FANTASTIC 4 AND THE QUEST FOR SUB 4!! Follow the fantastic 4-4 friends embarking on breaking a sub 4 hour marathon, in some cases again and other cases for the first time!
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Monday, 16 April 2012
and next up London!! Sean's post Lochaber views!!
Well the bar has been set!!! At first I was feeling hugely under pressure!! You guys have achieved amazing results and i feel under huge pressure now to do you justice! As I have said continuously you have all ran faster marathons than me and yesterday was immense!!! I only hope I can match your performance!!!
With time to reflect I now am bursting for Sunday to come around and I cannot wait to get started!!! You have all INSPIRED me to do well and I WILL NOT let you down!! If I have half the guts and determination you guys showed yesterday I will do ok-only time will tell!!
With time to reflect I now am bursting for Sunday to come around and I cannot wait to get started!!! You have all INSPIRED me to do well and I WILL NOT let you down!! If I have half the guts and determination you guys showed yesterday I will do ok-only time will tell!!
RACE DAY PART 1-LOCHABER!!!
What an amazing day!! The weather was perfect very little wind, bright but cool!!
Pre race breakfast was enjoyed (Jim looked even worse now!!) and we all set off for the start. The Kirky Olympians were out in force and the atmosphere was building!!
After a quick pre race briefing the 3 amigos joined the 500+ runners who followed the piper and made their way to the start. The hooter sounded and off they went!!!
What a brilliant race to watch/support!! Sean and the kids in the car, Des on his bike and Moira in her car all made their way up and down the course cheering, feeding, encouraging, being ignored, grunted at, glared at.....!
All 3 were looking strong with Jim and Sandra working hard together all the way and Carolyn, despite injury set backs looking super strong, smiling all the way (a la Chrissie Wellington!!) and not too far back!!
Sean had a panic when the canal bridge closed and it looked like he wouldn't get to the finish in time to see Jim and Sandra finish but after seeing them at 22 miles he knew there was no way they wouldn't get under 4hrs!! With minutes to spare Sean and the kids got to the finish line and joined Moira, Des and the rest of the Olympian support crew as Jim and Sandra came into view with only 300 metres to go!!! Sean actually had to fight back tears, when he saw them!! OMG the TIME!!!!!!the TIME!!! 3hrs!!! 48!!!! AWESOME!!!!! and well deserved!!!
Now we just needed to get Carolyn home!!! Sean couldn't stand it any longer and ran back to the 25.5 mile mark to find her and ran her back in! (not that she needed it, she was looking so strong although the smile was starting to slip!!!!) and again the TIME!!!!! 4hrs 4 minutes!! With an injury!!! and first time EVER with no stops!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! The most frustrating thing being the wait in line to hug her after Des, Liam and Niamh!!!
HEROES!!! LEGENDS!!!!!!
What more can be said!!
You did the training and you believed!!! END OF........!
So proud to be part of this amazing team!!!
Pre race breakfast was enjoyed (Jim looked even worse now!!) and we all set off for the start. The Kirky Olympians were out in force and the atmosphere was building!!
After a quick pre race briefing the 3 amigos joined the 500+ runners who followed the piper and made their way to the start. The hooter sounded and off they went!!!
What a brilliant race to watch/support!! Sean and the kids in the car, Des on his bike and Moira in her car all made their way up and down the course cheering, feeding, encouraging, being ignored, grunted at, glared at.....!
All 3 were looking strong with Jim and Sandra working hard together all the way and Carolyn, despite injury set backs looking super strong, smiling all the way (a la Chrissie Wellington!!) and not too far back!!
Sean had a panic when the canal bridge closed and it looked like he wouldn't get to the finish in time to see Jim and Sandra finish but after seeing them at 22 miles he knew there was no way they wouldn't get under 4hrs!! With minutes to spare Sean and the kids got to the finish line and joined Moira, Des and the rest of the Olympian support crew as Jim and Sandra came into view with only 300 metres to go!!! Sean actually had to fight back tears, when he saw them!! OMG the TIME!!!!!!the TIME!!! 3hrs!!! 48!!!! AWESOME!!!!! and well deserved!!!
Now we just needed to get Carolyn home!!! Sean couldn't stand it any longer and ran back to the 25.5 mile mark to find her and ran her back in! (not that she needed it, she was looking so strong although the smile was starting to slip!!!!) and again the TIME!!!!! 4hrs 4 minutes!! With an injury!!! and first time EVER with no stops!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! The most frustrating thing being the wait in line to hug her after Des, Liam and Niamh!!!
HEROES!!! LEGENDS!!!!!!
What more can be said!!
You did the training and you believed!!! END OF........!
Pre Race Nerves!!
