Dublin City Marathon 25th October 2010

Another early start for me on a very crisp Bank Holiday Monday, thankfully I was only going to support the Le Cheile atheltes in their quest to run the Dubin City Marathon, for some it was their debeut for others it was a chance to run a faster time and for others they were pacing the event.

I positioned myself at the 15mile mark at the Kimmage road and at 1hr 10min the leaders passed a bigger group than last year with about 10 in it and all looking comfortable. The first of the Le Cheile fit4life past was Jarlath, he looked really comfortable and managed a large smile as he passed by. I just thought to myself how do they do it? but the answer is they set a goal and trained hard! I knew Tony was pacing the 3.30 group and they went passed i let a shout out "come of Le Cheile" but I couldn't see Tony nor did I see Des who's goal was to run a 3.30 marathon, I hope they heard me. I saw Veronica who passed by in a large group but she turned around when i let out a shout for her. Allison passed by, I told her she was doing great, but this doesn't even come close to how describing the admiration that I feel for every sinlge person who runs a marathon. Allison even looked comfortable enough but she told me her knee was giving her some trouble. I got the surprise of my life when as i was just clapping for the steady stream of runners passing by I heard a loud shout "Lisa Long, my god " and there I saw some old pals of mine from Blackrock Jean and john Redmond, brother and sister who currently reside in Canada. Anyway I was waiting on Cathy to come along and I was hoping that i hadn't missed her and when I saw her, so I cheered again, then I saw Marian and she too was going great. I had hoped to see Paul (Conor's dad, his first marathon) but unfortuanately I didn't spot him amongst the steady flow of fantastic people.

Apologies to anyone that I have left out, all the Le Cheile crew were supported by family members and friends along the route and I'm sure they were delighted to hear their names being called out and encouraged along the very long hard 26 mile route of the Dublin City Marathon.

Well done to you all you are fantastic!