10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Valencia Marathon 2022

1. I Have a Dream

I think that it is very important to have goals in life. Goals provide motivation and reasons to run when it is cold, wet and windy in November and you’d rather sit in the car and pick the dirt from the grooves of the car key than go out and run 10 miles. My main goal for the last few years has been to torment Michael Herlihy by running a faster marathon than him. 2:30:25. It has been my primary motivation for at least six years.

2. Preparation

I think that I did excellent training for the marathon. The most important thing when training for a marathon is to believe that your training is the best training and that what everyone else is doing is wrong, you must have total faith and belief. My training plan involved 5k reps and lots of racing. What is far more important than any training is picking a nice flat marathon in a nice cold calm place like Valencia in December.

3. Billy’s Race

I think that more races should have races for two-year-olds before the main event like what they do in Valencia. Billy’s Mini Maratón took place on a road parallel to the finish of the marathon on a 300m loop. The baby race had more loud music than the actual marathon and had an equally chaotic start. Billy was almost disqualified on the starting line for removing his race number and flinging it on the ground in protest at the dilly dallying, luckily the steward realized that it was pointless trying to pin it back on, so we were allowed run with me holding his number. A 300m race is a long way for a two-year-old, he started well, got to the halfway cone comfortably, had a bit of a stutter near the finish line but finished strongly in about 14th. A good debut.

4. Boxes

I think that it was great that the organizers put the runners into boxes just like I do. The start was arranged into boxes based on previous marathon times. The boxes were quite large, possibly based on the opinion of a Spanish Michael Herlihy type figure. There was Box 1 which had proper runners under 2:20. Then I was in Box 2 which was everyone who had run under 2:50 previously. The boxes were very easy to access, easier than Berlin and Seville. I was staying on the street the marathon started on, so I went from the apartment to my box in 3 minutes, ideal, perfect.

5. Penguins

I think that there were too many good runners in this marathon. Because I was staying so close to the start I was late getting to the start. When I got to my box 15 minutes before the start it was very full of people who could run under 2:50 for the marathon. I didn’t bother pushing up into the box because I assumed it would go out fast it being box 2. It didn’t, when the race went off after less fussing and music than there was in Billy’s race there were just too many runners for the width of the road. After 3k it was like being in a pack of penguins waddling along. You could feel the heat of the pack of runners, it was horrible and there was nothing I could do except try not to get stressed. I was very patient until 3k, then I started slaloming and elbowing like it was a cross country race. Once I got to 10k it was nice, still people everywhere but moving nicely according to my watch.

6. One Faced Liar

I think that I might run the next marathon off the km split signs. The GPS just doesn’t work. No wonder everyone was running PBs in those virtual races during lockdown, it’s minutes off. My watch was telling me I was great all race, miles under tormenting Michael Herlihy (TMH) pace. It was only when I got to the halfway mark that I realized that I was only barely under TMH pace. 1:14:58, not much time in the bank.

7. Entourage

I think that it is a good idea to bring someone with you to these marathons to hand out bottles. We were very professional and even rehearsed the bottle handoffs at the 16k, 25k and 30k points on the course the day before, this was mainly because we were terrified that we would mess up Tim O'Donoghue’s race by not getting him his bottles. The bottle handoffs were executed perfectly by Tim and Rhona. I also had one gel up my sleeve in my decathlon arm warmers and two gels in my shorts so six overall which is a lot. I have always believed in the importance of gels and water.

8. YouTubers and Irish People

I think that every youtuber in the world must have been running in Valencia. They were all over the place, it was a good way to pass the race trying to spot them. I ended up chatting to a less well-known YouTube shoe reviewer Nick Harris Fry who was on about the same pace, he was very nice and didn’t try to sell me anything. The other game I played was spot the Irish person. I only spotted two, David Callaghan from Tallaght and Brian Lenihan from Blackrock. I beat them both, I didn’t beat the YouTuber.

9. Waiting for Something

I think that I was too happy with tormenting Michael Herlihy. Marathons are waiting games, you keep running at a predefined pace waiting for something to go wrong. Valencia was very unusual as absolutely nothing went wrong, nothing, no stomach issues, no niggles, plenty of gels, perfect 12-degree weather, no wind, excellent magic shoes it was almost too good. Despite the absence of problems, I was terrified of pushing beyond my practiced tormenting Michael Herlihy pace for fear that I would blow up so I kept waiting until the last kilometer.

10. 2:30 for 2:30

I think that it is a horrible feeling when you realize that you are going to miss a sub 2:30 marathon. I only realized when I saw the 800m to go sign. I looked at my watch and it said 2:27:30. 2:30 to get under 2:30. Impossible, 5-minute mile pace. I tried anyway, aided significantly by the downhill bouncy blue mat. When I got onto flat but still bouncy blue mat to the finish, I looked at my watch and smiled. The tormenting of Michael Herlihy had been completed. 2:30:14. The sub 2:30 can wait for another day. It would have been a shame to have no goals left in running.