Seville Marathon 2024 Race Report

If you're looking to smash a PB on an unbelievably flat and fast course then Seville Marathon is 100% the race for you. However, if you're looking for an enjoyable marathon with a great atmosphere in a beautiful city.....then Seville Marathon is also 100% the race for you.

It's 7 days post race now and my body is finally coming around a bit. I'm floored though with a severe sinus infection which is a bit annoying but it's normal to feel a bit crap after a marathon. Antibiotics will sort me out.

So why did we sign up for Seville and how did the deep winter training go?

I was absolutely buzzing after another successful Dublin Marathon block with the group. This year 67 in the group completed Dublin. Personally, I wanted to keep going with the training as I was feeling so good. There were a few doing Rome, Tokyo, Paris, Brighton, and London but the dates of these just didn't really suit me. Seville had been on the radar since Dave M recommended it from 2022. And I heard only good things about the city and the race.

I'm not sure of the exact date but I think it was after our Mystery Bus tour that I signed up. Immediately I contacted Ciaran, Paul, Sean, Robbie and a few more about going. Ciaran said no as he was going to be skiing with 2 weeks to go to it. Paul said no as he wanted to do a half marathon. Sean said no because he was going to be very busy in Feb, and Robbie said yes! 

Ok, how will I convince the other 3?

"Lads, it's a seriously fast course, PB potential all over it, beautiful city, warm weather in Feb"

Paul: "ok, I'm in"

Ciaran "Let's do it"

Sean "No, sorry!"

So we had a group of 4 committing to a very early spring marathon with 14/15 weeks of training ahead. 

Mondays were generally Tempo Days, Tuesdays were recovery sessions, Wednesdays Track Sessions with the Dungarvan 10 group, Thursdays and Fridays Recovery sessions, Saturday Long run, and Sundays were either recovery or cross training. We ended up doing more loops of Clonmel than ever before as it was just so handy with safety, toilet stops, refuelling etc. 

Every run I did with the lads was an absolute pleasure, even the ones which weren't. The 3 lads were just brilliant and we all drove each other on at different stages. We trained through every conceivable weather, the highlights being a 29k trail run,  32km run in -2 degrees, a 30km run in a crazy storm in Clonea, a hungover 30km run where the lads smelled weakness and made me suffer, a 38km interval run in Mallorca (4 day training camp on Jan 12th for half nothing) in January in 18 degrees, and the LT session in the middle of 2 long runs on the blueway!! Ah it was just brilliant and I looked forward to every session. It's all about company. Would I have done that training on my own?? Not a hope. I'm nowhere near motivated enough. However, knowing a group of athletes are relying on each other to turn up makes life so much easier! Sound lads too and really great chats and banter during every run.

The training kept us on the straight and narrow through Christmas and we were in top shape for the Stephens Day race, Newcastle 5k, and JT 10 Dungarvan. We were lucky to have the support of all the other athletes in Team IP as we departed every Sat morn knowing that there'd always be a few to chat with at Fetch coffee after. 

The training was intense and at a higher level than ever before due to the fact that the lads had such good fitness post DCM. It was tough but manageable. Robbie was particularly unlucky though with a hamstring injury, then an achilles issue (e-bike sa colabra broken chain maybe?) , and then getting a severe chest infection/flu in the week leading up to Seville. So bad that not even a hot whiskey mixed with lemsip on Wednesday made any difference. 

Race week was like any other race week. It flew and dragged at the same time. It's a weird feeling. Trying to mind ourselves but trying to continue as normal as possible. Just itching to get over there and do the race. Legs generally feel heavy and tired in the days leading up to race day. If planned correctly you should start feeling really good just a day or 2 pre race. The flipside of this approach though is constant questioning yourself and telling yourself theres NO WAY you'll be able to run 5k at the pace you want, let alone 42.2k! The more marathons you do though, you realise this is all part of it...the doubts, the crazy phantom niggles, the irrational worry, imposter syndrome etc etc.... All you can do is trust the process :)

So, Ciaran collected myself and my dad at 3:40am on the Friday morn in his new Golf GTI.  Parked up in cork airport at 4:33am. Met Robbie in departures and he was doing a great job of hiding how sick he was! It was really great to have Dad with us and he kept us laughing with a few stories from his 33 marathons...the one where he got so hungry in a Dublin marathon that he went into someone's kitchen on route for a sandwich... Things were a bit different in those days :D

Flight over was ahead of time, everything was going very well. 2 hours and 10 mins flight time. Got a taxi to expo and we were the first in there at 10am. Registered, collected our numbers, and Paul's and nicky's, had a very quick look around (it was amazing) and then went for a coffee and brekky. 

Our airbnb allowed us an early check in. It was brilliantly located if a tad pokey. Robbie's room was a converted ensuite.. He took one for the team. Sorry Robbie, it won't happen again! Dad's hotel was only 150m away so we dropped him over. 

