Race day: Marathon brings out the best of Dublin

It has been five days since the 2023 Dublin Marathon and the finish line after many months of training.

Yesterday was probably the first day I felt a little bit normal and the stairs weren't killing me.

After telling everyone the goal was to try and run it under three hours there was part of me thinking 'Why do I say these things?' But there was a bit accountability there as well and an attitude that I better get it done now. I'm delighted to be able to say that I managed to.

Your training completely reduces in the week before the race to stay fresh so you start to get that itch to get going. I didn’t sleep well Friday or Saturday. When the clocks went back I woke up at 5am and had to google the time to double-check it, freaked out that I would miss the thing after preparing all year.

I found the conditions on Sunday pretty good. The rain was mostly soft and didn’t bother me and there was no wind or major heat, which I would be more worried about. You are soaking though so you do need to be careful of chafing – I lubed the bejaysus out of my nipples when I got up! I went heavy on the carbs the day before, so the morning of the race I just had a light breakfast, porridge, and didn’t have any major stomach issues.

Last year was my first marathon and I completely blew up, so it was a case of what I could learn from that. I went off too fast last year and didn’t pace it right, cramped up, all the horror stories you can think of. I got carried away by the atmosphere, being on the start line at Fitzwilliam Square full of adrenaline and running in a wave of thousands of people. You feel you’re comfortable the first couple of kilometres and then the watch beeps and you realise you’re 20 seconds faster than you need to be.

So this year