By Martina McShane and Marie Curran
 
19th September 2010 - The day marked on our training plan as race day. The plan was devised eight weeks ago with a little help from magazines, Google and the greatest contributor - Maeve Noone. Neither of us would have contemplated taking on a half marathon had it not been for Maeve’s motivation and guidance over the past nine months. Her advice has been second to none, as well as her patience. Many an email has landed in her inbox asking for help on various topics from our race plan to sourcing routes for our long runs and she has always duly obliged.
 
Once the plan was finalised our focus became the Kilkenny half-marathon and so here the journey ends.
 
Having travelled the evening before, we woke rested and headed for breakfast at 7.00am. An unfortunate waiter broke the news to us that breakfast would not be served until 8am, although we had asked at reception the night before and were informed breakfast would be served at the prompt time of 7.00am. The poor man conceded - allowing us to have our feed - possibly in fear of having two grown women crying at his feet.
 
By 9.00am we were making our way to registration. We completed the journey to Ormonde Street without any detours - we had done a test run the night before with the aid of Mildred, a friend’s ‘sat nav’ - getting there in plenty of time to register and use the facilities before lining up at the start outside Kilkenny Castle.
 
At 11 bells we were off with the other 230 or so competitors. We took the first mile as a warm-up and upped the pace from there. Before we knew it we were hitting mile four and had our first encounter with our number-one supporter – a dad with two toddlers in a bike buggy. They were supporting their mum but saved a bit for us.
 
Miles four to six passed uneventfully, although shocked at our pace of 5.7 miles an hour, and how well we felt yet wondering if this bout of good luck would continue. At mile six we fell in with a wannabe Scotsman - a Kilkenny man sporting a kilt and sporran. We didn’t ask the question! I’m sure a lot of you are wondering but can only assume underwear was worn. In hindsight, the gentleman was possibly trying to deflect from a certain All-Ireland a few weeks ago.
 
By mile eight we had parted company with our new friend promising to watch out for him again in Waterford in December. It was back to just the two of us. We ran along taking stock of the beautiful scenery and watching out for hills - yes, there were hills, although the race was advertised as flat. We met our three supporters again at mile nine as they whizzed by us. The man reminded us he was not trying to rub anything in as he sped past with the two toddlers in tow.
 
Once we hit mile ten we were looking for the famous downhill that had been promised. We caught a glimpse of it but that was it and there were more small hills thrown in for good measure. At mile eleven we headed for the finish wishing to be closer to the castle where the line was waiting for us.
 
The mile from twelve to thirteen was the longest mile we have ever experienced. I was sure my Garmin was out of order. Thankfully, the supporters spurred us on ensuring that we maintained our pace and we finally crossed the finish line in times of 2:16.
 
The mayor was waiting to congratulate us and to hand us our medals. We had reached our goal! Going into the race we had made a pact, which was to enjoy the experience. We were not focused on times and just wanted to complete it without walking. Thankfully this was achieved and we hope to be back next year focusing on a time and maybe with some more Galwegians in tow???
 
We wore our singlets with pride and were thankful to all who shouted “Up Galway” along the route. It was a superb race. Perfect for anyone wishing to hit the deep end for the first time. The organisers even found time to give a food voucher to each finisher.
 
On a final note. To the individual in the silver car at about mile one who shouted “Where are ye headed??”
 
The answer is simple…. The finish line!
 
Below is a link to the full results:
 
http://precisiontiming.net/result/view/id/105

Kilkenny Half 2010