The journey towards the Dublin City Marathon

When I started this blog I has the idea to use it as a way to keep me honest in my training by forcing me to log every (or almost every) session including mileage and how the session went, and a lot of things have happened since my last post back in April:

- I did my first night run on the trails, head lamp and all.
- Went on holidays and tried to run an "easy 10k" in 30 degree heat and nearly died
- Started exercising for 10 minutes every morning before work
- Ran the Born to Run 10k series around Dublin (none of the races were actually 10k)
- Ran the South Dublin 10k race in July
- Started training for the Dublin City Marathon in October

Sadly, writing hasn't been one of them. I fell into the trap of wanting to be read people other than myself and my imaginary friends and I realised that the most popular blogs have content and knowledge. I just have stories... and excuses.

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The hidden benefits of sport for teenagers

Following up from my last post , I have been giving some thought to the topic of teenagers and sport. Having a teenager in the house has taught me a thing or two about the way in which us parents, create a work ethic that will help them later in life, and the struggles we go through in order to turn actions into habits. Be the example We're all familiar with the old saying "Do as I say, not as I do" and it makes sense in a convoluted way, but not to a teenager. Imagine we tell them to get off the phone/tablet/Playstation and go to bed early, but they see us staying up till midnight browsing Facebook in bed. It sounds hypocritical, right? To a teenager, this feeling is amplified tenfold. If, on the other hand, we get proper rest, if we are commited to training, to fueling properly and we can show the results consistently, there's a better chance of the message sticking in their minds. Responsibility is personal When my son was younger, we would always mak...

One week later

Last Sunday I ran the Great Ireland Run in Phoenix Park. It was the first time I've raced so close after a marathon so I wasn't too sure how the legs would be. The original plan was to run it as an easy race and enjoy the experience... yeah right! The closer it got to the day the more I started thinking maybe aim to run it under 55 minutes, maybe a bit faster but definitely not faster than 50. Anyway, race day arrived and once I was in Phoenix Park I decided sod it! Run it like a proper race and see what it feels like. Go hard or go home! I started relatively slow but by the time I was passing the 6km mark I was still feeling strong so sped up to full tilt. In the end I ran just 12 seconds outside my PB of 46:06 but I have to say, I'm quite pleased with it. I just need to find another 10km race to finish that business...

What does running do for you?

Last week, during a professional development session I was asked to draw a picture of a future where I could do whatever I wanted, so I said I would love to write. The coach said "Could you do that now?" "So why don't you?" I had a bagful of the usual excuses: I don't have time; I don't have anything to write about; I don't know how to, etc. but I said "I'll try". Since I had that conversation, I've spent a lot of time, mostly during my runs, thinking of a suitable topic I could exploit, and finally something came up. So here I am, a week later, dusting off the cobwebs of this blog and trying to get the creative juices running to write about the only thing (or one of the very few things) that fills my brains in between doses of work, sleep and living in general. Social life Over the last 8 or 9 years, my whole life has been so dominated by running that I wouldn't know what to do without it. Thanks to it, my social...

26.2 Ways to Run

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