T'was Christmas morning at 7:45am and all through the house not a creature was stirring, except for a runner. I crept down the stairs, and nearly twisted my ankle when I missed the last step – not a good start! I bypassed the Christmas tree, and the presents, and headed for the kitchen to make a festive bowl of porridge. I hadn't been up so early on Christmas day for years!

So why was I eating porridge at 8am on Christmas morning? Well, I was getting ready to run a marathon. My last marathon was Dublin 2008, when I ran 3:14:16. I then trained for the cork marathon in June 2009, only to get the worst flu I've ever had for the two weeks leading up to the race, so I couldn't run (sad panda!). After that I decided that marathons were not worth the effort and I wasn't interested in running another one. Until now that is.

The thought stuck me at the start of November that I would be cool to try and run a marathon on Christmas day. And obviously, if you're gonna run a marathon, then you need a target time and for me, that was easy – the same time I had planned to run in Cork – 2:59:XX. A sub 3 hour marathon! I wasn't sure if it would be possible and initially I decided that perhaps it wasn't a great idea.

I was in good shape though, after a fantastic 5 months of good training, and towards the end of November I decided that I was going to run my marathon! I continued normal winter base training, running 50-60 miles per week. My long runs were as follows, 10, 13, 14, 16 & 20 (the 20 was on the 11th – two weeks to Christmas day and now I knew a sub-3 time was possible!)

So Christmas day had finally arrived but I wasn't an entirely happy camper. I was more than a little worried because of the wind that was blowing outside. I had been counting on calm weather, but at least it was really mild – ice would have been a disaster. So I organised my gear and waited anxiously until just before 10am.

Obviously, I didn't have an official marathon route to follow so I was using my Garmin 610 (the most awesome running watch of all). I know that gps watches are not 100% accurate, but I've seen research showing the 610 to be more than 99% accurate and this matches my experience of the watch when I've used it in races. The one rule was that I couldn't stop the timer for any reason – same as in a race. I was in claremorris so the route was laps of the town and surrounding countryside. I started with an 8 mile loop, followed by a 12 mile loop and finished with a 6 (and a bit) mile out and back section.

To keep this report from getting too long, I'll just give a brief summary of the run. The wind, which didn't ease all day, wasn't my only problem. The route was going to be hilly. I Could have run 2 mile laps near the house and avoided hills altogether, but I would have been cheating (and it would have been boring!) So off I go and the first 8 mile loop went fine although the 2 miles back towards the house were pretty windy! I grabbed two Gels and a little bottle of water from the little aid station I'd organised outside the house.

The Second loop was longer and included a trip down the main street and around onto the main Galway – Sligo road. At around 15 or 16 miles, the muscles at the front of my hips(that pull your legs forward) started feeling tired and sore. My HR seemed higher than I would have liked and in general, it was all feeling harder than it should have been at this stage of the run. Now I was worried. Would the wind and the hills take too much of a toll on my legs? Was I going to be able to hold my pace. By mile 15, I was about a minute and a half ahead of my planned pace so I did have a buffer at least.

By mile 17 however, my hips felt much better and I was headed for the end of the second loop. Another Gel at 18 and then two tough miles into the wind, although I felt comfortable again. Grabbed more gels and a water (I very glad to get a drink – as not having water for the previous 8 miles had been a mistake). Off again with the wind behind me thank bob. I was feeling pretty comfortable really and feeling much more confident now. My mile splits was still well above average – in fact between mile 11 and 26, I averaged 6:40 pace! (the slowest mile being a 6:50 for mile 21). Note – the fastest mile was mile 1 in 6:28 and the overall average in the end was 6:42.

Another two Gels in the last 6 miles just to be sure and before long I was into the last mile – into the wind again but by then it didn't matter at all – and I ran a 6:37 for mile 26, before cruising home over the last 0.3 miles. No sprint finish needed thank bob, and no cheering crowds (no-one at all in fact, because I didn't actually tell anyone at all about my marathon plan.

And the Time? 2:56:30. Which meant a PB by 17minutes and 46 seconds! Fantastic and even better than I had hoped for. I then marched into the house and announced to my family that I'd just run a marathon! - my brother enquired about my sanity!? And then agreed to come out and take a few photos of me running up and down outside in the rain – did I mention that it rained the whole time I was running? mostly light rain/drizzle though so it wasn't so bad.

Then it was time for Christmas dinner and presents! Hurrah! This is one Christmas morning that I will never forget!

I'm sorry this report is a bit long but if you stuck with it, I hope you found it interesting at least.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to mention that the end of 2011 marks the end of my time as a member of Athenry AC. I would like to thank those members who have helped me to improve as a runner, those who have offered me advice or encouragement, and those who I've enjoyed running with over the last four and a half years.

Best of luck to you all in 2012!

Conor Dolan.