Two Running Weekends in Very Different Conditions
As Johnny, our flatmate Andy, our friend Irene and I have all signed up to do the Berlin Marathon at the end of September, the training has already begun. However, I am much more motivated if I have short-term goals so I like to challenge myself by entering different races and therefore in June I ended up in two team relays on two consecutive weekends but boy were the conditions different!
The June Bank Holiday weekend saw Johnny, Andy and I picking up a hire car and driving down to Cork. On the way we stopped in Wicklow to check out my leg of the relay for the following weekend. Ireland was experiencing some fantastic weather so Andy and I walked the 12.7km route over steep hills in the scorching heat while Johnny had the easy job of driving around and waiting for us at the end.
Once we finally arrived in Cork we met up with our friends Craig and Maura and their friends Pascal and Freda before heading back to Glanmire where the Walshs had kindly given up their house for us to use while they were away.
Sunday was another beautiful day so after a lazy morning we picked up my cousin Niamh and headed down to West Cork to find a beach to relax on for the afternoon. We made the most of all the sunlight then we headed back to Glanmire for a hearty pre-race dinner and an early night.
The Bank Holiday Monday was again a gorgeous day but this time even hotter! However this was race day so we got ourselves ready and heading on into town. Andy was first up for the relay, starting at 9am and completing 2 legs of the relay - doing 10.7 miles in total before handing over to me. I proceeded to do possibly the hilliest portion - two legs of the relay totalling 9.1 miles before finally handing off to Craig who finished our team relay marathon with 6.4 miles - crossing the finish line in 3 hours and 44 minutes after Andy began. You may be wondering why Craig, our triathlete and the fittest of the three of us was only doing 6.4 miles? Well only because he completed a half-ironman in Barcelona the weekend before!
It was a hot day and tough going but the atmosphere and the support of Johnny, Maura and Freda along the way kept us going. As well as many other people doing the team relay, there were also lots of full marathon runners which really gave us a taste for what Berlin will be like!
Check out the photos below and click on them to see more of our time in Cork. If you are interested in seeing the data from my 2 legs of the relay that I uploaded from my Garmin Forerunner 405 click here. It will show you my pace, elevation, heart rate and even map out the route on Google Maps - check it out!
The following weekend it was back down to Wicklow for me but this time it was in very different weather! All throughout the day the rain poured down and I even managed to get hailed on at one point! The "Wicklow Way" covers 120kms over the Wicklow Mountains and the relay race breaks this into 8 stages ranging from 8kms to 17kms. The course is not that well marked and often you are running on only a dirt track so it is easy to get lost. At 12.7kms my leg wasn't the hardest but it sure was tough with the first 5kms being basically uphill the entire time and a lot of other steep inclines.
However despite the rain, hail, and steep hills I managed to finish my leg in just over 1.5 hours, a time that I was relatively happy with. The rest of our team (made up of my work colleagues) also did really well with no-one getting lost. You may think that not getting lost isn't a big deal but you would be surprised at how many teams had someone take a wrong turn and get lost - we certainly did last year!
As we were competing against teams who regularly run in the Wicklow Mountains we didn't win but we sure celebrated our achievement of even finishing with dinner and drinks that night!
Unfortunately there was a bit of a stuff up with my watch so I was unable to upload the data from my Wicklow Way run but I used the watch to map out the route when I walked it with Andy the week before so you can at least see the route and the elevation by clicking here. And of course you can click on the photos below to see more of the Wicklow Way Antics!
The June Bank Holiday weekend saw Johnny, Andy and I picking up a hire car and driving down to Cork. On the way we stopped in Wicklow to check out my leg of the relay for the following weekend. Ireland was experiencing some fantastic weather so Andy and I walked the 12.7km route over steep hills in the scorching heat while Johnny had the easy job of driving around and waiting for us at the end.
Once we finally arrived in Cork we met up with our friends Craig and Maura and their friends Pascal and Freda before heading back to Glanmire where the Walshs had kindly given up their house for us to use while they were away.
Sunday was another beautiful day so after a lazy morning we picked up my cousin Niamh and headed down to West Cork to find a beach to relax on for the afternoon. We made the most of all the sunlight then we headed back to Glanmire for a hearty pre-race dinner and an early night.
The Bank Holiday Monday was again a gorgeous day but this time even hotter! However this was race day so we got ourselves ready and heading on into town. Andy was first up for the relay, starting at 9am and completing 2 legs of the relay - doing 10.7 miles in total before handing over to me. I proceeded to do possibly the hilliest portion - two legs of the relay totalling 9.1 miles before finally handing off to Craig who finished our team relay marathon with 6.4 miles - crossing the finish line in 3 hours and 44 minutes after Andy began. You may be wondering why Craig, our triathlete and the fittest of the three of us was only doing 6.4 miles? Well only because he completed a half-ironman in Barcelona the weekend before!
It was a hot day and tough going but the atmosphere and the support of Johnny, Maura and Freda along the way kept us going. As well as many other people doing the team relay, there were also lots of full marathon runners which really gave us a taste for what Berlin will be like!
Check out the photos below and click on them to see more of our time in Cork. If you are interested in seeing the data from my 2 legs of the relay that I uploaded from my Garmin Forerunner 405 click here. It will show you my pace, elevation, heart rate and even map out the route on Google Maps - check it out!
The following weekend it was back down to Wicklow for me but this time it was in very different weather! All throughout the day the rain poured down and I even managed to get hailed on at one point! The "Wicklow Way" covers 120kms over the Wicklow Mountains and the relay race breaks this into 8 stages ranging from 8kms to 17kms. The course is not that well marked and often you are running on only a dirt track so it is easy to get lost. At 12.7kms my leg wasn't the hardest but it sure was tough with the first 5kms being basically uphill the entire time and a lot of other steep inclines.
However despite the rain, hail, and steep hills I managed to finish my leg in just over 1.5 hours, a time that I was relatively happy with. The rest of our team (made up of my work colleagues) also did really well with no-one getting lost. You may think that not getting lost isn't a big deal but you would be surprised at how many teams had someone take a wrong turn and get lost - we certainly did last year!
As we were competing against teams who regularly run in the Wicklow Mountains we didn't win but we sure celebrated our achievement of even finishing with dinner and drinks that night!
Unfortunately there was a bit of a stuff up with my watch so I was unable to upload the data from my Wicklow Way run but I used the watch to map out the route when I walked it with Andy the week before so you can at least see the route and the elevation by clicking here. And of course you can click on the photos below to see more of the Wicklow Way Antics!
..:: Bex ::.. at
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