No Smoking Campus

Head Banging

Advised by Lorraine Consultant to apply for a Medical Card for her after he episode last year. Filled out the forms and sent away with Doctors Letter. Some head banger in Finglas decides that I do not meet the financial criteria so refuses it but also cancels Christines Medical Card two weeks before her Breast Reconstruction Surgery. Trying to get the the plonker who signed off on it to reverse it immediately was next to near impossible. Could not even get to talk to him/her on the phone and spent nearly a week ringing up and each day been asked to produce letters from surgeons, doctor etc regarding her condition. So a trip to Pat Breen T.D. was required and in fairness to him he got it resolved within 24 hours but should our elected TD's really have to deal with issues like this. The public service need's a major revamp, if I took this long to acknowledge and rectify a mistake I made with a customer I would quickly go out of business. As for the complaints procedure its a joke, its like another tribunal with the amount of information they want to furnish.

Annoying Announcement

Herself indoors finally got the call up for her reconstruction Surgery in Galway in the middle of March. This would mean 7-10 days in Hospital. After about 3 days I was sick of hearing that rather annoying speaker announcement at the entrance to every hospital which is repeated every 30 seconds. You know, the one about this is a non smoking campus. Well I think it would drive you to taking up smoking again. When Christine was released early I was delighted to hopefully not be seeing any Hospital Campus for another while. Unfortunately this was short lived as a bad reaction to Pain Relieving Medication that Christine was sent home with landed her back in A&E unable to hold down food or water in Limerick two days later, (missed Pakie Ryan 10 miler as a result) where she had the pleasure of been in the company Twenty other patients on trolleys. I dread to think how A&E staff would have coped with a major emergency that weekend because you could not swing a cat in there. Another week in Limerick which didn't really resolve the situation. She was discharged on Friday but is looking likely to be readmitted again as her GP is still not happy that she is unable to hold down solids. If she does go in I will be forced to bring a pair of snips and rectify that Announcement.
As a result of all this my training schedule is all over the place. I am getting the major sessions in but my Recovery sessions are hit and miss. I need to address this as my left hip/adductor is acting up a bit again.

Long Runs without Sucrá

After the last two long runs where I came very close to bonking I reviewed my HR stats for both runs. After Two hours of running I had noticed that HR was going up to over 155 bpm. With this in mind I decided to run the next 18 Miler at 9:15 pace and see what happened  Well it went swimmingly well and I really enjoyed it. All done on 500 ml of Electrolyte (Zym tab in Water). Upped the pace to 9:00 mile for next 20 miler and carried a gel just in case. This went just as well and was ironically faster than my first 20 Miler which goes to show going out too fast just burns up Glycogen too quickly.

Eamon Maloney Memorial Run

I remember Eamon not for running but dancing, would regularly meet him and his better half around the pubs in Ennis and he was a bit of a character to say the least, slightly mad but aren't we all especially those of us who tackle the Marathon Distance. Eamon ran several Marathons in his day and given this race was to raise funds for Clare Cancer Center in Kilnamona it was a no brainer to run this. Better still Jason was looking for some pacing balloon carriers so I volunteered for the 60 Minute Slot.
A nice bright day but a crisp easterly breeze kept it on the chilly side. Got my number and balloon and headed for the start. A group had assembled around me which include some ladies who were with me on the Five Hour bus in Dublin 2 years ago. They didn't stay on the bus that day but today would prove more fruitful. Not much of a delay at the start and we were on our way. Course is uphill until about 7-8K and then down hill with the wind at the back from there. I didn't mind tipping along at 6:05 pace for the first half and this kept the group together  There is a climb from 3 to 5 where some of the group fell away but to their credit they kept me in sight and managed to catch back up on the run for home. Once we hit the 7K mark those around me kicked on. One lady stayed with me while the group behind started to reel us in. Got over the line in 59:49 but the chip mat at the start did not work so competitors only got their gun time. Shame really as four ladies who bust a gut to catch me before the line were definitely under 60 nett time as they started with me but all got accredited like myself with 1:00:09.
 The tea ladies laid on a super spread for us all afterwards which means a nett gain in calories even after an hour's running.  Congrats to Jason for putting it together and will no doubt be on the calendar again next year.


March 13th
          10 Miles  8 Miles 1:04:12 @ 8:02 pace,  HR 152 with 1 Mile WU/WD

March 16th  
          18 Miles Long Run 2:46:30, @ 9:15, HR 135. 

March 20th 
          9 Miles 7 Miles 52:45 @ 7:33, HR 156 with 1 Mile WU/WD

March 24th
          12 Miles,10 miles 1:17:09 @ 7:43 pace, HR 154 with 1 Mile WU/WD


March 27th
          20 Miles Long run 2:59:43 @  8:59 pace, HR 141