Last Saturday, September 6, I ran my 48th full marathon, the Dingle marathon in Dingle, Ireland along the Atlantic coastline.
Dustin and I flew into Kerry from London (Luton airport) on Friday; it was our first time flying RyanAir (a discount Irish airline) and our first time flying out of Luton instead of Heathrow, but it was actually pretty easy. From Hampstead, we took the overground to the Thameslink train then the Luton Dart. It took about an hour.
(We actually had good luck with RyanAir on the way to Ireland, but terrible luck on the way back, so I don’t know that we’ll go for the discount airline again….)
The flight from London to Kerry is only about an hour; we hired a car in Kerry to make the hour-ish drive to Dingle, where we checked into our hotel, the Dingle Skellig. There are not a lot of hotels in the small village of Dingle, so you really do need to plan ahead on accommodations. Our friends did the half marathon and had to stay in an air bnb about 4 miles outside of the village.
After checking into the Dingle Skellig, we went to the small race pickup, which was held at the marina.
In-and-out, very fast.
The race included a half marathon without 1500 runners, and only about 700 full marathoners. It was a small one!
There was a surprising amount of cute race merchandise at race pickup; I bought a waterproof bag (that I ended up using for my checked bag) and my friend Tina bought a cute knit hat, which came in handy at the finish line as it was quite cold! (Also, all marathon finishers did get a hooded sweatshirt at the finish line, which was really quite nice!)
Later that evening, Dustin and I ate our regular pre-marathon dinner of a margarita pizza at a local Italian restaurant. That was about it for the pre-marathon day!
Race morning:
Both the half and the full started at 9 am. Our hotel was less than a 1/2 mile walk to the start line at the marina (same location as the packet pickup.)
There were plenty of loos at the start area; we got quite a laugh as the DJ was playing a mix of music, including 2LiveCrew’s “Hey, We Want Some P*ssy…” Interesting choice, Dingle!
The race started promptly at 9 am. It was a small starting corral, so for one of the first time, Dustin and I were actually right by each other at the start. Yet it wasn’t chaotic or crowded as we crossed the start line; these small marathons are so low-key and easy!
You can tell by my crazy hair how windy it was at the start! It didn’t REALLY start raining until after the half way point…just lots of wind!
I went into this marathon without a great idea of my fitness; I also knew that it was a really tough course with a ton of hills, and the weather was not going to be helpful, with rain and high winds. So I made the decision pretty early on to not look at my Garmin at all. I just ran on effort….and took in as MUCH fuel as I possibly could! I think this actually helped me A LOT. The fuel included one of these GU liquid energy gels right at the start, and then about 5 more GU gels, a full packet of Honeystinger chews, several salt chews (with electrolytes), another liquid energy gel, several “jellies” on the course (candy) and probably more. I think overfueling helped me quite a bit and my stomach handled it pretty well. There were a lot of aid stations handing out water bottles; I think there was Lucozade at the final stations.
The right fit:
I wore the Bandit Stamina top, which has pockets all around the chest and one in the back for your phone, plus the Bandit Stamina shorts, which also have even more pockets. And all those pockets were stuffed full of gels!
I also wore the Brooks Hyperion Elite 5’s, which felt pretty great for a racing shoe, (I bought them back in the US, as they are way cheaper there.)
They are wider than a lot of racing shoes, and I felt that they were more stable and supportive than others, particularly for my ankle. I won’t wear them for anything but races (not for workouts, too risky. And it’s nice to get the real boost on race day, it’s not needed in training…especially when I know that’s part of what caused my original ankle tendonitis injury for the Paris training.)
Okay, on to my splits!
Mile 1: 9:08
Mile 2: 8:44
Mile 3: 8:55
Mile 4: 8:44
Mile 5: 8:36
Mile 6: 9:05
Mile 7: 9:20There was a big hill in these two miles
Mile 8: 9:33
Mile 9: 9:10
Mile 10: 9:04
Mile 11: 8:40
Mile 12: 9:10
Mile 13: 8:43 The half marathons split off the path to their finish line, which was a little de-motivating of course, especially since the full marathon was so small! But I focused on feeling “tough”tough” for doing the full thing (even though the wind was BLASTING us at points here, and the rain really picked up.)
