It has been five days since the 2023 Dublin Marathon and the finish line after many months of training.

Yesterday was probably the first day I felt a little bit normal and the stairs weren't killing me.

After telling everyone the goal was to try and run it under three hours there was part of me thinking 'Why do I say these things?' But there was a bit accountability there as well and an attitude that I better get it done now. I'm delighted to be able to say that I managed to.

Your training completely reduces in the week before the race to stay fresh so you start to get that itch to get going. I didn’t sleep well Friday or Saturday. When the clocks went back I woke up at 5am and had to google the time to double-check it, freaked out that I would miss the thing after preparing all year.

I found the conditions on Sunday pretty good. The rain was mostly soft and didn’t bother me and there was no wind or major heat, which I would be more worried about. You are soaking though so you do need to be careful of chafing – I lubed the bejaysus out of my nipples when I got up! I went heavy on the carbs the day before, so the morning of the race I just had a light breakfast, porridge, and didn’t have any major stomach issues.

Last year was my first marathon and I completely blew up, so it was a case of what I could learn from that. I went off too fast last year and didn’t pace it right, cramped up, all the horror stories you can think of. I got carried away by the atmosphere, being on the start line at Fitzwilliam Square full of adrenaline and running in a wave of thousands of people. You feel you’re comfortable the first couple of kilometres and then the watch beeps and you realise you’re 20 seconds faster than you need to be.

So this year I was following the pacemakers with the three-hour balloon on their back. I was targeting around a 4:30 pace for the first few KMs and was at 4:20 so that was okay. Sub-three-hour pace is about 4:16. I hung back a bit, just kept the balloon in striking distance, because there’s always a load of people around it and it can get pretty packed.

That was the reference point and the focus then was to get to the half-marathon mark in about 90 minutes. That would be conservative and then I could pick up the pace a bit, which I did. My second half was faster. There are a lot of hills in Dublin in the first half. I remember thinking 'Oh my God’ going up the first steep climb out of Chapelizod last year and that was only 10 miles in. So this year I eased off a bit on the hills and if I drifted five or 10 seconds off pace that was fine. The balloon went out of sight in Castleknock but I knew I had another two hours and was confident I would get it back in the flatter second half.

The Crumlin Road is a bit of a slog, a long incline all the way up to the Walkinstown Roundabout, and then you get there and there’s loads of people and a great atmosphere with music. You get that buzz then you swing a left onto the road down to Kimmage and that’s a long oul grind again.

When we went down Fortfield Road to Terenure and Bushy Park, 17-18 miles, I had a bit of a wobble and I was thinking ‘This is getting really tough’. But I kept the balloon in sight and I knew my wife Charlotte, the kids and family were going to be in Milltown so I was just focused on getting there. I had a few other people along the way helping out, Paul Norton was cycling along to different points throwing me food, and it’s so good knowing people are going to be at different points, it really helps to break up the race.

The support along the route was incredible, so many people came out even in the rain. The atmosphere is so inspiring, it’s the best of Dublin. When you recognise a voice of a friend, family member or even a stranger cheering you on, that means so much. It gives you a little lift and pep in your step. That could be the difference between someone giving up or not.

When I got to Milltown I felt good but then I had to get up Milltown Hill and onto Clonskeagh Road, which is brutal – I walked up it last year. But I got up Roebuck Road as well and felt comfortable. Through all of this I was taking on energy gels, about one every five miles, and lots of fluids. Sipping at any opportunity to avoid cramp and the hydration worked well. Thankfully I had no injuries going in and the body held up on the day. Late on the knees and quads did begin to ache from the constant pounding. In training the longest run I did was about 2 hours 45 minutes and a lot of that was on grass and trails around places like Marley Park and Bohernabreena, so go that but further and at a faster pace is always unknown.

David Gillick (Green vest, left) closes in on the three-hour pacer. (Picture: darrenh_photography)

There’s a bit of decline down Fosters Avenue so you can kind of let the body recover a little before you hit the N11, where the incline before the flyover at UCD just after 23 miles catches a lot of people out. At this point the balloon was maybe only 20 metres ahead of me but down Nutley Lane it felt like I stopped gaining on them, I was worried I wasn’t going to catch them.

I turned onto Merrion Road, the start of that long stretch back into town and even though you’re in the last couple of miles, it feel horrific. I thought it would never end. A lady passed me and said ‘Come on David, you’re nearly there’ but there was nothing more I could do and at that point I was starting to worry that I was going to barely miss out on going under three hours. Even though I was running off my watch and GPS, you never really know if that’s 100% accurate, it’s the chip time that records when you pass the start and finish lines that counts. Plus, you always end up running a little more, I ran 42.45km, that's 300m more than the marathon distance. I also didn’t know if the balloon was ahead of time or bang on it.

A bit of panic set in and I just decided I didn’t want to fall a few seconds outside and have to do this all again, just to get a sub-three. So I sucked it up and when I got to Ballsbridge, Emmett Dunleavy, who has been coaching me, took a step onto the road and bawled me out of it: "Come on! You’re nearly there, you’ve got to catch them!" I couldn’t talk, I was maxed out and working like a dog, every body part was screaming at me. But I just found something, I don't know where from, dropped the shoulders and picked up the pace a little bit to catch the group just ahead of me.

I passed the three-hour balloon guys, who were brilliant, encouraging everyone. I was delighted but then with about a kilometre the worry set in – they better not pass me out again! I was afraid to look behind but then you get up over the bridge to Mount Street and you start to see the finish line and the clock, or what I could I make of it through the sweat and rain in my contact lenses. All I could see was two fifty-something and it was brilliant to know I was inside three hours, trying not to think of those YouTube videos of people hitting the wall on the home straight and crawling across the line.

Happily, that didn't happen and I was delighted to get to the line. I ended up running 2:58:59 so I’ll take that.

Thanks to everyone involved for putting on a great show. A lot of people volunteer to help out and without those people the Dublin Marathon wouldn’t happen.

The fundraiser for Breakthrough Cancer Research exceeded the target of €100 for each of the 26 miles and there’s still a couple of quid coming in. People are so generous and I was delighted to support a great charity. A lot of people do it for charity and it helped at times when it got tough to remember that that was another reason to keep going.

I’m very proud of what I put into the race and what I got out of it. It’s a very different sense of achievement to when I was a 400m athlete but I would definitely put it up there. That was my job, there was a lot of pressure to perform involved. In that scenario when you do well it’s great but there’s also an element of relief. The marathon is very much personal. I wanted to see if I could challenge myself in an event that’s very different to what I was used to. It’s very rewarding because the marathon doesn’t happen overnight. It’s been a two-year journey of discipline, commitment and overcoming doubts that as a sprinter I could go sub-three for a marathon.

Will I do another one? I probably will. I feel good mentally and physically getting out and exercising, and that’s the most important thing. I’ve been running my whole life but I need motivation. I’ve really liked working with a coach and having a programme and a goal at the end of it. I’ll do Dublin again and who knows what the target will be. Charlotte might run it next year as well!

Whether you run it, jog it or walk it, I would recommend everybody to do a marathon once in their lifetime. You’ll love it, and it's always better inside the ropes.