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Two Road Days To Dublin!

A great days running today from Gorey to Rathdrum, 36km. Seamus Doran ran every step with me as did Jesper Olsen who covered the distance but blasted out of sight towards the end. Also for most of the day our host from the Whitford Hotel in Wexford, James Whitty.

The progress was slow due to so many stops, but what the heck!

Just before Arklow many runners including Mary Hickey who had run all 34 Dublin marathons to date. There were 15 runners in total when I ran through Arklow, a record for the Ireland lap. Though I have appreciated each and every one of them, overall I am very disappointed by the lack of awareness of the run all through the lap of Ireland. People keep telling me they only heard about it the day before and there seems to be almost no media interest.

Many from the Coral running club , Mary’s club and also from the Arklow rowing club. Many of todays runners took time off work, juggled school runs for their children, I appreciate their efforts, Thank you!

When I left Ireland four years ago there were about 8 marathons in Ireland. Now with the running boom explosion there is at least one a weekend. Also such events as ten marathons in ten days and fifteen in fifteen days. There is the marathon Club of Ireland whose members aim to run 100 marathons. Before it was necessary to travel extensively, now it can be done in Ireland in a couple of years. Over the top, but nobody takes me serious when I mention other runners as being over the top!

There was a long, long drag of a hill towards Rathdrum, I was shattered, lately I have been surprisingly strong on hills.

Then along came Paul Mahon a fellow hill running mate from years ago stopped by for the last hour. Paul and his girlfriend Hilary Jenkinson tracked me down when I was running through Colombia in Feb 2012 and ran with me for a couple of days there. It was a great boost at the time, for except for a brief run with an American ex-pat in Ecuador for one day it would be another year till my next runner!

So tonight along with my great crew woman and driver Siobhan who has excelled herself these last few days finding hotels willing to sponsor our stay. Michael Gillan an Athlete legs recovery specialist who was my crew man in Australia and specially came over for the end of the run and Jesper Olsen we were all guests in Paul and Hillarys large house near Rathdrum.

Thanks everyone, a memorable day

Two road days left! hope you can make it to Rathdrum tomorrow around 9am for the run to Bray. Thanks for the memories!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2014 at 10:31 pm and is filed under jogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Two Road Days To Dublin!”

Ann Says:
October 24th, 2014 at 12:08 am
Great to see you are enjoying your last few days of your world run, I remember Paul and Hilary running with you in Columbia, they are fab to have tracked you and run again with you. Great memories for your last few days. Fair play to Siobhan for excelling herself, she is a real trooper
Greg Havely Says:
October 24th, 2014 at 3:52 pm
Hey Tony—well I guess this will be the last addition of mine tl this blog. You are only about 10 miles away from Dublin and one marathon away from completion of this amazing event—–Really looking forward to running that final mile with you on Monday—-can’t believe that it is that time–4 years has in many ways passed by quickly—–
Anyway—–looking forward to giving you a warm well deserved welcome home—as always—
GOOD RUNNING______

Greg
theworldjog Says:
October 24th, 2014 at 5:28 pm
Great to have you here Greg. I appreciate you making the trip over from Oregon, a real friend. Looking forward to meeting up with you at the end of the Ireland lap in Fitzwilliam Place on Saturday
alan Says:
October 26th, 2014 at 7:53 pm
Wow! Some amazing feat of endurance Tony!! Unreal experience! Hope you are relishing the finish line coming up tomorrow and that every mile will be easier on the legs, a walk in the park for you. Sorry to hear small numbers running with you, thought you would’ve been inundated. Well I’ll be there tomorrow to cheer you on and hopefully run with you during marathon. Well done and enjoy glory of being only 3rd person to do this and the longest distance record for around world!!! Some man.

since Tony began his World Run on 25th October 2010

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About Tony

I have always considered myself to be an average runner. In school, I was even bullied for I was a sports wimp. Through hard work, dedication, perseverance, self-belief and a strong mind I succeeded in not only running around the world but breaking four ultra running world records during my competitive career. Having previously cycled around the world I didn't start running until I was almost 30. Then I had a dream of running around the world. For many reasons, I waited for over 20 years. One reason was to establish my pedigree as an endurance athlete. I started and finished my world run as the current World Record-Holder for 48 Hours Indoor Track 426 kilometres (265 miles), a record I have held since 2007. I also broke and still hold the World Record for 48 hours on a Treadmill 405 kilometres (251 miles) in 2008. When I retired from competition, more pleasing than any of my world, European or Irish records I had the respect of my fellow athletes from all over the world - in my opinion, sports greatest reward - an achievement I am most proud of. Then I finally put myself out to pasture, to live my ultimate dream to run around the world! This blog was written on the road while I struggled to find places to sleep and to recover from running an average of 43.3 kilometres or 27 miles per day for 1,165 road days. There were many nights I typed this blog on a smart phone, so fatigued my eyes closed. Many journalists and endurance athletes have referred to my world run as the most difficult endurance challenge ever attempted. During my expedition I rarely had any support vehicles, running mostly with a backpack. In the more desolate areas I pushed my gear, food and water in a cart which I called Nirvana, then I sent her on ahead to run with my backpack once again over altitudes of almost 5,000 metres in the Andes. I stayed in remote villages where many people had never seen a white person before. I literally met the most wonderful people of this world in their own backyard and share many of those amazing experiences in this blog. My run around the world took 4 years. There were no short cuts, I ran every single metre on the road while seeking out the most comprehensive route across 41 countries, 5 continents, I used 50 pair of running shoes and my final footstep of the run was exactly 50,000 kilometres, (almost 31,000 miles) I eventually finished this tongue in cheek named world jog where I started, at the finish line of my city marathon. I started my global run with the Dublin Marathon on October 25th 2010 and finished with the Dublin Marathon on October 27th 2014 at 3 05pm! Thank you for your support, I hope you can share my unique way of seeing the world, the ultimate endurance challenge! Read more...