by Jim Swenney

After a fine trip on Aer Lingus, managing to fly in between strikes by various Aer Lingus employees, we settled in for three days in Dublin before the marathon. Dublin has become quite the booming and exciting city. There are loads of restaurants and pubs, and very friendly people.The streets seem more crowded than Boston, and unfortunately, traffic seems as bad or worse than Boston The only problem with arriving on a Friday for a Monday marathon is that it means more time for eating and pints of Guinness with friends and cousins in Dublin They kept telling me that I needed those extra servings for erergy on race day. I kept thinking of the extra pounds I would be lugging around for 26 miles. Our pre-race activities included a visit to some cousins in Enniscorthy, about 2 hours south of Dublin. Enniscorthy is most famous for being just a few miles from New Ross, the hometown of our Own Andy Hughes (formerly Ronan). Apparently, after hearing about Andy's recent marriage to Francine Ronan (formerly Hughes), the good people of New Ross have finally taken down the signs pleading for Andy to come home.

The, weather forecast for Monday was not promising a big storm was coming in for the weekend, possibly with hurricane force winds. Luckily, most of the storm passed through on Sunday night, but not all of it. Race day dawned bright and sunny, but the temperature was an unseasonably chilly 38 degrees and winds were around 30 mph. Over 9000 people entered this vear's race, with large contingents from the Leukemia Society and Arthritis Foundation. The start of the race, while always exciting, was particularly so for me being the capital of the country where my grandparents were born. As it often happens in Ireland, the bright and sunny conditions quickly changed. By the end of the first mile, it was sprinkling. By the third mile, it was raining, and the wind was picking up. The course winds through various neighborhoods in Dublin, giving a scenic tour of the city. The 11th mile brought a welcome sight, my parents and a friend from grade school days who now lives in Ireland. Most importantly, they had a supply of Power Gel. I was feeling good through 12 miles. I hoped to finish arobnd 3:40, and was on pace through the halfway mark, at 1:50. However, at the 12 mile mark, we turned straight into the wind; and the rain, which had been light, decided that this would be a good 'time to become heavy. The next 5 miles were tough. Heads down, everyone tried, unsuccessfully for the most part, to run behind the largest runners they could find to block the wind. The pace suffered, but we all survived. By 17 miles, there was a nice stretch with the wind turned around to our hack, the rain stopped and the sun came out again. However, by 19 miles, my legs were feeling the strain and by 20 miles, we were heading back into the wind for a few more miles. I hit 21 miles in a little over 3 hours, but my legs were cramping up. I stretched a bit, shortened my stride and buckled down for the last stretch Finally at 23 miles we started to head back into the center of Dublin, running along the Liffey River, with the wind finally at our backs and the sun still out. There were good crowds braving the weather along the Liffey to cheers us in I managed to keep a steady, though slower than-hoped-for pace, and finished in 3:53. The hot tea at the finish line was very welcome to the shivering runners.

The weather turned dry, breezy and warmer for the next few days - perfect marathon weather but a little too late. We stayed for another week and traveled out to County Galway on the west coast of Ireland. The scenery was spectacular and the pubs friendly. My mother got to see the house where her father had grown up for the first time. The Dublin Marathon is a great experience. The course is fairly flat. Dublin and all of Ireland is a lot of fun. You can't count on the weather, but that did little to dampen the spirits of the runners. I would highly recommend it to anyone else who is thinking of doing a marathon How about a "Parkway Running Club goes to the Dublin Marathon 2001" trip?

Jim Sweeney