Before and after excerpts from my Instagram page on the Galway Bay Marathon (also a review on the Any Given Runday Podcast for those that want a more in-depth review of the marathon)

Before:

Here we go again. And over the next 4 hours, we’ll find out whether ego has gotten the better of me 😂🙈

Down in Galway for the Galway marathon (of course it's about to start raining!). After last week’s run, I have no idea how my body will hold up as this marathon progresses. But out of the three races, this is the least important. Last week was all about finishing, regardless of future runs. And Dublin is my Super Bowl run - the run I’ve been building up to for nearly the past year. Today? Well, in my mind, it’s a training run for Dublin in 29 days.

So if the body does start to break down, I’ve no problem pulling myself from the race… ok, I’ll have a little problem with it… ok, ok, it’s not something I want to do. But I will pull back on pace if I feel like I could injure myself and risk doing Dublin!

I would like to try a Dublin marathon pace during this one and see how the body holds up. Especially after last year when I was on for a sub 3:30 (this year’s Dublin Marathon goal) for the first 26k before everything fell apart. But a lot has changed over these past 11 months.

So, when I hit the starting line, and I’m pushing in the middle of a race, if the body feels good, we might test a little more to enjoy those scoops later a little more!

#LetsGoGetEmAgain

After:

And neeeeeewwww Marathon PB!

Absolutely chuffed with this one. I thought the laps would’ve been a struggle mentally, but it actually made the distance a lot more manageable, in my mind, anyway!

Mother Nature didn’t make it easy. We were tackling the wind during the first half of the laps. And then, on the final lap, the wind got a lot more fierce, followed by the heavens opening again. It definitely made it interesting.

Work to be done if I’m going to hit the sub 3:30 goal in Dublin in 4 weeks' time. But for now? Ah, few pints be nice!

#LetsGoGetEmAgain

Galway Bay Marathon 2022

Sean Coffey