Today saw the Dublin Marathon Series 5 Mile take place. It wasn’t my first time running in the Phoenix Park, I had the benefit of doing the Aware 5 Mile at Christmas which covered a fair bit of the same course.

Overall the event seemed very well organised, and the atmosphere was good even with the typically Irish weather – it rained of course. I’d heard stories of big backlogs at the start when the pens start off but didn’t experience that. After maybe 10 seconds I was jogging properly, and by about 30 seconds I wasn’t really stuck behind anyone. Worst bit was my GPS didn’t start properly but I can hardly fault the organisers for that …

Can’t comment on the course too much since I’m not exactly an experienced runner. This was my second event, and both have been in the park. Things worked well however I’d properly have liked more shade given I’m badly sunburnt still.

My official time was 39:26 while Strava picks it up differently due to the GPS issues. Respectably enough given the sunburn and the lack of training over the last week or so. The 10km is in 3 weeks, so speed work will be done, hopefully.