOYNE from all sorts of people were unreal. (Go on the Royal was softly replied to with an “UP-THE DUBS”)…

A big thank you has to go to the Dunboyne Scouts on three of the water stations. The interaction was fantastic and they really helped to lift the sprirts even further. I spotted Kerrys own “The Gooch” Cooper passing out Lucozade but thought, no he’s not the star today, it’s the 40 kids from Dunboyne behind him (oh yes and the Dubs have Sam in the bag).

Past UCD and RTE and down towards Merrion… The final stretch was calling… The hips and quads were feeling very achy now, but the finish was so close… The RDS gate and the 25 mile marker… I was almost there. Norma had passed me and she was just up ahead, if I keep her in sight I’ll be grand. One more short 20 metre slow down to a walk and the 26 mile marker was in sight. A shout from Loughlin and then there was Kevin… Kevin could see there was a bit of pain showing and I think Mick may have given him some coaching… He was just short of jumping the barrier with his words of “encouragement” – much needed (Thanks Kevin)…

Mount Street and Holles Street Hospital, right back to where I was born and the finsh line within touching distance. I was there, I’d done it. After receiving my medal and t-shirt (nicely presented to me by none other than Emilia Dan) I passed through to the baggage area and out to meet Georgina with the girls.

What a day, so enjoyable despite the tough few miles and aches that pale into nothing with the sheer joy of that crowd all along the route and in crossing the finish line. I still can’t believe I’ve run a full marathon, and did I mention that the target of 3h45 to 3h50 was a good one…

My time was 3h46min7sec on the day (average 8min34sec per mile) and yes, for a first time marathon runner the Hanson Program and all of Tonys patient listening and sound advice had worked.

Thank you Tony from each and every one of us.

Georgina, Ella and Lily, thank you all so much for your support and love over the last few months. I really appreciate it and you have my support for whatever you want to do!