Our first impression of Seville was that it's the most beautiful city certainly that I have ever been to. Orange trees ever and you just feel so safe. Theres's no intimidating characters, and the atmosphere is incredible at any time of the day. We grabbed a coffee and then went for our sports massages. Myself and Ciaran got regular 1 hour massages which were great, but for some reason Robbie's one lasted 2 hours! 

At this stage both myself and Ciaran were starting to feel a bit dodgy. I couldn't breathe through my nose at all and was feeling quite rough, so I started getting the Nurofens into me. 

We grabbed a bite to eat at La Bartola. Food was ok but the service was hysterically bad. Queues out the door though. 

On Saturday morn Robbie decided not to run the brekky 5k as he was feeling so bad so I ran it for him with Ciaran. It was absolutely brilliant. Unreal atmosphere and we did our pickups and stretching. 

Usually the day before a marathon I advise everyone to get the feet up for the day after the 25 min pick up session. However this was hard to do. We didnt want to be just sitting around the small apartment on a beautiful day in a beautiful city so we decided to grab a bite to eat and explore the city centre a bit more. No regrets. It was amazing. People everywhere just enjoying themselves on the street. Flamenco dancers. Singers. Guitar players. It's some city. 

Dad did his own thing on the Saturday but we met him that night for a few mins. 

Paul and Nicky arrived at 4:30 and it was great to meet them pre race.

From 5pm we just chilled in the apartment, ate a load of rice and pasta and tried to go to bed early. I was sneezing like a mad fella. Everytime I saw the sun my head nearly exploded. I think the lads got a bit freaked out by how intense my sneezes were. I like sneezing though so I was happy which is obviously the main thing.

Neither myself nor Robbie slept a wink. It was like a scene from outbreak. Poor fella sounded terrible all night and the walls were paper thin. 

When we got up at 5:30am Robbie's WHOOP was in the red which meant his HRV was low, his respiratory rate was high...and to sum up, he was fckd! Ciaran slept quite well I think but his WHOOP was still not in the green. 

I felt low on energy but I was ignoring it. My stomach was in turmoil (as the lads found out) but on with the gear and we made our way up to start line (2k away) at 7:30am. Brilliant atmosphere. Weather 10 degrees. Met Paul and Nicky and got a photo with Barry McGuigan after our warmup!! (Random)

Suddenly my stomach took another turn. This was strange. I wasn't nervous. Something else was going on. It was now 8:16am (14mins to start). I told the lads I'd meet them at the start line as I ran to find anywhere to relieve myself illegally. There was nowhere. So I had to join a crazy long queue for the portaloo. Got in there @ 8:25am. No toilet paper left of course and there was a pyramid of unflushable stuff in the toilet. Luckily I had supplies. Legged it to start line for 8:29am and noticed 10's of empty clean portaloos at start line :) I'll know for next time. Couldnt find the lads but no matter. 

Gun went off and there we go. 15 weeks of winter dedication led to this moment.

Would Ciaran hold a fast pace from the start? Would Paul break 3? Would Robbie get through 5k still intact? Would my stomach hold up?

The range of emotions throughout a marathon is mental. 

This one in particular I experienced the full spectrum. 

I went into Seville with absolutely no plan. I definitely wanted to push the boundaries but was also hoping to really enjoy it as much as  possible. My manageable MP in training had been approx 4:00/km so I knew I could hold that for the most part. I was also really hoping that Dad would spot us near the finish and he'd enjoy it all. I knew some of the group and families back home would be glued to the tracker so that was really motivating.

The first 5k I was flying. It felt too easy. I could see Ciaran up ahead just behind the 2:45 balloons and he looked so comfortable. First time I glanced at my watch was around the 5k mark and I was holding 3:58/km average....okkkkkkkk, let's go with this for the moment and see what happens. In DCM i averaged 4:07/km and I was very conservative for entire race. 

Next 10k the same. In fact I got faster and was averaging 3:55/km. It felt so good. So good in fact that I remember thinking to myself " I can't wait to tell the group back home how deadly and fast and flat Seville is....best marathon ever!" I was loving it.  Literally the only 'climb' was when we went under a flyover twice. 

The crowd was intense for the most part. Really noisy and really fun. There were water stops/aid stations really regularly, I think every 5k but the water was in small cardboard cups which kind of made it impossible to drink unless you completely stop. So water went everywhere but inside my mouth. My own fault really, I should have stopped to drink each time for the sake of a few secs. 

I had my pouch of PH gels and I took a swig every 5k along with my salt stick tab. (They are brilliant BTW)

I felt like I started to work a bit from 15k. The pace was getting quicker still but I still felt ok. I found the really long straight boulevards quite tough mentally but I got in with a solid group of runners which had a few from Longford in it. Pace was hovering between 3:50 and 3:56/km right up to halfway.

I was working now. This was when it was going to get interesting. 

Those initial feelings of joy were starting to disappear and I was just 100% focused on getting tho 25k...then 30k...etc...

