That headline should improve the google search ratings of the Athenry site for Alan... but luckly for me it's true. More on that later. I had penciled Longford into my marathon schedule as usual late last year but what was unusual about this years race was that I had decidecd to use it as a long run...

1. What running shoes do you train in? ASICS Duomax. 2. How many miles did you run last week? 32 miles - week 4 of Hal Higdon's marathon programme. 3. What's your favourite racing distance? The 5k series back in may were pretty good. 4. Where's you favourite place to train? Good old Athenry on a...

1. What running shoes do you train in? Saucony Grid Hurricane 9. 2. How many miles did you run last week? 38. 3. What's your favourite racing distance? 10km. 4. Where's you favourite place to train? Dangan or Salthill. 5. What's your favourite race or event each year? Galway Bay 10m & Streets of...

1. What running shoes do you train in? Asics Kayano, 2. How many miles did you run last week? About 25 3. What's your favourite racing distance? Marathon when fit and uninjured 4. Where's you favourite place to train? The hills of Rahoon and Barna 5. What's your favourite race or event each year...

I had run only up to age 14 and gave it up for no good reason. I'm sure it made sense at the time! Then school, college, exams, beer, fags and women took over for the next twelve years. The only trouble was that, for me, it was always all-or-nothing, so it had to be out three nights a week for years...

Headed to Cork on Sunday afternoon, hoping that my run the next day would be better than my first marathon in Dublin 8 months before. I had a poor back and should have stayed at home but decided to run nonetheless: got half way, broke down and limped home somewhere over five hours. The same injury...

I thought I would try to balance out the excellent reports from Ray and James, with one that gives my perspective of something not going according to plan. You also have to remember here that I am one of the slowest runners out there, not helped by still being a few stone heavier than my optimum...

As I drove down to Cork from Galway on Sunday morning I was thinking to myself am I wasting my time driving over a 100 miles for a race I may not even finish. I have avoided the marathon in recent years as I had a couple of bad experiences in the past but I was determined I was going to finish this...

What was I thinking when I set out my plan of marathons at the start of the year? Five in 7 weeks has been on my diary since January and that diary has been staring at me from my desk since, every day, every hour, reminding me of the task ahead. How could I even imagine that I'd be able to carry...

Mini Marathon, 4th June 2007 - Fiona McCann The big day finally arrived, all that training was to be tested for the difficult task ahead - my first mini marathon. I had to keep reminding myself that at least I didn't have to run 26.2 miles like all those poor creatures in the Cork Marathon - that...

Report from Maria Hehir: Yesterday while the rest of Ireland had lovely sunshine, it rained in Dublin and the six ladies from Athenry {Fiona McCann, Etain Wilson, Maeve Noone, Aillen McNamara, Pauline Murray & Maria Hehir} were all very wet by the time we got to the starting line at 3pm but it didn...

I was looking forward to my favourite race of the year for quite a while. Edinburgh is such a fantastic city you can't but enjoy a trip there. The marathon expo was vastly improved this year, even though it is still quite small and I still can't understand how they can justify dragging us so far out...

'Battle for mid-table mediocrity' Open the sports section of any newspaper and you read articles about elite sportsmen and women, a soccer player who scores a wondrous goal, a hurler who drives a ball over the bar from the touchline or an athlete who breaks his or her own national record. However...

To PB or not to PB - that was the burning question I asked myself as I jogged the streets of Shannon town yesterday afternoon. I was on a 4k warm-up for the Peach 10k, on my own wondering if I really was in good shape for this race as my previous two races had suggested (two Galway 5ks - Athenry and...