Lovely day out, again! Drove down with Mick in his person-carrier with James Corbett, Dee McGrath and Philip Magnier in the back too. Was a much nicer day than last year at the same venue. This time around, there was no wind, on-shore or off-shore. There was no rain, only sun. The roads were dry and...

Training for this race had gone well enough, with runouts on the Claregalway and Athenry 10KM circuits in the month before yielding almost identical times, 44:47 and 44:46. The day of the race itself was clear, cold and dry. Excellent running conditions! Mick and myself made it up from Galway, as...

Race Report ”“ Philadelphia 8K on Marathon Weekend Nov 20th 2005 A long year was coming to its fruition with our trip to the US and an entry in my hand for the Philadelphia Marathon. However, as much as this has been a great year for me in my running, this weekend was to be one of mixed emotions...

Respect for the Distance Most runners will have come across the advice that in long races, particularly marathons, you must "respect the distance". Those attempting their first or second marathons will most likely encounter this maxim more than once in the weeks leading up to the big event. My...

All of this nonsense started maybe ten months before the London Marathon in 2003. On the 'Runner's World' UK site I read an article which lauded the Flora London Marathon (FLM) as 'the best marathon in the world'. I had my doubts. Having recently returned from the 106th running of the Boston...

Kilmurray Ibrickane/North Clare 29th Feb 2004 - Mick Rice I would be difficult to imagine a greater contrast in weather conditions for this race from last year to this. Twelve months ago the wind howled in from the Atlantic over the rocky coastline of West Clare and the waves charged relentlessly at...

Ballycotton 2005 Mick Rice The omens were not good to begin with. I had tried playing some music on my laptop in the hotel on race morning. The computer was set to randomly select a track and it plumped for a particularly depressing version of “Sad Songs and Waltzes” by Willie Nelson. Crap! If you...

You know, I haven't really written a proper race report in ages, and I'm not sure if this rambling will end up to be a long or short account of my latest marathon adventures, but here goes anyway. I'll keep this as short as possible. (I'm typing this after writing the full report to apologise for...

It was raining. Heavily. It was cold and the wind was blowing. Marathon day had arrived. I had the training done, logged the miles, bought the runners, wore a revealing running singlet. I was ready. Its 8 am on a Bank holiday Monday morning and I'm standing outside Tescos on Baggot street...

Before we get to 9 am on a wet Dublin Monday Bank Holiday, I'll take you back to the start of the year and a decision taken to simply enjoy my running this year, not worry about times etc., and hopefully get fit enough to run another marathon. It has been 4 years since I last completed 26 miles, and...

There were six runners in the traveling party from Athenry AC for this years running of the Edinburgh Marathon. In 2004 there had been one-and-a-half. Twelve months ago Ray and I had entered this race before I was sidelined with injury. In the end Ray ran and I carried the bags. We both ended up...

This is my race report: Happy, should run faster J 1st mile: did not see the sign but was ahead of all Athenry runners for 500m! 2sd: did not see the sign 3rd mile: 22min37 4th mile: 29min47 5th mile: 37min04 or 36min and ???

London to Brighton Road Race 2nd October 2005 - Race Report By Mick Rice This race had called out to me for the last couple of years. I had read about it, thought about it and dreamt about it. All that was left was for me to run it. The whole package is almost irresistible to anyone with an interest...