Mile 14: 9:13
Mile 15: 8:35
Mile 16: 8:37
Mile 17: 9:03
Mile 18: 8:48
Mile 19: 8:43
Mile 20: 9:24 a big hill (though most of the course was rolling hills.)
Mile 21: 8:50- I knew the BIG hill was coming up…and it was a doozy!
Mile 22: 9:34 – rough spot in a marathon for a climb!
Mile 23: 10:14 – I didn’t walk up this hill, but it was slow going!
Mile 24: 8:03- time to cruise down the hill and then to the finish!
Mile 25: 8:29 – it felt so good to have gas in the tank and pass people by. I felt so strong!
I did pull out my headphones to blast some Taylor Swift Reputation in the final miles, but it was so windy that the AirPods were not staying in my ears. This picture is me trying to put them back in the case….
Mile 26: 8:49- of course, mile 26 is never easy, but I felt better than I had in a long time at the end.
Final 0.2: 8:17
Official finish time: 3:55:48
Woohoo! 30-ish minutes faster than my last marathon, the Paris Marathon. Yes, I was injured at Paris, but this one felt so much stronger.
I definitely give credit to my coach Donal Moran, the extra strength training I’ve been doing, and fueling so much during the race. I really didn’t think I was in sub-4 shape based on my training, especially on a course like this, so I was really proud.
Its still far from my PB (which is 3:35) but that doesn’t take away from the experience. Feeling great at the end of a finish line is such a wonderful feeling- and I have done plenty to know that it doesn’t usually happen!
I found Dustin easily at the finish line (he ran a 3:09) after grabbing my medal and some goodies.
His lips were turning blue from the cold even though he had already changed into warm dry clothes!
We quickly met our friends at the pub (it WAS Ireland after all!) and I also changed into warm dry clothes from my checked bags and had a celebratory pint of Guinness!
You can see the marathon finisher’s hoodies in the picture!
All in all, it was a very successful marathon in Dingle.
And the town of Dingle was SO charming, even with the rubbish weather! I really loved it.
We checked out Dick Mack’s and Foxy John’s, two “famous” Dingle pubs. which we both so fun! It was a blast hanging out with our friends (and my coach Donal Moran, who is Irish, ran the half! It was fun to celebrate with him too, especially as he seemed to know everyone in the town and everyone was so so friendly….what a day.)
The next day, Dustin and I left Dingle and drove the Ring of Kerry, ending in Killarney where we stayed for two nights at the Killarney Park Hotel, which was right in the town center and quite lovely.
Here are a bunch of pictures from the Ring of Kerry drive, which was brilliant.
The second day in Killarney we saw more of the natural sights and did several hikes, like the hike up Torc Mountain (sunshine at first, followed by a lot of cold rain. It is Ireland!)
We also walked the Gap of Dunloe:
And explored Muckross Abbey:
I love Ireland. This part of the country was just as much fun as other part of this country that I have experienced. Such friendly people, cozy pubs, great natural beauty. 10/10! Of course my rose colored glasses are partly due to the fact that I had a strong marathon and felt so good. That definitely helped!
What’s next?
I’m recovering now, and then will ramp back up for the Amsterdam marathon at the end of October. You may recall that I was meant to run this marathon when we first moved to London in 2022, but the day before our flight, I tested positive for Covid and couldn’t run (read more about that HERE. I ended up running the Porto, Portugal marathon that fall instead.)
Dustin still ran Amsterdam, and loved it and had a great marathon. I also want to “catch up” to him, as he has run 49 marathons, and Dingle was my 48th. If I successfully finish Amsterdam (he will only be spectating that one), then we have tentative plans to celebrate number 50 together next year (which will also be Dustin’s 50th year in age!)
I’m linking up with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner; check out their blogs to connect with other fitness bloggers for workout ideas and inspiration.
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