For the second time this year I donned my trainers and ran the Clontarf Half Marathon. On a particularly cold November morning I found myself standing by the promenade in Clontarf for my last race of the season. I was particularly thankful for the pair of running gloves I bought long before I ever actually ran!

Kit Ready

The route was the same as the one I completed in July. Starting on the coast road in Clontarf across from The Yacht pub. Out the coast, across the wooden bridge, along Bull Island, off the beach towards St. Annes park, right again further along the coast and back again. I think I was at kilometre 7 or 8 when I spotted the overall winner running back towards me – what a champion.

Across Bull Island

Surprisingly enough there were not half as many people running this one as there was in July. Then again running in Summer versus running in Winter does have a certain appeal.  I actually found the course quite tough this time. It took me a while to warm up and I had done jack all pre event training, which is never clever. Lets just say the Eat and Drink sections of this blog have been getting a whole lot more attention than the running section.  My waistline will confirm that. Despite that myself and my buddy managed to cross the line with a clock time of 2:19:53.

Finish Line

Done and Dusted

Runners Bling

The official chip time came in at 2:14:22 which was actually a couple of minutes faster than my time in July.  Overall I was happy with the morning and glad I got out of bed to do it.  I needed a bit of a kick start to get myself going again.

Not Too Shabby Time Wise