‘I finished behind a man in a cow costume’

IT is a surreal experience to stand among throngs of people giggling to themselves in Dublin city centre on the October Bank Holiday Monday as they realise the mental instability that inspired them to face into 26.2 miles of road running.

Different colour bib-numbers differentiated between those aiming to finish within three hours, in less than four hours and the majority of us 10,600 entrants who would have settled for crawling along Merrion Square on all fours.

Not that I can speak for runners whose legs clocked up a serious mileage in preparation, but there is no amount of training that can prepare a person for their first lash at this distance.