Noel Fox is another recent recruit to our club but that hasn't stopped him hitting the ground running in a big way since joining. Altogether he has completed 5 marathons: Dublin 2008,  Newry 2009,  Stockholm 2011,  Connemara 2012,  Limerick 2012. Below see his race report on the Limerick marathon on May 6th. As a postcript to his efforts in Limerick on Sunday, Noel turned up for the Claregalway 5k on Tuesday and clocked a handy 20:49.

Well folks, my first race report. I met Mick Rice Saturday and he asked me to do a race report I said no, he turned to Claire (my wife) and said make sure he does a report, so like all good husbands I am doing as told, thanks for that Mick!!!!!

I decided to do the Great Limerick marathon as a training run towards my first stab at ultra racing in the 50K in Portumna in June. As you all know in reality there is no such thing as a training run…

I won’t bore you with too many details on the day but the weather was fab and I met up with Owen Curran (the guy who shuffled around Connemara in 3hrs 5min!!) and Mick Rice out for a stroll pacing the 3hr gang down at the start. It was great to meet the lads as it always takes your mind off the race while waiting to get started.

In my mind I was targeting 3hrs 25min or better which would be a PB. I have to say both Ray and Aoife spurred me on with their great achievements in Milan.

The race got underway and I settled into a nice pace and met up with some guys running at a similar pace. We realised at 6 mile mark either the Garmin was wrong or the mile markers were wrong so I decided to up the pace a little just in case the watch was wrong. When we passed the 13.1 mat at halfway my watch was bang on with the mat and I realised I am on for 3hrs 20min so decided to keep the pace as long as possible.

Mile after mile rolled on and I seemed to be staying very strong and to my amazement I did my quickest mile at 25 mile mark. I continued to push on and felt really strong at the finish and I was thrilled to see 3hrs 18min 21sec on the watch once I caught my breath.

I do have to mention Deirdre Quinn who I heard shouting at me as she passed in the car and also met her again with the Athenry banner at mile 26. Thanks Deirdre and whoever else was there holding the banner with you.

In all honesty I was surprised to run that well, it was one of those days that all seemed to go right for me. There are many reasons my running has improved this year and I will list them below.

• Jane Ann’s speed sessions are superb and I would not do this work on my own, so thanks to Jane Ann who puts in a lot of effort which benefits club members like me.
• Mick Rice marathon training plan is without doubt a big contributor to getting good times, so thanks to Mick for that.
• The people I run with regularly, Saturday morning’s long runs, nights in Ryehill and the 4k loop in Athenry. There are too many to mention and I will surely leave someone out. Its great running in groups, so a big thanks to all of you...
• Also, joining the club was a great thing, you can’t beat the words of wisdom and experience that people pass on.
• I suppose another big contributor is staying away from the fridge late at night, no point doing a 10 miler in Ryehill and then coming home and eating the house!!!!

Well done to all who took part in the half marathon, unfortunately I only got to see Jim Leahy powering home but I hear from Deirdre everyone achieved their goal, so well done.