We all made our way up to Fort William on Saturday afternoon and met at the hotel. Sean even had a test drive with his new running group before he headed up (DECISIONS, DECISIONS!!!)
The journey was accompanied by our team cd!!
Jim looked like he was going in for a major operation!! (someone should tell him it's only a wee run!!) In fact he looked like this until about 3pm on Sunday!!!
A quick trip to the Lochaber Expo!! After fighting the queues to register and resisting the official merchandise (50p for last years T-shirt anyone!!?) we headed back to the hotel. The Casey's swam and then joined the team for drinks and food. Jim still looked like he had a terminal illness!!!! We were joined by Vinny (not my cousin!) from the Olympians and the pre race "guess the time" ritual took place!!
£5 a go! Jim 3.58, Sandra 3.56, Carolyn 4.35 and Vinny 3.17
The mood was very sombre and Carolyn "hustled" us all with her chat about 5 hours etc!!! Sandra looked worried sick (although not as bad as Jim!!!). Sean and Moira enjoyed a couple of pints, G&T and a few wines and even Des had a Baileys!!-it's a tough life being a supporter!!
Early bed was the order of the day!
The journey was accompanied by our team cd!!
Jim looked like he was going in for a major operation!! (someone should tell him it's only a wee run!!) In fact he looked like this until about 3pm on Sunday!!!
A quick trip to the Lochaber Expo!! After fighting the queues to register and resisting the official merchandise (50p for last years T-shirt anyone!!?) we headed back to the hotel. The Casey's swam and then joined the team for drinks and food. Jim still looked like he had a terminal illness!!!! We were joined by Vinny (not my cousin!) from the Olympians and the pre race "guess the time" ritual took place!!
£5 a go! Jim 3.58, Sandra 3.56, Carolyn 4.35 and Vinny 3.17
The mood was very sombre and Carolyn "hustled" us all with her chat about 5 hours etc!!! Sandra looked worried sick (although not as bad as Jim!!!). Sean and Moira enjoyed a couple of pints, G&T and a few wines and even Des had a Baileys!!-it's a tough life being a supporter!!
Early bed was the order of the day!
Final pre Lochaber run!
As a wee treat we missed training at the Olympians for one Thursday and met at our usual haunt the Boathouse for a gentle 5 mile stroll at very easy pace, although we were having trouble slowing Sandra down!! Carolyn too, although she wouldn't admit it was also running very strong and on reflection probably in better "knick" than she thought!!
Run out of the way, we popped in for a quick coffee and without even the hint of a red neck pulled out a "birthday" cake and asked for plates and a knife!! We didn't even pretend and sing "Happy Birthday!!" Nonetheless it was very enjoyable and a big thanks to Sandra for supplying the cake, very kind indeed!!
The nerves were starting to show and even a sense of emotion was in the air, as we chatted about what laid ahead.
Finally the hugely thoughtful Carolyn presented us with gift bags containing a cd of all our song clues, which we have all been playing repeatedly (Liam and Niamh were singing Colorado Rocky Mountain High this morning going to school!!!!). This was accompanied by a DVD-My Cousin Vinny!!! Carolyn had a failed attempt at movie club suggestions and movie of the week and this was her starter many weeks ago!!! Song clue, alphabet game, route planning, blog and even poems!! The movie suggestion was a step too far but I'm sure we will all watch our new DVD in the coming weeks!!!!
At this point the hugely unthoughtful and unkind Sean produced 2!!!! four leaf clover pins for the girls, which he had in his boot and nothing for Jim!!! Or indeed for that matter FROM Jim!!!
See you all in Fort William!!!!!!!!
Run out of the way, we popped in for a quick coffee and without even the hint of a red neck pulled out a "birthday" cake and asked for plates and a knife!! We didn't even pretend and sing "Happy Birthday!!" Nonetheless it was very enjoyable and a big thanks to Sandra for supplying the cake, very kind indeed!!
The nerves were starting to show and even a sense of emotion was in the air, as we chatted about what laid ahead.
Finally the hugely thoughtful Carolyn presented us with gift bags containing a cd of all our song clues, which we have all been playing repeatedly (Liam and Niamh were singing Colorado Rocky Mountain High this morning going to school!!!!). This was accompanied by a DVD-My Cousin Vinny!!! Carolyn had a failed attempt at movie club suggestions and movie of the week and this was her starter many weeks ago!!! Song clue, alphabet game, route planning, blog and even poems!! The movie suggestion was a step too far but I'm sure we will all watch our new DVD in the coming weeks!!!!
At this point the hugely unthoughtful and unkind Sean produced 2!!!! four leaf clover pins for the girls, which he had in his boot and nothing for Jim!!! Or indeed for that matter FROM Jim!!!
See you all in Fort William!!!!!!!!
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