{"id":4755,"date":"2018-10-29T16:23:10","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T16:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/?p=4755"},"modified":"2018-10-29T16:23:10","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T16:23:10","slug":"dublin-marathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/?p=4755","title":{"rendered":"Dublin Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dublin. Capital of Southern Ireland and largest city on the Emerald Isle. Famous for its welcoming locals, nightlife and of course it\u2019s Guinness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Club stalwart Keith Ruth took the journey across the Irish Sea to complete his swansong marathon in memory of his dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe passed away at 55 which was way too early. I promised myself that I would run something for him when I reached 55. As he was a Dubliner, choosing Dublin Marathon seemed perfect\u201d<\/p>\n

Perfect indeed, what a beautiful tribute.<\/p>\n

Started in 1980 by Noel Carroll, this race was unusually run on a Bank Holiday Monday until 2016. It was an instant hit with sign ups jumping from 2100 to over 11000 in just 2 years. It continues to grow year on year and it\u2019s easy to see why. Promising a fairly flat course and great support all the way around.<\/p>\n

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Starting in Fitzwilliam Square, the route took Keith through the streets of the city, crossing the River Liffey before heading North west toward Dublin Zoo and through Phoenix Park, the largest enclosed park in any capital city in Europe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had tears running down my face in the 1st mile, it was really emotional\u201d Keith tells me<\/p>\n

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After emerging from the park Keith took a Southerly turn before skirting the edge of the park then crossing the River Liffey for the second time at around the 10 mile mark<\/p>\n

Halfway saw Keith cross the Grand Canal before passing Brickfields Park.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cMy son and dog Rufus ran alongside me for a tiny bit, it was my highlight of the race\u201d<\/p>\n

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Keith continued on but the challenge of mind over matter started to bite.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe tiredness has started to kick in and it affected my confidence. It was a mental struggle\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s during these times in a marathon that the will to finish has to take over. You\u2019ve come so far but\u00a0 <\/span>have a long way yet to go. The self doubt starts to nag, trying to trick your legs into slowing in rythmn or worse still, stopping all together.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI suddenly heard the voice of Jodie Wilmott in my head. She told me that a marathon is a 20 mile training run followed by a 10k race. That really got me going again\u201d<\/p>\n

And get going he did. He kept battling away. One foot in front of the other, running with his dad in his heart. He continued on, past the University and the Elm Park Golf Course.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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24 miles and the final turn for home. The tears returned as he approached the finishing straight. He could see Michael, Rufus and girlfriend Carolyn as he gave it one last push across the line.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019d done it. A beautiful tribute to his much missed dad.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And as the cherry on the cake he\u2019d cracked the golden 4 hour mark for the second time this year. Something that he\u2019d been chasing for years previously. So to do it for his Dad was an extra special moment.<\/p>\n

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Dublin. Capital of Southern Ireland and largest city on the Emerald Isle. Famous for its welcoming locals, nightlife and of course it\u2019s Guinness.\u00a0 Club stalwart Keith Ruth took the journey…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4755"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4765,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4755\/revisions\/4765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}