Marathon #3: Galway

Last Saturday, I did another marathon, my third of the year. This one was in Galway.
The website for the Galway Bay marathon outlines that it is a flat course, and therefore, it supports fast times, so I was optimistic when going to the start of the course. But then it started to rain. Nevertheless, I set out, optimistic that it would soon clear. After all, the forecast was for improving weather through the day.

The course, shown in the heading photo, consists of a series of loops, from the stating point, the participants go out to the point marked “Short lap turn around”. Then back in along the seashore to the start again. This is repeated. And then there are four long loops, all the way out to the golf course, and back in.

The rain gave way to squally showers, but I was never dry during the event. Also, there were mile markers on the course, but because of the loop structure, it is difficult to figure them out. With the combination of the rain and the lack of clarity in the mile markers, I decided just to go as fast as I reasonably could and see what happened. At the beginning, I did this bey focusing on people in front of me. At about 3 miles (4.8 km), I could see a man about 200m in front of me. I was walking faster than he was, but as I would get closer to him, he would jog a short distance, and the gap would widen. Nevertheless, I caught up with him at about 6 miles (9.7 km). It turned out that this was his 4th marathon since having a stent fitted in his cardiac blood vessels. He had just done the Berlin marathon a week before and took part in several marathons each year. So it just goes to show that anyone can get to a marathon if they have the will and determination to do so.

I pushed ahead and soon left that man behind, and I focused on another person, again about 300m ahead. Over time, I closed that gap, and at about 12 miles (19.3 km) caught up with them. Despite the wind and rain, I felt that I was making good time, but I didn’t know how good. Eventually as I went on, I figured out the system behind the mile markers, and at 20 miles (32.2 km), I realised that I had a chance of making the finish in 6 hours. With that in mind, I continued at as fast a pace as my tired legs would muster. By now, I was passing out people who had started as runners, but the weather and the distance had slowed them down. Eventually, I was into the final stretch, and came around the final bend to see the finish line at last. If I had had the energy, I might have broken into a run, but after 26 miles, or 42 km, I was content to walk over the finish line.
I know from my watch that my time was close to 6 hours, but I could not be sure would I be just under or just over that important psychological boundary. I had to wait until the following day to get my official time. I had an official time of 5 hours, 57 minutes and 13 seconds. I had broken the 6-hour barrier.

Even though I was wet and weary at the end, it was worth it to achieve that result.

So now, with three marathons behind me it is interesting to look at the progression of times. The first one was 6 hours 37 minutes. The second one was 6 hours 22 minutes. And this one was 5 hours 57 minutes. If I keep making progress at this rate, I might be at Olympic standard before I reach 80 years old.
And finally, my step count for the day was 55362.