PB’s and Dodgy Knees: The Achill 1/2 Marathon 2008

The weather forecast for Achill on Saturday morning was: wind, rain, wind, the odd sunny spell and wind. That’s a lot of wind!

I thought we had plenty of time to get from Claggan to the race but the drive to Achill is always takes longer that I seem to remember. As we crossed the bridge onto the island there was barely 30 minutes to the official start time and we had a good 20 minute drive to Keel.

The registration office looked like it was a stones throw from the start line. Here’s a handy hint: if a map states that it is not to scale assume the worst! In this case it was a mile away and I had to run there to make it back in time.

When I got back to the assembly area I was exhausted, the race was starting within minutes and I used this time to recover as best I could. As I walked along the line of the waiting runners towards the back of the queue I could feel the wind pushing against me; a strong wind is only good when it’s behind you, this one was very much in front!

It wasn’t long before the starting gun was fired and we were off. We left the beach and headed up to the main road and then turned right towards the mainland and into the wind.

The first few miles were harder than expected but enjoyable. As soon as I turned off the main road and headed towards the northern part of the island the wind eased off and the sun made a brief but welcome appearance. This part of the run was great; the scenery was stunning as the countryside opened up in front of me.

All was well until mile 9 when I started to feel a little little pain in my right knee, the knee I injured when I came off my bike earlier that week. I was passing a steward when I almost stumbled when I felt a sharp pain in that knee. He asked if I was OK and I said yes, it’s just a twinge. It wasn’t and I knew it but I couldn’t stop.

From mile 10 the pain got progressively worst but I knew if I stopped I may not get going again. By mile 12 I must have looked tragic; I had slowed right down and had a very obvious limp but I was still running. As I scaled the last hill the sandy beach of Keel appeared; not long now and it was all downhill.

I finally reached the outskirts of the town, I could see the finish line and running along the final stretch was fantastic as the enthusiastic cheers from the crowd pulled me along and over the finish line. I checked my watch and my time was 2:07:18; a new PB to make up for a dodgy knee!