Doubts started to creep in. This always happens at some stage but in Seville it happened a bit earlier than normal, around 25km. I really started to have to dig in to maintain that pace from that point. The pace was still around 3:56/km right up to 30km and I actually got a 30k PB which was great. However, the stomach finally gave in around that point. Energy took a massive dip and I let go of a sub 2:50. That was actually a big relief. I didn't even plan to run sub 2:50 but up to 30km I was thinking I was going to smash it. I was really wrecked and I had to dig really deep for the last 10k but I let the Vaporfly 3's do their magic and just concentrated on holding a decent rhythm and form. Once we got back into city centre I started to feel good again (caffeine gel helped) and managed to hold decent pace to the finish line. I spotted Dad about 600m from finish and managed to roar at him..luckily he saw me and seemed delighted :)

The finish straight was absolutely class. The only issue was that it was a fair bit longer than 42.2km. It came up as 42.67km on my garmin and 42.95 on official strava map. Mentally that was a bit tough a few km before the finish as it said 39km on my watch but I didn't see the 39km marker for another 600 meters. Also there's a cobbled section around the 38k/39k mark that really saps the legs. If you're going for a time in Seville in the future just factor that in along with the extra length!!

When I crossed the line in 2:51:29 the overriding feeling was relief. It was over 20 degrees at this stage and I was completely empty. Emptier than I have ever been. Ciaran came in at 2:49:00 and the two of us met at the finish line, equally empty! His second marathon. Some athlete.

My body was done. I could barely walk. We shuffled to the bag drop and it took about 15 mins to get back up after sitting down. The 2k walk back to the apartment wasn't pretty but we met Dad and it was great catching up.

Paul came in at 3:03....he was on for 2:58 until the hammys started cramping...some result though... Sub 3 is 100% on the cards in 2024.

Robbie finished the marathon in 3:45..incredible from a fella as sick as a small hospital..unbelievable stuff! Robbie was on for sub 3:10 before he got sick. Robbie is getting better and better and he's another guy who'll smash 3 once he gets a good run of luck. 

Robbie and Paul are streets ahead of the level I was at at their age so the future is very bright.

We were all delighted. Another amazing feeling to do such an iconic marathon.

We managed a pizza and half a beer and went back to our apartment for a power nap before the flight home. 

100% would do it again. Would love to have it as a destination race for the group in the future. 

Marathons are always viewed with rose tinted glasses. We forget the pain and the suffering pretty quickly and generally we look to the next marathon and what we need to do to beat our PB (I'm generalising obviously here!!)

Ciaran is going back to Iron Distance Tri training (today i think!)

Paul will concentrate on cracking out fast half marathons until the autumn

Robbie will hopefully get going again ASAP and crack out the marathon he is capable of.

For me, I don't know. At the moment I'm loving running. I love the group of runners I'm involved with. I've no great urge to go back to triathlons this year but that could change next week. There's just something about running. It feels way less intense in terms of stress than tri for me. I get quite irrationally stressed with triathlon and for me to enjoy it I need to let go of the competitive element which is hard to do. With running there is no competitive element. It's just me v me and it relieves stress in my life like nothing else. I love it. 

One thing is for certain though, I will make sure I register as Male for the next race I do. 

When I registered for Seville in November it gave me the option in Spanish to tick M or H for gender. Obviously I ticked M and thought no more about it. 

Little did I know that during the marathon everyone who was following me on the tracker was having great craic as I crept up the female leaderboard in my AG and then crept right back down again once the pace started to fade. However I did come 9th female overall in the o40 AG and 73rd female overall. 

M means Mujer. H means Hombre. Mujer means woman. Lesson learned :)

I came 999th overall with a 3.5 min PB in 2:51:29. There is insane talent at this race!

I would love to get the Berlin Marathon standard this year or next year for my AG which is 2:45 (approx 3:53/km pace). Very tough goal for my ability but I certainly won't sit on the fence for the rest of my life wondering could I have done it. 

And another goal in the future is to run a marathon with Aine and Adam...(I asked Heidi last night would she run a marathon with me when she's a grown up and she started crying....Wendy just said yea and started dancing)

Seville wouldn't have happened without the support of Aine, Adam, Heidi, and Wendy and the very supportive partners of the 3 lads :) Life was mad for all of us for the 15 weeks but we kept it going.

Next up in the group is Seamus in Tokyo, Elaine and Elaine in Rome, Jane in Bath, Jess, Helen, & Karen in Paris, Keith in Brighton, and Nicola in London.

Next set of plans will start on March 11 and will focus on Limerick and Cork 10k/Half/Marathons.

If there was anything I would change about the training it'd be more strength training and more completely flat tempo and long runs to make it more specific to Seville (50m elevation in entire race!) But as I said already, the training was brilliant because of the company and I for one looked forward to every Sat morn with the lads. I hope we can regroup again in the future :)

So thanks to everyone who followed and wished us well. See ye on the roads :)