Less than two weeks to go

Just thirteen days to go at this point to the marathon . It starts in Staten Island at 8am (this is far too early!) and it means we will have to be up at 5am to get the 6am bus from Manhattan. The route takes us over the Vermazzano bridge, then north and before finally finishing up in Central Park.

I have started to enjoy the 'Corinthian' nature of running. I ran the Cork-Cobh race (15 miles) on September 30th. It was great to see people having a word or support along the way. The last three miles were gradually uphill and I have to say that it was great seeing my buddy Maeve (Trotter) who had held on at the finish line to cheer me home. It made the final 100m bearable.

Maeve has been hopping off the ground and is doing the Dublin City Marathon with her beau Lenny (the coach) Marshall. No bother to them. It was also great to see my old buddy Vince, who has been giving me all sorts of useful tips - not all of which I can share!

I am in wind down mode and did very little training since last weekend's long run. No point in leaving all that energy in Cork ! We had a team meeting in Crumlin on Saturday. The great Eamonn Coughlan, 'Chairman of the Boards', is leading this motley band of runners to New York. Eamonn had some wise words about preparing for the big day and not getting too caught up in the hype. The morning after we land Eamonn is also taking us out for a brisk jog (at 8am in Central Park! What is it with all the early starts?) and I am looking forward to that. To those who may be watching on Eurosport or a channel that will be showing the race, it will be easy to spot us as what we will be wearing is very patriotic. We'll be decked out as tricolours complete with little green shorts !! Enough said. LOL

On a more important note, Noreen is heading out to support me for the race and we are going to stay on for a couple of days after. We celebrated an important milestone recently on October 11th - 10 years since we met ... Who said romance is dead!

Not too long now

Hard to believe that there is less than one month to go till I run in New York!

I ran 22 September in the Phoenix Park in the Adidas Half marathon. I was very happy overall with my performance - it was extremely warm (especially coming after the terrible summer we have had in Ireland) and finished just over two hours . Had a slight cramp in my legs but overall the lungs stood up pretty well.

On 30 September, I took part in the Cork to Cobh road race. The conditions were fine again and it was a good challenge.

Have been training regularly and will be gradually reducing as NYC beckons.

Liam had chickenpox for the last two weeks of September, but is much better now.